English Hockey League (field hockey)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

English Hockey League (field hockey)

Sport	Hockey
Founded	2003
No. of teams	87
Country(ies)	England
Official website	[1]

The English Hockey League is a national hockey league run by England Hockey. It is currently sponsored by Slazenger and known as the Slazenger England Hockey League or EHL. It is widely recognised as the most significant English hockey league system.

[edit] Divisions

The EHL league divisions can be somewhat confusing, especially when taken into the wider context of their feeder leagues. There are two leagues that encompass teams across the whole of England, the Premier League and Division One. There are also two leagues that feed teams into Division One, known as the National North and National South divisions. The use of the term National is misleading as the North and South divisions only take teams from the North or South of England - and therefore is not by definition "national"!

The above league structure is identical for men and women's hockey, but run in parallel (ie men's and women's competitions are separated).

Currently, the EHL is proposing to alter the league structure for the 2008/2009 season to one national Premier league and a North and South feeder league.

The EHL takes new teams into the National North/South division from separately run regional hockey associations, such as the North Hockey Association. These associations run a two to three league structure of their own, and are in turn fed by teams from county or sub-regional hockey associations or leagues.

As an example, the Yorkshire Hockey Association runs many divisions, and those promoted out of the top Division will be received into the lower divisions of the North Hockey Association. Those promoted from the North Hockey Association's top league will be entered into the National North league of the EHL, from which they can be promoted into the EHL Div 1 then Premier.