Midland Men’s Hockey has become the first English league to curtail its season due to the pandemic.
The midland league committee issued a statement on Thursday outlining the prospects of domestic play in the five weeks left of the season after Feb 13.
It concluded that there was “no realistic prospect of hockey prior to the end of March” and all men’s league fixtures were therefore cancelled with insufficient games to make a meaningful programme.
In declaring the season null and void, the league also stated that there will be no promotion or relegation.
However, with England Hockey planning to increase the number of teams in the EHL in 2021/22, the men’s committee will now decide a process to identify two teams from Tier 1 Midlands Premier as the new entries to the EHL from the Midlands.
The committee said: “Our guiding principle will be, if at all possible, to identify those two teams from T1 MP via the field of play.” How this is determinded will be revealed “at a later date”.
The midland women’s league has yet to make a decision on its league outcome.
