Australian Hockey League

Australian Hockey League

Sport	Field Hockey
Inaugural season	1991
No. of teams	8
Country	Australia
Most recent champion(s)	Queensland Blades (men) Queensland Scorchers (women)
Most titles	WA Thundersticks (9 times)(men) NSW Arrows (9 times)(women)<s/mall>
Official website	Official website

The Australian Hockey League (AHL) ^[1] is Australia’s premier national domestic field hockey competition. Despite its non-professional nature, AHL is considered one of the strongest and most competitive national field hockey leagues in the world. The AHL consists of both men's and women's competition. It includes many players from the Kookaburras and the Hockeyroos, and participating in the AHL is a selection requirement for all Australian national squad members.

History

The first season of the Australian Men's National Hockey League (former AHL) took place in 1991, when the perpetual national championship was replaced by a new-look format. The competition, which was played over a two-month period, did not limit player eligibility to state of origin. Six teams competed in the first year - Brisbane Blades, Melbourne Redbacks, Adelaide Hotshots, Canberra Lakers, Sydney Stingrays and Tamworth Frogs. In 1991 and 1992, both the National Championship and the National Hockey League was played, placing a financial burden on the states. From 1993, the decision was made to play the National Hockey League as the sole competition in determining Australia's champion State.

The league has since evolved into an eight team competition played on a home and away basis before climaxing with a finals series. In 2000, 2004 and 2008 however, the league reverted to a two-week championship format. This format is designed to replicate the intense nature and heavy playing schedule of the Olympic Games. The league embraced some big changes leading into the 2001 season as the former Men's and Women's National Hockey League combined to form the Australian Hockey League (AHL). Both the men's and women's leagues shifted their seasons from mid-year to February–April and a unique format was adopted. The format devised allows a high level of hockey to be seen across Australia through four weeks of home-and-away competition. The league then climaxes with a full finals week that comprises three round matches, the semi-finals and finals.

Competition format

Alternate years

Each team plays a home & away series against 4 of the other teams, over 4 consecutive weekends, with 2 games in each series. Giving each team 8 home & away matches. The 8 teams then converge in one city for the finals week, where each team plays the other 3 teams once, for double points, and then plays the relevant cross-over game and classification game.

Olympic years

The 8 teams converge in one city for 2 weeks, where each team plays the other 7 teams once, for double points, and then plays the relevant cross-over game and classification game.

2010

The AHL will take on a new format in 2010.^[2] The 2010 men’s tournament will be played over two rounds and a finals week, consisting of each team playing a total of eleven matches. Round 1 will involve two pools of four teams that are linked geographically. The four teams in each pool complete a round robin in one of the region’s designated locations.
Round 2 will be played in two different locations. It will again involve two pools (pools will be different from those in round 1).

Due to conflicts with the men’s international calendar, there is a several week break between the conclusion of Round 2 and the beginning of Finals Week.
Finals Week brings all of the teams together in one location. The first two days of this week will complete the rounds component of the tournament, with each team now having played each other once.

Points Formula Points: Win = 6 Draw = 3 Loss = 0

Additional point (s) for each goal scored to a max of 3 for either team. EG - WA defeats TAS 4-3, WA will get 6 points for win, 3 points for goals, a total of 9 points and TAS will get 3 points for goals scored.

After all the round games are complete (Round 1, Round 2 and the first two days of Finals Week) the teams are ranked 1-8 depending on the total number of points earned in all the round games. The teams ranked 1, 4, 6 & 8 will go into pool A and the teams ranked 2, 3, 5 & 7 will go into pool B.

At the beginning of the classification stage only the points earned against the other teams in each pool are carried forward. (EG – If you are ranked team number 1, only your results during the round matches against teams 4, 6 and 8 will be carried over to the classification stage). Note – no team can carry through to the classification stage more points than a team ranked above them. Should this occur, the lower ranked teams points will be reduced to the same amount as the higher ranked team.

Classification Stage Once the classification stage commences the carried over points are added to the points gained during the classification games.
EG - team 1 starts the classification stage with 26 points, team 4 starts with 16 points. 1V 4 result in classification stage is 3:2 which is 9 points for team 1 and 2 points for team 4. At the completion of this game team 1 will have 35 points and team 4 will have 18 points. After the completion of the classification games teams will finish in each pool ranked 1-4 depending on the number of points accumulated.

The finals are then 1v1 (gold/ silver), 2v2 (bronze/ 4th), 3v3 (5th/ 6th), 4v4 (7th/ 8th) from each pool with gold, silver & bronze medals awarded.

2015

The 2015 tournaments are hosted in Darwin (men's league) and Sydney (women's league) from 25 September to 2 October. The tournament is divided into two pools, Pool A and Pool B, consisting of four teams with each team playing the others in its pool in the first round (round robin). The top two teams in each of these pools then progress to Pool C, the pool from which they can progress to the grand final. Also, the bottom two teams in these pools go into Pool D. The teams then play the teams that they haven’t already played, carrying the points from their first round match against the other team that came through with them. The top two teams in Pool C go on to contest the grand final, while the bottom two teams in Pool C contest for the bronze medal. The top two teams in Pool D contest for 5th/6th place and the bottom two in Pool D contest for 7th/8th place.

For the first time ever, all 48 games of the AHL were streamed live on the Tenplay website (Network Ten), produced by live streaming company Hockey Zone (owned by Brisbane Hockey). ^[3] International fans could also watch the games via the IHF or Livestream.

Competition rules

Points

Extra time

Teams play two 6 minute halves.
First Half is 9-a-side.
Second Half is 7-a-side.
Golden Goal.
Still No Result, then Penalty Strokes.

Finals

Cross-Over Games
1st v 4th
2nd v 3rd
5th v 8th
6th v 7th

Finals
Final = Winner of (1st v 4th) v Winner of (2nd v 3rd)
3rd Place = Loser of (1st v 4th) v Loser of (2nd v 3rd)
5th Place = Winner of (5th v 8th) v Winner of (6th v 7th)
7th Place = Loser of (5th v 8th) v Loser of (6th v 7th)

Men's

Men's Team	State	Home Venue	Year Joined	AHL Titles	AKA or Incorporated Teams
Canberra Lakers	ACT	National Hockey Centre, Canberra	1991		Canberra Lakers, Vision City Canberra Lakers, RAMS Home Loans Canberra Lakers
New South Wales Waratahs	New South Wales	Sydney Olympic Park Hockey Centre	1991	1997, 2001, 2005	Sydney Stingrays, Tamworth Frogs, Sydney Scorpions, NSW Warriors, NSW Panthers
NT Stingers	Northern Territory	Marrara Hockey Centre	1998		Gryphon/Atlas/Vodafone/Northpharm Territory Stingers
Queensland Blades	Queensland	Queensland State Hockey Centre	1991	2003, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2015	Brisbane Blades, North Queensland Barras (1993-2000)
Southern Hotshots	South Australia	State Hockey Centre	1991		Adelaide Hotshots
Tassie Tigers	Tasmania	Tasmanian Hockey Centre	1992, (DNC 1993)	2014	Tassie Tigers, MIA Tassie Tigers
Victoria Vikings	Victoria	State Netball and Hockey Centre	1991	1996, 1998	Melbourne Redbacks, VIS Redbacks, Azuma Vikings
WA Thundersticks	Western Australia	Perth Hockey Stadium	1992	1992, 1993, 1995, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2008, 2009, 2011	Perth Thundersticks, WAIS Thundersticks

Men's results

^[4]

Women's

Team	State	Home Venue	Year Joined	AHL Titles	AKA or Incorporated Teams
Canberra Labor Club Strikers	ACT	National Hockey Centre	1993		Canberra Strikers, ACTAS Strikers
New South Wales Arrows	New South Wales	Sydney Olympic Park Hockey Centre	1993	1993, 1996, 1998-2002, 2009, 2014	NSW Balsam Arrows, NSWIS Arrows
NT Pearls	Northern Territory	Marrara Hockey Centre	1993, (DNC 1996-1999)		Darwin Blazez, Territory Pearls, Paspaley Territory Pearls
Queensland Scorchers	Queensland	Queensland State Hockey Centre	1993	1997, 2005, 2013, 2015	QAS/QLD Scorchers
SA Suns	South Australia	State Hockey Centre	1993	1995, 2011	Diet Coke Adelaide Suns, Adelaide Suns, Adelaide Bank Suns, Southern Suns
Wrest Point Tassie Van Demons	Tasmania	Tasmanian Hockey Centre		1996	Tasmanian Van Demons, Wrest Point Van Demons, Wrest Point Casino Van Demons
Victorian Vipers	Victoria	State Netball and Hockey Centre	1993	2003, 2012	VIS Viper, Azuma Vipers
WA Diamonds	Western Australia	Perth Hockey Stadium	1993	1994, 2004, 2006-2008, 2010	WAIS Diamonds, WA Diamonds

Women's results

^[5]

See also

• Field Hockey

References

External links

• Official website