England Hockey have announced that the league structure will be re-organised from next season, affecting the remainder of the current season for several teams.
With only three games left to play, it has now been announced that now only one team will be relegated from the Premier Division in both the men and women’s competition.
The aim of the league is to add in an extra team to both Premier Divisions next season, with 12 teams competing instead of 11 while the detailed structure of this is ‘still to be finalised’.
The league confirmed that this decision has been made after consultation with the Premier clubs.
The decision has had a mix of reactions, with Durham University being handed a big boost in their survival hopes before their game against Beeston this weekend. Meanwhile the University of Exeter are now the only team to be relegated as it stands.
Fans have taken to social media to express their thoughts on the decision, with most bewildered by the timing of the announcement coming just three weeks before the end of the season.
With the second division of the hockey league system being split into regional leagues, this means that only one team will be relegated from the north and south divisions.
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One team will also be reprieved from relegation from across the four conferences, being judged on a points per game basis, with the highest scoring team to be spared.
Unfortunately, already relegated Cheltenham are unlikely to benefit from this, needing two wins from their final two to be in contention of having a better points per game ratio than that of West Herts of the Eastern Conference.
