Bye Law Change Requests for AGM 2018 Bye Law change requests have been received from the Board, Portrane HC, Railway Union HC and the Men s Committee and are listed on this document. Clubs will be asked to vote on these at the AGM. Proposed by The LHA Board Proposal: The LHA Hockey Sections amend the competition rules so that in the event of a draw at the end of normal time in Cup Competitions the game will go straight to a penalty shoot-out (as per FIH regulations). Current Situation FIH - shootout (1v1) *pg19, reference to competition regulation Hockey Ireland Cup - shootout (1v1) *pg7 appendix a Ladies Leinster - ET, silver Goal, flicks *BL2.2.1.l is non specific but refers as determined by LHA... specifics communicated by LLC direct email during season Junior Girls as per Leinster Ladies Leinster Men Shoot Out Schoolgirls Shoot Out Schoolboys extra time, penalty strokes Proposed by The LHA Board Proposal: Conduct of players & spectators The general Committee of every affiliated club shall be responsible for the good conduct of players and spectators who are members of the club at all matches in connection with the Branch competitions and the Irish cup competitions played on the club's ground or ground used by the club. Similarly, the general Committee of the visiting club shall be responsible for the conduct of its players and spectators who are members of the club while on the grounds or premises of the home club. Where matches are played on neutral ground the general Committee of each participating club shall be responsible for the conduct of its players and such spectators who are members of the club while on the grounds or premises of the host club or grounds used by the host club, association or other body at which such matches are played. In the above circumstances the general Committee of a club shall also be responsible for the general behaviour of supporters who are clearly identified with the club even though they may not be members of the club. General Committees of affiliated clubs shall take reasonable steps to ensure that this rule is observed and the rule shall remain in operation for a period commencing fifteen minutes prior to the official time of starting the match and terminating forty-five minutes after the conclusion thereof. Proposed By: Portrane Hockey Club Proposal: To ask the Leinster Hockey Executive Committee to undertake a comprehensive review of the policies around league structures with a particular emphasis on the 1st team s within clubs and their alignment within the Leinster hockey leagues. This review to include any bye laws that may need to be amended and the report to be concluded in advance of the Leinster hockey Agm in 2019. Delete Bye Law : Not Applicable Replace Bye-law: Not Applicable Insert New Bye-law: Not Applicable
Proposed by: Men s Committee The existing Bye-Law is as follows: 2.1.2 Promotion & Relegation Two teams will be promoted and two demoted between each Division, with the following provisos: a. Only 1st XI's teams may play in Division 1. b. If only one 1st XI finishes in first or second place in Division 2 they will be automatically promoted to Division 1. The 10th place team in Division 1 will be relegated. c. If two 1st XI teams finish in 1st and 2nd place in Division 2, they both shall be automatically promoted. The 9th and 10th place teams in Division 1 will be relegated. d. If neither above occur, then the highest placed 1st XI team in any of positions 3 to 8 of Division 2 shall have a play-off game against the 10th placed team in Division 1. The winner of this game will be promoted to Division 1 and the loser of this game relegated to Division 2. e. Where a team in all the other Divisions cannot be promoted because of no more than team from a club in each division then the next best placed team will be invited to be involved in a play-off match with one of the relegation teams to decide promotion. f. Where relegation results in two (2) teams from the same club being in the one Division the lower ranked club team will be relegated to the Division below. g. Where the Branch has had to amend the league structure in any given season, these changes will be brought to the attention of the clubs as soon as possible. In the case of a play-off match not being played, a decision will then be made by the Committee on how to decide the outcome of the play-off situation. Play off matches shall be on a ground determined by the Committee with LHUA appointed umpires (where available). Following the completion of all fixtures in a given league, the Section Committee can determine that a promotion/regulation situation exists and may order fixtures to resolve same. Suggested change: 2.1.2 Promotion & Relegation The objective of promotion and relegation is to encourage merit based competition, and the Section committee will work to ensure this. Teams will be promoted and relegated as follows: a. Each division will be processed once all higher divisions/league have been processed. b. All teams being relegated from the higher division/league will be added at the top of the current one. All subsequent teams will move into lower positions. c. All teams at or lower than position 9 will be classed as relegation candidates and removed from the current division. d. The spaces will be filled with the top teams from the next lower division but only as far down as the number of available places with due regard to league structure rules. e. If there are still spaces remaining, the Section committee will select an appropriate set of promotion candidates from all lower divisions, the number of which is not to exceed the number of places available. The Section committee will facilitate a fair and efficient playoff competition between the relegation candidates and the promotion candidates, the winners of which will be promoted. f. All remaining relegation candidates will be relegated to the next lower division. g. Where relegation results in two (2) teams from the same club being in the one Division the lower ranked club team will be relegated to the Division below. (From here the Bye-Law remains unchanged) In the case of a play-off match not being played, a decision will then be made by the Committee on how to decide the outcome of the play-off situation. Play off matches shall be on a ground determined by the Committee with LHUA appointed umpires (where available). Following the completion of all fixtures in a given league, the Section Committee can determine that a promotion/regulation situation exists and may order fixtures to resolve same.
Also, the existing 2.1.2(a) will be moved to section 2.1. Proposed By: Railway Union HC Proposal Delete Bye Law: No 3.1.2 Paragraph 3 and 4 Where a team has to travel more than 80 km from its home pitch to fulfil an away fixture, the starting time of the fixture shall not be earlier than 12:00 and no later than 17:00 on Saturday or Sunday and no earlier than 19:30 or later than 21:00 from Monday to Friday. Teams must confirm fixture times at least 6 days in advance and the home team must enter the fixture time and venue on the LHA website by 13:00 the following day (i.e. 5 days in advance). Once confirmed changes cannot be made without the assent of the Fixtures Secretary/Fixtures Sub-committee. No 3.5.4 Paragraph 1 dates of which one must be a Sunday. Replace Bye-law: No 3.1.2 Paragraph 3 and 4 with the following All other league and cup matches must start no earlier than 9:30 and no later than 18:00 at weekend unless agreed by both Clubs. All matches should be no earlier than 19:30 or later than 21:00 from Monday to Friday unless agreed by both Clubs Where a team has to travel more than 80 km from its home pitch to fulfil an away fixture, the starting time of the fixture shall not be earlier than 12:00 and no later than 17:00 on Saturday or Sunday. Teams must input start time and venue on the LHA website before deadlines set down for each period by the LHA. There will be a small number of these throughout the season and they will cover periods of at least 1 month of fixtures or longer. Once confirmed changes cannot be made without the assent of the Fixtures Secretary/Fixtures Sub-committee. Replace Bye-law No. 3.5.4 Paragraph 1 with the following dates (all of which meet the normal fixture parameters (ie time / day) Insert New Bye-law: No. 3.1.2 All other league and cup matches must start no earlier than 9:30 and no later than 18:00 at weekend unless agreed by both Clubs. All matches should be no earlier than 19:30 or later than 21:00 from Monday to Friday unless agreed by both Clubs Where a team has to travel more than 80 km from its home pitch to fulfil an away fixture, the starting time of the fixture shall not be earlier than 12:00 and no later than 17:00 on Saturday or Sunday. Teams must input start time and venue on the LHA website before deadlines set down for each period by the LHA. There will be a small number of these throughout the season and they will cover periods of at least 1 month of fixtures or longer. Once confirmed changes cannot be made without the assent of the Fixtures Secretary/Fixtures Sub-committee.
No. 3.5.4 dates all of which meet the normal fixture parameters (ie time / day). Rational for proposed changes are to make it easier for young adult participation especially in Leinster league hockey. 1. Friday evening is a time slot which is available on some league hockey pitches from time to time. The ability to play league matches involving clubs from the same county on a Friday evening as normal practice will be attractive to players who can spend the Saturday time for social / family time. Friday evening matches are common in other similar leagues such as Metro rugby and Leinster senior League soccer. Hockey is one of the sports via extensive floodlighting that can avail of this. 2. The technology is available to allow for start times to be uploaded for the entire season. Up to now away teams didn t get confirmed start times until 6 days in advance. We believe with changes to peoples working and recreation time that on occasions this is insufficient time to make plans to plan hockey due to other commitments ie weekend work / family. We believe this impacts on the number of young adults who can play hockey more regularly. So we are proposing that the LHA have a number of cut off dates for start times laid out over the season. So for example 4 dates. An example: Start times of fixtures before and including the 31 st October need to be confirmed by Sunday 2 nd September Start times of fixtures from the 1 st November 31 st December need to be confirmed by Sunday 30 th September Start times of fixtures from the 1 st January - 28 th February inclusive need to be confirmed by Sunday 25 th November Start times of fixtures from the 1s March to the end of the season need to be confirmed by Sunday 27 th January The above is just an example of what it might look like. There could be just one date (full season start times) or 2 (before and after Christmas) at the discretion of the LHA. But definitely we believe regular availability of players will increase as a result of clubs knowing start times of all matches much further in advance than the case currently. 3. Re 3 dates for refixes and must include a Sunday. We propose to lose this need to include a Sunday. Apart from the Ladies Sunday league which obviously take place on Sundays, more of an effort needs to be made to keep adult hockey on Saturdays and junior boys and girls club hockey on Sunday. Apart from pitches to play on junior players need coaches / managers / lifts and umpires to play and these are often senior team players. By discarding the need to include a Sunday as a refix date for an adult match it will reduce the amount of times junior hockey is cancelled due to no pitch or coaches / umpires unavailable, which unfortunately does occur. We particularly note boys hockey has relatively low numbers currently and believe this rule change will give boys hockey more support and room to breath as it is usually played on Sunday afternoons. Clubs will still be able to offer and take up Sunday refix dates but the regularity of them being offered and taken up will be reduced somewhat due to the fact its not mandatory anymore thus as outlined giving Sundays more to junior hockey which is the future of the sport in a continuous rolling cycle.