MHF to introduce new tourney for clubs and districts

The Malaysian Hockey Federation (MHF) will introduce a new tournament next year for clubs and districts in the country.

The knockout tournament scheduled to start in February is likely to have the biggest number of teams in the fray on the domestic scene. And those eligible to compete are teams affiliated to either the MHF or their affiliates (states and districts).

The MHF competitions competition chairman, Datuk Abdul Rahim Mohamed Ariff, said: “This is an open concept. We want as many teams to enter to make it a truly nationwide competition. It does not matter if they are not competing in the Malaysia Hockey League (MHL).

“We do not have a knockout championships at the national level and teams can look forward to competing in this new tournament.”

The format will see an open draw with teams playing on a home-and-away basis.

To overcome the problem of lack of artificial turfs in certain areas, the committee have decided to allow matches to be played on grass pitches.

“But teams with no artificial turf to host matches will have to prepare good grass pitches for the matches. We want to ensure that teams get to play in their own backyard and to garner support for their campaign. Small clubs can still play at the national level with little expenses,” said Rahim.

He added that the MHF would name the tournament to give it a separate identity.

All affiliates will be informed of the tournament dates soon and registration will be done next month.

The plan is to run the tournament over a period of 10 months.