New MHL sees 10 teams vie for glory in top division

The new Malaysia Hockey League (MHL) will see 10 teams vying for glory in the top division.

Last year, only six teams competed in Division One and Division Two had nine teams.

Under the new format, the elite teams will compete in the Premier Division while the rest will vie for a place in Division One. These two divisions are for the Open category.

Division Two and Division Three will be for the Under-19 age groups and will comprise teams from last year’s Malaysia Junior Hockey League (MJHL).

Last year’s top five MHL teams — Ernst and Young, Sapura, Maybank, Tenaga Nasional and Nur Insafi — will be joined by Jurutera Jentera Letrik (JLJ) in the Premier Division.

The competitions committee will select another four teams, based on their strength, for the Premier Division.

There are plans to enter the National Juniors (the 2013 Project Team) in the Premier Division. But a decision will be made once the format is approved by the MHF management committee, who will meet on Tuesday.

MHF competitions committee chairman Datuk Abdul Rahim Mohd Ariff said teams could have as many foreign players as they wanted, just like last year.

Similarly, there will be no cap on the number of national players per team.

The bottom two teams from the Premier Division will be demoted while the top two from Division One will go up the following year.

The Division Two champions will have the right to gain promotion to Division One or they can choose to remain in the Under-19 category.

Division Two and Division Three will kick off next month while Division One is slated to start in May. The Premier League will run from October to December.