Wednesday, December 2, 2009

IHA announce key refixes to women's calendar

* UPDATE: since this story was first posted the IHA has subsequently taken on board a request UCD to move the game from the December date due to exams. The ISC semi-finals will now be played on January 16, 2010.

The IHA today confirmed the revised dates for the ESB Irish Senior Cup semi-finals and round four and five of the Irish Hockey League.

The need for a rejig occurred following the announcement of Ireland’s world cup qualifier date in Chile to be played in late April and early May 2010 which clashed with these high profile games.

The refixes see the ISC semi-finals brought forward five months to December 12 while round four of the IHL will be played on February 27/28 and the vital fifth series on Sunday, March 14.

The cup date, though, could cause some problems for the respective clubs, especially for Railway Union who face their third trip to Ulster in consecutive weekends.

Indeed, they could have to travel without Emer Dillon and captain Isobel Joyce (pictured) whose work situations have seen them struggle to play every Saturday game and getting another full day off may be a problem at short notice.

Explaining the date changes, a notice on the IHA website said “On Wednesday, November 25, we were advised of the date and venue for the Women’s World Cup Qualifier scheduled for Chile from Saturday 24th April to Sunday 3rd May

“These dates were not expected as we had originally been advised the WCQ would be held between early March and mid April. The new dates has an obvious impact on the original dates for the Semi-Final (24th April) and Final (25th April) of the ESB Irish Senior Cup and Round 4 (17th /18th April) and Round 5 of the ESB Irish Hockey league (1st May).

“Therefore in consultation with the National Coach Gene Muller, Chair of IHA Competitions Committee John Smyth and the Chair of the IHL Committee Inez Cooper the revised scheduled have been agreed.”

The ESB Irish senior cup final moves to May 8/9 and the IHL finals weekends will remain on their allotted dates.

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

that is disgraceful, ucd have exams and railway have there 3rd trip up north in 3 weeks...... ridiculous

Anonymous said...

sure why dont u just change the final on christmas day....

gale said...

this is awful news for the players, supporters and for the competition. This is supposed to be one of the premier competitions in the country and this is just bringing it down to a joke. Injuries and illness I can take where they reduce the number of players available to a team. This? Disgraceful

Anonymous said...

No it is not disgraceful.
The commitments of the Irish Senior team come first and that is why the league has been adapted.
UCD have known about there exams for quite a few months I assume and it makes no difference as they would have had a league match on that day anyway so what is your complaint about.
Railways third trip up north is not a disgrace either as the 3 fixtures were in 2 different competitions of which one is an open draw, would you have been complaining if Railway got two home draws on those weekends....I think NO. The open draw is what makes the ISC such an exciting competition.
Stop complaining and get on with it. Take a 'cement pill' why don't you.

Anonymous said...

This is crazy for all the teams involved. Why can't the semis be the same weekend as the final and all be playing in Belfield?

Anonymous said...

Who said players could not be available to their teams. Work is part of life, If you asked any team that has travelled from Dublin or Belfast to a match in Cork this season I would say that every team travelled with less than a full squad. I know Belfast Harlequins went south with a depleted squad, Alex did the same going to quinns.
Stop complaining, all people need to do is adapt and its up to coaches to get the best team out with the players that are available.

Anonymous said...

ten days notice? to go up north for a huge game instead of a league match at home? Not the same thing 11.33

Anonymous said...

Some absentees can be foreseen and some are avoidable - with European hockey not far off, the ISC is worthy of a little more respect!

Coaches can adapt to lots of situations but think this one is a bit much

Stephen Findlater said...

I'll put the comments on hiatus for the moment. Basically, a new date in January has now been posted on the IHA site. I'll confirm if this is 100pc the date but will not post anymore comments until further notice.

Anonymous said...

ucd players are not the only ones with college exams. Every team has players with exams and work commitments, get on with it.

Anonymous said...

to 11:33am...UCD have known about exams for a while and have changed their league match from that Saturday for that reason...so putting the semi-final on that day was not the best idea in the world...

Anonymous said...

but not every team has a two week period where everyone has exams...

unlike other teams with 'exam and work commitments' it won't be only one or two players missing at the one time...

Anonymous said...

Notwithstanding that the problem was caused by a change of dates at fih level a little bit of consultation with the 4 clubs concerned could have prevented this latest pr issue for the IHA. Common sense seems to have prevailed.

gale said...

I'm happy now, 11.33. Thought you would like to know!

Anonymous said...

Gale, No I didn't really need to know but I am glad for you. Good luck on 16 January.