Hockey Ireland AGM 2020 – Postponed

Hockey Ireland advise that the Hockey Ireland Annual General Meeting (AGM), scheduled to take place on Saturday 16 May 2020, has been postponed until further notice in keeping with ongoing advice from Government on social distancing.

As soon as the restrictions imposed by the current emergency are lifted, Hockey Ireland will organise an AGM as soon as is practicable.

Notification of the rescheduled date will issue in due course.

Take care of each other and stay safe.

Jerome Pels

CEO Hockey Ireland

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Women’s National Development Squad Program Update

The Easter and summer programme of development (U23) and U21 matches have been postponed or cancelled due the ongoing Covid-19 Pandemic. These included a trip to play Great Britain three times at Easter, a busy June period with warm weather camp in North Carolina which included 6 matches against the USA and a home 6 Nations Tournament (with Canada, Chile, Germany, India and Netherlands) at UCD. The EHF have now also confirmed the cancellation of their U23 six nations that was scheduled for Cardiff in mid August.

Commenting on the programme Head Coach David Passmore commented “while completely understandable given the current priorities we had put a lot of work into developing a programme for the year that would prepare a group to move into the senior squad post Tokyo. The health of everyone is, and should be, our priority right now and these measures are appropriate. The management team and I have been exceptionally impressed with the attitude of the athletes during the past 6 weeks and each has pushed hard to develop the physical side of their game under the auspices of our talented S&C Coach Orlaith Curran. We will give the athletes a short break once the lock down is over and then hope to start preparing for some matches in the late autumn once we have the domestic calendar confirmed”.

The 6 Nations U23 tournament planned for UCD 20-27th June will now take place in June 2021 and all teams have indicated they would still like to take part. The squad also plan to go to America in 2021 as was planned this year and discussions with US hockey are ongoing. With the Tokyo Olympics also moving by a year this will provide an ideal platform for development of this talented group of youngsters for the post games period. An U21 team has also been entered into the Indoor Europeans set for Croatia in January which provides a further stimulus for the group.

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Guidelines for Using Virtual Learning Platforms

Hockey Ireland have issued some guidelines for coaches and clubs using online learning platforms during the Covid 19 crisis.

Below is a list of some basic Do’s and Don’ts but for the full document please click here

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SoftCo extends support for the Ireland Women’s Hockey Team

SoftCo extends support for the Ireland Women’s Hockey Team due to Olympic postponement

SoftCo, the leading global Finance Automation Software provider, today announced the extension of its main sponsorship agreement for the Ireland Women’s Hockey Team. The extension adds a further year to the current agreement ensuring that Hockey Ireland will have funding in place for rescheduled Olympic Games in July 2021 and beyond.

The COVID-19 crisis is a global tragedy and the decision to postpone the Games puts athletes’ welfare first, while protecting the well-being of much wider communities and countries.

Commenting on the announcement, Susan Spence, Co-Founder, SoftCo

“The achievement of the team to reach the Olympics was fantastic and we believe that it is important now that Hockey Ireland have the right funding in place for the Olympics in 2021 and leading into the World Cup in 2022. All of us at SoftCo wish the squad and management well and hope everyone stays safe in these tough times.”

Commenting on the announcement, Sean Dancer, Head Coach of the Irish Women’s team said:

“We really appreciate the continued backing from SoftCo especially during these unprecedented times. Their support and the support of others will allow the Squad to continue to prepare for the Olympics next year.”

Hockey Ireland CEO, Jerome Pels, said:

“SoftCo’s extension of the sponsorship shows a real commitment to support the team on their journey to Tokyo. Today’s announcement helps us with planning for the Games, which have been postponed until 2021 due to COVID-19.”

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Hockey Ireland Coronavirus (COVID-19) UPDATE No. 4

Hockey Ireland Coronavirus (COVID-19) UPDATE No. 4
9 April 2020

Hockey Ireland on 26 March announced that the 2019/20 hockey season for all league, cup and all other domestic hockey competitions in Ireland are deemed to have finished.

The Hockey Ireland Board and Hockey Ireland Branches are acutely aware of the scale of the health crisis facing the island of Ireland at this time, as well as the energetic strain that Covid-19 is currently placing on people in all aspects of their lives. In a time of such uncertainty for everyone, the Board and the Branches are keen to provide clarity, while also respecting the magnitude of effort each player, coach, umpire, volunteer, school, club and hockey entity has invested into this season.

The Hockey Ireland Board, in consultation with the Branches and on recommendation of the Competitions Working Group, have decided the following:

The EYHL 1 and 2 season 19/20 has been stopped and has been declared null and void as there are too many games left to play to determine a fair final ranking by mathematical or other method.

The EY Hockey Champions Trophy is cancelled for the 19/20 season.

There will be no automatic promotion/relegation in the EYHL 1 and 2.

The Board of Hockey Ireland has asked the EYHL Competitions Group to consider options of increasing the number of teams in the EYHL league(s) for the 20/21 season and report back to the Board with their recommendations. The Board have also received proposals to explore a full season EYHL2 concept and the Board have asked the EYHL Competitions Group to look into the viability of implementing this and make recommendations to the Board.

European club competition places will be determined at a later stage by the Board pending the outcome of the current European season and a conclusive decision from the European Hockey Federation (EHF).

The Hockey Ireland Branches will use a percentage equalisation method to complete league standings in their respective province. It is up to each province to make decisions on relegation and promotion and the Branch competition rules apply.

Branch Cup Competitions: If Cups are at Semi Final or Final stage or can be completed, they are postponed. The Branches will look for an opportunity to play these (early) in the 2020/21 season. If no opportunity arises, the Cup competitions will be cancelled.

Hockey Ireland Cups, Hockey Ireland Trophy and Hockey Ireland Challenge Finals and Semi Finals are postponed. Hockey Ireland will look for an opportunity to play them (early) in the 2020/21 season. If no opportunity arises these competitions will be cancelled.

Other Hockey Ireland competitions:

Kate Russell All Ireland Schoolgirls Championships

26th and 27th March

Cancelled

John Waring All Ireland Schoolboys Championship

1st April

Cancelled

June Smith Competition

2nd April

Cancelled

National U15 Girls Championship

9th May

Cancelled

National U15 Boys Championship

10th May

Cancelled

Junior Interprovincials

16th and 17th May

Cancelled

U13 Championships

30th May

Cancelled

 

 

Hockey Ireland would like to thank everyone for their patience and understanding during this time and appreciates the efforts many of you are going to in order to continue training while at home.

Please keep safe. For further information on Covid-19:

https://www2.hse.ie/conditions/coronavirus/coronavirus.html

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/

If you have any further queries, please email info@irelandhockey.sportlomo.com

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