Much was promised for the 2016 MHL last year with a new look Competitions Committee formed and several Task Force groups formed to focus on certain national level tournaments.
Yes there were some changes, the inaugural Women's Junior Hockey League, the change of the Under 16 from a 11 a side to 9 a side and the introduction of the Women's Razak Cup, which in reality is a change of name from RNA Cup to Razak Cup and played simultaneously as the men's version.
But it is the MHL that the focus is on.
Looking at the calendar the MHL is scheduled to start after Sukma and must end by the first week of September, thus a period of six weeks.
No change here in terms of the duration of the MHL as for the past 3 years this has been the story.
The MHL has to end early September as the national team and the development team are playing in the Australian National League ( the Aussie version of Razak Cup)
And one must also remember that the Rio Olympics will be held in August.
But why the fuss as Malaysia is not playing at Rio!
Well the MHL parades foreign players and the other teams that have not made it to Rio are Korea and Pakistan. Oh yes before I forget, Bangladesh, Sti Lanka, Thailand, Singapore , Myanmar and Hong Kong.
So will the MHL see an influx of players from two countries at the most or second rate players from other countries?
If that is the case then why hold the MHL in the first place? Why rush it over a period of six weeks? Why are we providing a platform for second rate players from overseas to benefit?
It seems the Competitions Committee will meet in May to come up with the ideas and plans for the MHL.
The MHL has the potential, make no mistake about it as its a strong marketing tool for the national body, it showcases our best players.
Maybe for this year that's what it should be - only local players to feature in the MHL.
Let's develop our own instead of developing players from other countries.
A level playing field may make the MHL all the more interesting.
