Premier Hockey League

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Premier Hockey League
The logo of the Premier Hockey League
Sport Field Hockey
Founded 2005
No. of teams 7
Hyderabad Sultans
Sher-e-Jalandhar
Maratha Warriors
Bangalore Lions
Chandigarh Dynamos
Chennai Veerans
Orissa Steelers
Country(ies) Flag of India India
Most recent
champion(s)		 Bangalore Hi-fliers
Official website premierhockeyleague.com

The Premier Hockey League (PHL) is a four year old domestic field hockey tournament in India, conducted by Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) with active support from sports news channel ESPN India. The tournament was initiated to revive interest in the sport which was losing spectator interest to cricket in recent times. Hockey is India's National Sport, with the country having won a record eight Olympic Gold medals and having lifted the World Cup once.

One of the main reasons for the waning popularity of the existing domestic competition was the rise of corporate teams such as Indian Airlines and Punjab & Sind Bank which do not have a steady fan following. PHL is trying to change that by bringing in regional flavor. It fields teams from traditional hockey bastions such as Bombay, Punjab, Orissa, and Tamil Nadu, as well as from other places like Hyderabad and Bangalore, where it has got some fan following.

In the inaugural edition of 2005 which was held in Hyderabad five teams took part Hyderabad Sultans, Sher-e-Jalandhar, Bangalore Lions, Maratha Warriors and Chennai Veerans. 2005 title was won by Hyderabad Sultans and Chandigarh Dynamos got promotion to premier division as Chennai Veerans were relegated.

In the 2006 tournament, which comprised of two tiers, Bangalore Lions had won the premier division title and Orissa Steelers the first division title.

PHL 2007, played in two phases in Chennai and Chandigarh saw participation of seven teams -- Orissa Steelers, Sher-e-Jalandhar, Bangalore Lions, Hyderabad Sultans, Maratha Warriors, Chandigarh Dynamos and Chennai Veerans. Orissa Steelers won the title in 2007. Sher-e-Jalandhar was the runners up.

PHL 2008 was won by Bangalore Lions, they took home prize money of Rs.4 million. Chandigarh Dynamos finished second and Hyderabad Sultans ended up on third place.

Contents

[edit] New features

The fundamental aberration from the format of normal hockey games is the number of sessions. A normal 70 minute hockey game includes two sessions, each of 35 minutes each. The PHL has four sessions each of 17.5 minutes. This format is tailor made to include more advertising time in order to generate funds. Teams are allowed to take time-outs to chalk out new strategies during the course of the game.

If the match is deadlocked after full-time, the number of players of each team is gradually reduced till a result is obtained. A win within full-time fetches three points, whereas a win after full-time fetches two points to the winning team and one to the losing team. Each team is also allowed to field up to five international players.

In addition, another feature of the PHL for the year 2007, has been the innovative Penalty shootout competition, modelled similar to the Major League Soccer penalty shootout. Each team will have five penalty shoot outs each where 5 players will play a one on one with the goal keeper of the opponent team. Each player will start with the ball on the 25 yard line and when the umpire blows the whistle player will have maximum of 8 secs to score a goal with only the goal keeper defending the goal. The player can take as many shots possible within the stipulated 8 secs.

Another interesting feature of PHL is timeouts, similar to basketball and volleyball. Each team will be allowed 2 x 120 second timeouts per team in regulation time. These timeouts will be mandatory and has to be taken once in each half of play. There will be a warning from the bench 5 minutes before the end of the second/fourth quarter if the team has still not availed of the mandatory timeout. 2 minutes from the end of the second/fourth quarter the timeout will be imposed by the technical bench if the team has still not availed of it.

In addition, each team will also be allowed 1 x 2 minute timeout which is not mandatory and could be taken at any point in time during the regulation time. Each team will also be allowed 1 x 2 minute timeouts which are non mandatory and can be taken at any point in time during the extra time period.

[edit] Teams

There are 7 teams in the PHL:

Hyderabad Sultans
Sher-e-Jalandhar
Maratha Warriors
Bangalore Lions
Chandigarh Dynamos
Chennai Veerans
Orissa Steelers

[edit] PHL 2005

[edit] Results

[edit] PHL 2006

Banglore Lions Team After Winning PHL in 2006
Banglore Lions Team After Winning PHL in 2006

[edit] Results

[edit] PHL 2007

Orissa Steelers Team After Winning PHL in 2007
Orissa Steelers Team After Winning PHL in 2007

[edit] Teams

Orissa Steelers won the PHL 2007 against Sher-e-Jalandhar by beating them by 4-3 in third final.

In the 2007 edition the organisers will eliminate tier 2 and play all the teams in single tier. Also the number of teams will be reduced from 11 teams to 7. Delhi Dazzlers, Bengal Tigers, Lucknow Nawabs, and Imphal Rangers were dropped for the 2007 season.

[edit] Tier-1

[edit] PHL 2008

[edit] Results

Bangalore Hi-fliers won the PHL 2008 against Chandigarh Dynamos, beating them by 2-1 in best of 3 finals.

  • In 1st final Chandigarh Dyanamos made 3-2 against Bangalore Hi-fliers at the end of full time.
  • In 2nd final Bangalore had come back with 4-2 win against Dyanmos, which gave full hope to team for the last final.
  • In the nerve braking final match, Bangalore gave no chance to Dyanamos to take the direction of the play. It made 2-1 win to head home with title for 2nd time, through 4 editions of the play.
  • Hyderabad Sultans and Orissa Steelers reached semi finals in play-off

[edit] International players

[edit] Hyderabad Sultans

[edit] Sher-e-Jallandhar

[edit] Maratha Warriors

[edit] Bangalore Hi-fliers

[edit] Chandigarh Dynamos

[edit] Chennai Veerans

[edit] Orissa Steelers

[edit] Likely impact

While most experts agree that it is too early to predict the fallout of the PHL, many in the Indian Hockey circles are delighted to have hockey glamorised with the intention of reviving the flagging sport. Experts accuse the Indian Hockey Federation of being to lethargic and bureaucratic in popularising the sport. Meanwhile the International Hockey Federation is keenly studying the format.

Critics argue that traditional hockey bastions such as Kodagu (Coorg), Jharkhand, Orissa and parts of Punjab have been ignored, but organisers say that in due course of time more teams may be included.

[edit] Overall Results

  • 1st PHL won by HYDERABAD SULTANS IN 2005
  • 2ND PHL won by BANGALORE HI-FLIERS IN 2006
  • 3RD PHL won by ORISSA STEELERS in 2007
  • 4th PHL won by BANGALORE HI-FLIERS in 2008

[edit] Rankings

  • Bangalore Lions
  • Hyderabad sultans
  • Orissa steelers
  • Chandigarh Dynamos
  • Sher-e-Jalandhar
  • Maratha warriors
  • Chennai Veerans

[edit] External links

Bangalore Hi-flier | Chandigarh Dynamos | Chennai Veerans
Hyderabad Sultans | Maratha Warriors | Orissa steelers
Sher-e-Jalandhar

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