Thursday, September 11, 2008

Agnew pushes for two promotion spots

With the introduction of the IHL, a number of questions have been raised about the structures which govern the domestic leagues and how this affects promotion and relegation.

In this regard, the upcoming Leinster Branch meeting's any other business could prove a forum for opinions on how the local league will adapt, if at all, to the extra games being played.

In a similar vein, former Irish international and Avoca club member, Peter Agnew (pictured with Mary Hanafin TD at the opening of the Newpark pitch) has put a proposal to the Leinster branch regarding promotion from division two to division one.

Last year saw two sides go up for the first time since the promotion/relegation playoff was introduced with UCD and Kilkenny going up. In May, Suttonians came within a couple of strokes of a first ever stint in the top-tier.

But should the second spot only be available via this system or should it be a right. Agnew belives that if two places were available, it would "give a huge lease of life to Division 2 teams.

"It will mean that at the beginning of the season at least six teams in Division 2 will be starting the season will realistic ambitions to playing senior hockey and give all the people involved a energy that can be sustained through out the season."

He further reasons that it will make it easier to attract players and build for the future, while creating more interest in the bottom half of division one, an area which is currently characterised by mediocrity and will be given a new lease of life.

Agnew hopes the issue will be debated at the upcoming Leinster Branch, September general meeting, which takes place in Three Rock Rovers on September 24.

Do you think it is a good idea? Have your say...

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

yes it probably would be a good idea. It would make the final few weeks of the season very exciting at both ends of the table and would include more teams.

Anonymous said...

Good idea

Queso said...

I disagree with Peter's suggestion to return to the format of automatic promotion/relegation for the top 2 sides in Division 2 and bottom 2 sides in Division 1.

I'm sure he remembers that this is a format we used to have!!

However, it was agreed then that this was detrimental to the overall strength and standard of Division 1 and hence a playoff was introduced for the 2nd placed team in Division 2 and the 9th placed team in Division 1.

If the 2nd placed team in Division 2 is stronger than the 9th placed team in Divison 1 then they will win the playoff, gain promotion and increase the standard of Division 1 as a result.

If they're not, automatically promoting them will weaken the standard of Division 1.

Given recent successes of Division 2 clubs in both Ladies and Mens playoffs, I believe the current format is providing Leinster Hockey with the strongest possible Division 1 and a great climax at the end of the season too.

Anonymous said...

Not in my view. If you cant win div2 then you dont belong in div1. Its no coincidence that the div2 side have only ever won that match once and in that case the 9th placed div1 team had key players missing. Relegation of side like YMCA for the promotion of Sutton or Skerries isnt in the interest of leinster hockey.

Anonymous said...

i agree with mr cheesy. If you can't win the playoff you'd get hammered in Div 1....

Anonymous said...

The suggestion is certainly worth looking at. There's no doubt that a good number of Div 1 games in the 2nd half of the season are boring 'dead rubbers'; this would certainly liven it up a little.

Anonymous said...

The playoff gives both teams a fair opportunity and ensures the strongest team plays in division 1.
Having added a few decent players, clontarf should be favourites for promotion and Avoca are looking for an easy route back to division 1.

Anonymous said...

any chance of an explanation as to why Skerries or Suttonians getting promoted to Div 1 isn't goos for Div 1 hockey......i hope you can up with something better than southsiders are better at hockey than northsiders!!!!!

Anonymous said...

its not good for div 1 hockey because they cant win their playoff match. if they cant beat the second lowest div 1 team then why would they be any good for the division??its obvious that the playoff rule is better as it ensures that the team potentially coming up is actually worth something to div 1.

Anonymous said...

Div 2 will be interesting this year, what with Clontarf's new additions,Suttonians having there pakistian guys coming back, and Bray, Avoca, skerries and trinity competing too...

Anonymous said...

What about creating a smaller division 1 by relegating two teams and only promoting one team this year and next year. Division 2 would then have ssome much stronger teams in it and the competition to qualify for division one would become much competitive and prestigious. It would also allow the weaker division one teams a modicum of success and give them something more than survival to aim at.

Anonymous said...

think the smaller league works well in ulster, could be a good move for both the 1st and 2nd division in leinster too.

Anonymous said...

The play off is a once off game at the end of the season. How does winning it prove your a better team! Either one of the teams could have key members missing.

As regards the Div 2 side only winning it once is because Div 2 sides are improving year after year!

Anonymous said...

Eh Kilkenny are neither northsiders or southsiders

Anonymous said...

Rubbish idea of promoting two teams automatically. Only about 6 teams can compete in div 1 as it is.
Bottom 2-4 teams get well beaten and games are a waste of time (for both sides).
Eg Bray last season, fingal,pembroke, trr, glenanne all beat them by 10 or more goals.
Would be ideal if div 1 only had 8 teams in it. Would be more competitive.

Anonymous said...

Bad Idea, a team automatically promoted from Division 2 would find it very difficult to get into 8th place and avoid automatic relegation next season. This wouldn't help recruitment at all, good players would just go to safe division 1 teams. Interesting that Agnew's team would be a major beneficiary of this new system. Coincidence?

Anonymous said...

yeah that's what i was thinking it's interesting that it wasn't a Pembroke man or a TRR member that made this suggestion, clearly nobody thinks this would benefit DIV 1 that doesn't play in DIV 2.

The playoff is a great occasion as a climax to the season and it should stay in place.ff

Anonymous said...

not a good idea for 2 automatic promotion spots from div2!!! i have played div2 twice now, with railway, and last season myself and kenny carroll both agreed that the standard of div2 had gotton worse than when we last played in it. teams turned up to our games with 8 men and 9 men at the start and sometimes didnt even have subs!

some said that the second half of th season u have 'dead rubbers' between middle table teams, not anymore, with the intoduction of the IHL.

im think the play-off route is a good idea, and adds some spice to the last few weeks of the season.

in div2 there are only ever going to be 2/3 teams able to challenge for the promotion spot, so lets leave the playoff as it is..

cheers, and good site Finny,

Anonymous said...

why not allow div. 2 and 3 have promotion/relegation. That would get rid of the teams showing up with 8 or 9, and would likely allow the genuinely driven teams to improve by playing against the best clubs second teams. That would allow the likes of clontarf, avoca, ym, kilkenny, railway, sutts to continue to improve.

My experience of div. 2 is of fast, well versed defensive hockey, maybe lacking players of high skill levels, and lacking top quality strikers.

A few people have mentioned tarf having got some new players - who?

I dont like the idea of a playoff as it means an entire seasons work is reliant on one performance. However, only aer lingus/fingal have shown that a small div. 2 team can become competitive in div. 1, and thus I dont think there is any point in allowing 2 teams from div. 2 go up. Obviously the occasional 'big' team will be relegated, but so far they have proven far too strong for div. 2.

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