In view of the Government’s announcement this evening, and the continuing lockdown in Wales, there will be no league hockey played in January.
A number of Clubs have been in touch questioning whether the League can continue in the current circumstances. The Committee fully understands the challenges and wants to make sure all Clubs are involved in decisions for the League. Therefore, there will be a short survey sent in the next couple of weeks to establish the views of all teams in the West on how we approach the rest of this season. Please look out for this survey and respond as quickly as you can as a Club.
At this point England Hockey are still planning completion of National League and with the proposed re-structuring in September 2021 the West will have to promote teams to the new Conference Leagues. Any decision on the format for the League will have to consider how teams will be promoted to Conference.

The attached link will take you to the EH news item concerning Planning Safe Hockey which has a document attached to it. All clubs need to read these and action as appropriate please.

Please see the England Hockey news item dated 2 Dec 20. A greater level of restriction in transport has been put in place, which also applies to Tier 2 level, and car sharing for players in adult teams in England is now confirmed as ‘not permitted' in Tiers 2 and 3.

If you have already agreed to play matches before the Christmas break, providing you follow the EH guidance and both teams are happy to play under these new conditions then the game can go ahead as scheduled. If either team is not happy to do so they should contact their League Secretary so the game can be postponed.

EH has produced a news item with regard to returning to playing hockey now the Government has confirmed the Covid Alert Level Tiers being introduced from 2 December. Please ensure you read this item and what effect these tiers will have on your club; across our League we have all 3 Tier levels.
The League Committee has spent time during lockdown trying to provide a good basis for competitive hockey to start up again and following the recent announcement from the Government that grassroots sport can re-start from December 2nd and England Hockey‘s news item above we can look forward, in the vast majority of cases, to training and playing League matches again once the current lockdown ends.
Taking this into consideration, the League proposes the following for the re-start of competitive hockey:
• Clubs will follow the published schedule of matches
• League matches to be re-started from December 5th
• In recognition of the short turn around, teams that cannot fulfil fixtures on Dec 5th or Dec 12th should discuss with League Sec for postponement, which will be considered favourably, and re-arranged accordingly.
• All existing results will stand
• Any matches postponed from October 24th / October 31st are to be re-scheduled
• Any matches already marked as void, i.e., Welsh teams matches, will remain void.
• All matches from Nov 7th through to Nov 28th will be cancelled and will not be played
• Tables will be determined on a PPG basis at the end of the season
This is proving to be a challenging season and no doubt Tier restrictions on travel, player and facility availability and, of course the weather, will impact us in the New Year. The League Committee will continue to review the situation to refine the approach if future changes to COVID restrictions significantly impact the published schedule of fixtures.
If you have any concerns or questions, please contact your League Secretary

England Hockey has announced that the national lockdown announced on Saturday will mean no club or community hockey from 5 November until after 2 December at the earliest, therefore no league matches will take place during this time. Please bear with us whilst the Committee considers where we go from here and what action we need to take.

Please check the WCWHL and EH websites regularly for updates.

Clubs are reminded that any re-arranged fixtures you may have need to be played within 22 days of the original fixture date. This time period was set due to the lack of available dates within the season caused by our later start and therefore our later finish. We need to get postponed matches played as soon as possible as if there are any lockdowns or bad weather in the coming weeks or months this will have a huge impact on the fixtures. Please note matches can also be played on a Sunday or any day of the week so please bear this in mind when re-arranging; please be considerate to your opposition’s requests.

The Regulations for the 2020-21 season can be found under the Information tab above, under Information and Downloads. These regulations need to be read in conjunction with the Covid Regulations Addendum document which can be found in the same place. These Covid Regulations are relevant to the 20-21 season only.

In these uncertain times I would respectfully ask clubs to be considerate to any requests their opposition may make and try to accommodate those requests where possible please. These could be playing on a different day of the week (in accordance with the Covid Regulations Addendum provided to clubs on 14 September), swapping home and away fixtures to accommodate pitch availability, amongst other things. Thank you.

Following on from Hockey Wales's decision to delay the start of their leagues until January 2021 due to Covid-19 and the lockdowns currently in place in South Wales the following decisions have been made:

All games involving the Welsh teams in Premier Division 1 up to 1st January 2021 are declared null and void.

If restrictions on Welsh clubs are lifted in January 2021 they will play their remaining scheduled fixtures.

In this scenario final divisional placings will be determined on a points per game (PPG) basis. PPG represents the number of points gained by teams in all League fixtures divided by the number of fixtures played. If teams are level on points then goals per game will be used.

Should restrictions not have been lifted on Welsh clubs by the start of the reversed fixtures (30 January 2021) all remaining fixtures involving the Welsh teams will be declared ‘null and void’. In this circumstance the Welsh teams will have their original 2020/21 placements in Premier Division 1 protected.

If Hockey Wales and Welsh Government regulations allow competitive hockey to resume prior to the 30th January the expectation is that this will happen and all outstanding fixtures are fulfilled (excluding those already null and void).

If any of these Welsh teams wish to ghost for the whole season they must make this decision by end of day on Saturday 17 October.

The new season player registration paperwork was emailed to clubs on 14 September . Once clubs have completed these they need to be sent to all the secretaries who cover the divisions all your teams play in. These need to be received by them no later than 17 October unless you have brought any matches forward of this date in which case the paperwork need to be received 7 days before the new date of the fixture.

The registration form itself is an Excel document and as such cannot be loaded on to the website so if you need a copy of this document please contact the League Secretary.

All clubs should keep abreast of any news items by EH on their website - either on their main news section or via the Covid-19 Support tab at the top of the home page.

Clubs should have had contact from EH on 18 June with regard to completing their survey which is in 2 parts. Part 1 relates to the Implications of Covid-19 and the second part to the Structure Fit for the Future although they can be answered separately. Please ensure your club has its say as this will, firstly, enable EH to get your views on how we can get on with preparing for the new season and getting a starting date. Then secondly, the way ahead for the 21-22 season.

Please note both surveys need to be completed no later than 15 July 2020.

In light of the ongoing situation with Coronavirus England Hockey recommends that people involved in sport follow the government's advice, which is updated on a daily basis on the Gov.UK website. EH has also produced an article which sets out what action club members, officials and spectators need to take to prevent the spread of the virus. This can be found by using the attached link or by clicking on the blue box on the Home page entitled News from England Hockey.

Presently there is no suggestion that our events should not proceed, but sensible precautions should be taken. Players, parents and officials who do attend our events should refrain from shaking hands before and after games and wash their hands with soap and water or an appropriate hand gel regularly.

If players and / or their immediate family and close friends have returned from countries where coronavirus is widespread, government advice is that they should self isolate. They should NOT participate in our events. This is the responsibility of the parents, players and coaches themselves and not something that WCWHL can manage and enforce.

Everyone is reminded that all players should abide by the EH Code of Behaviour for Players as per the attached. Please take time to read this important document and ensure that you pass this on to other members of the club who do not access the website.

If your match is cancelled due to the weather, pitch, travelling conditions etc and will be re-arranged on a new date both teams should go in and mark that fixture as cancelled. This is the only time the Cancelled box should be used.

If your match is not played because you, or your opposition, cannot fulfil a fixture (i.e. it will not be played at all) please DO NOT mark this fixture as Cancelled. Instead you must inform your divisional secretary who will take the necessary action on the website. (When you mark a unfulfilled fixture as cancelled it causes issues with the administration part of the website, which means unnecessary work on my part).

Thank you, Webmaster WCWHL

If severe weather or travelling conditions have caused your match to be cancelled please go as if you are entering the result but only tick the Cancelled box. This will put the fixture back onto the system and once a new date has been agreed this can be put in and the fixture will appear under the relevant date. Both teams need to do this as it acts as confirmation that the fixture did not take place.
If your match does not go ahead because your opposition cannot raise a team, DO NOT enter anything on the website but contact the relevant secretary for your team to advise them - he/she will then take the appropriate action of cancelling the fixture.

Clubs must ensure times on the website clearly reflect the correct start time of the match. In the event the start time of a match is changed after it has been confirmed with your opposition you MUST ensure you contact them and get confirmation from them, in writing, that they have this new time. DO NOT assume that they will just happen to check the site to see if the time has changed as there is every likelihood they won’t. The onus is on you as the home team to make sure the information is correct and up to date.

If your match was an unfulfilled fixture do not enter a result but contact the league administrator(s) instead who will take the necessary action.
If your match was cancelled due to the weather, use the cancelled section to confirm that the match did not take place and ensure that you re-arrange this in accordance with the Regulations.

Please use the attached link to access the EH Best Practice Guidance which covers the subject of photography at matches, events, etc. We should all be mindful about taking photographs particularly when this involves under 18s and getting the consent of those concerned.

Clubs are reminded that postponed fixtures need to be re-arranged within 14 days of the date of the original match and your league secretary should be advised in writing of the new date. Your league secretary should also be notified of the postponement no later than 7pm on the day of the game other wise you will incur a fine of 10 pounds. Also, some of you need to visit the website and where you would enter the result you should note that the game was postponed.

It has been brought to my attention that offensive language was heard during a match in the vicinity of young players. I understand this can sometimes be due to player frustration but clubs are reminded that all players (and supporters) should demonstrate the highest standard of behaviour before, during and after a game. Please treat everyone involved in your game with the respect they deserve.

Clubs must ensure any umpires they use are suitably qualified, before they umpire the game and that is the only interest we have with them. You are reminded that the use of candidate umpires is only allowed in Divisions 2 and below and only one per match as per Regulation 8a ii). If you have any issues about the standard of umpiring these should be directed to your County Umpiring Association