Before the invitation or rather the entry forms can be despatched from the Malaysian Hockey Federation office in Bukit Jalil, this blog can reveal that Ernst & Young will not be participating in the MHL this season.
Infact if my source is right, the other team that could well sit out of the MHL will be Sapura.
Thus without the participation of these two big guns, it will appropriate to rename the Malaysian Hockey League to No Hockey League (NHL).
The decison by E&Y not to further participate was revealed on this blog after last seasons final where E&Y won the title defeating Sapura on penalty strokes.
And their non participation in the forthcoming league was confirmed by Team Principal (to borrow a term from Formula 1) George Koshy.
' A decision to the effect was taken and there will not by an E&Y team participating in the MHL this season. The players have been informed accordingly', was all that George was willing to say at this time.
While the absence of E&Y will be sorely felt, the rumours that Sapura will also sit out comes as a surprise given that it has been the mainstay of the MHL for years. Perhaps the departure of Maninderjit Singh who assumed the position of MHF General Manager has somewhat affected the defensive abilities of the team that have also lost the likes of Ken Pereira who was the backbone of the Sapura team for years.
So where does this leave the MHL which was to be limited to 8 teams by the MHF. The usual suspects in the likes of TNB, Maybank, RMR, Nur Insafi are likely to participate but the question mark is just who can afford the players offloaded by these two teams.
There is an attempt to form a new club side by a former international and UniKL could well participate if the fulfill the requirements in the rules that were left out by the MHF Secretariat over the years with the copy and paste techniques.
So will there be a MHL? Those in MHF will say yes but what is the point of having it just because to satisfy the ego of some people, might as well have the NHL.
Infact if my source is right, the other team that could well sit out of the MHL will be Sapura.
Thus without the participation of these two big guns, it will appropriate to rename the Malaysian Hockey League to No Hockey League (NHL).
The decison by E&Y not to further participate was revealed on this blog after last seasons final where E&Y won the title defeating Sapura on penalty strokes.
And their non participation in the forthcoming league was confirmed by Team Principal (to borrow a term from Formula 1) George Koshy.
' A decision to the effect was taken and there will not by an E&Y team participating in the MHL this season. The players have been informed accordingly', was all that George was willing to say at this time.
While the absence of E&Y will be sorely felt, the rumours that Sapura will also sit out comes as a surprise given that it has been the mainstay of the MHL for years. Perhaps the departure of Maninderjit Singh who assumed the position of MHF General Manager has somewhat affected the defensive abilities of the team that have also lost the likes of Ken Pereira who was the backbone of the Sapura team for years.
So where does this leave the MHL which was to be limited to 8 teams by the MHF. The usual suspects in the likes of TNB, Maybank, RMR, Nur Insafi are likely to participate but the question mark is just who can afford the players offloaded by these two teams.
There is an attempt to form a new club side by a former international and UniKL could well participate if the fulfill the requirements in the rules that were left out by the MHF Secretariat over the years with the copy and paste techniques.
So will there be a MHL? Those in MHF will say yes but what is the point of having it just because to satisfy the ego of some people, might as well have the NHL.
