Development Teams Notes

The Mr Cricket Hockey East Area Adult Hockey Leagues structure makes provision for Development Teams. The purpose of this provision is to support and encourage participation in the lowest divisions of the league. The intention is to provide experience of playing hockey within a league, both from a playing and administration perspective. It is hoped that it will give new team or club start-ups the opportunity to ‘learn the ropes’ when they may not yet be confident of full participation in a competitive League. It is anticipated that a Development Team would play on this basis for one or two seasons as the aspiration is to establish an Adult Team that plays on a competitive basis.

Key Points

• Development Teams can only play in the lowest ranked division of the vertical league structure
• Development Team entry must be submitted on the Adult League Team Entry Form before the 1^st May
• A Development Team may not change their status to an Adult Team after the divisions are established.
• An Adult team may request to change their status to a development team and complete the season in accordance with the development team rules.
• A Development Team is expected to play fixtures each scheduled week, a Development Team will be removed from the division if they fail to honour more than 4 fixtures during the season (see Regulation 4.3), including away matches.
• In general, the Standard Adult League Regulations apply to all Development Teams but with greater leniency in terms of compliance with Player Eligibility/Fair Selection. The following key variations apply in the East:
  • All matches are played as friendlies; this includes matches against other Development Teams and Adult Teams playing on a competitive basis
    • GMS team sheets and post-match information should be submitted as per the Standard Adult League Regulations (see Regulation 9.4)
    • Results for development team matches will remain in the league tables to allow teams to see how their performance progresses during the season.
    • At the end of the season all points in a Development Team fixture will be removed i.e., no points will be awarded to either side and the final positions will be determined with results against adult teams only. The ALMC will periodically produce tables excluding the development teams to allow adult teams to see where they stand. These tables will be posted to the East website rather than GMS. 

Selection Principles

• A Development Team must have a minimum of 6 core players i.e., players who have not played for another team in the league on that day (and must have a minimum of 7 players to play the match). Whilst a match may take place with a team providing fewer than 6 core or 7 total players, this may be counted by the ALMC as failure to honour the fixture for the purposes of assessing the teams viability.
• Team selection of the Development Team and their opposition may be supplemented as follows:
  • Players of grade 4 or below playing down from other teams (of the same gender) from that Club. It is expected that players playing down from a higher Grade will do so in the spirit of ‘development’ i.e., not try to dominate the game
  • Players whose regular team is grade 2 or 3 may request an SXP to play in a development team.  A grade 2 or 3 player playing a development team match without an approved SXP will be deemed to not be complying with the principles of team selection and will attract a T1 fine.
  • ‘Borrowing’ players from the opposing team or other clubs. It should be noted, it is not the oppositions obligation to provide players to fulfil the fixture and if they do not chose to do so, the match is still subject to the requirement for a team to fulfill a fixture with an eligible squad.
  • Players aged 12 with the agreement of their parent/guardian and if the Club can ensure that the player has the physical development and confidence to participate
  • In games featuring a development team, both sides may select players aged 12, not just the development team
  • ALL players must be registered on GMS, U18 players must be registered via a parent as an U18 related player.

Additional Playing Restrictions

• Players whose regular team is in a higher grade may not participate in attacking short corners
• Goals scored by players whose regular team is in grades 3 & 4 will not count towards Top Scorers charts or end of season awards.

Failure to Fulfil Fixtures

• As points are ultimately not awarded for Development team games, points will not be deducted for failing to fulfil the fixture, instead on a teams third walkover a T1 (£25) fine will be applied. Matches between adult sides in Development Divisions will be treated as per the regulations, ie 5-0 walkover and a 1 point deduction. Note: Development sides are still subject to the same cost to opposition factors as adult sides if there is a last minute (after 23:59 Wednesday for a Saturday fixture) cancellation.
• A 5-0 walkover will not be applied to any Development Team fixture and will be marked as cancelled.
• Normal match cancellation protocols MUST be followed.
• A development team that repeatedly fails to fulfil league fixtures may be removed from the league schedule in line with regulation 4.3.1, should this happen, the withdrawn team will be free to arrange the previously scheduled match as a friendly, however the fulfilment obligations on the other team will be removed.
• All grade 5 matches may be moved to an alternative date by mutual consent between both clubs. In such a case the league manager must be informed in order to make the change on GMS. Once a date change has been agreed and implemented on GMS, all regulations with regard to fulfilling the fixture will be relevant with respect to the new date.
• We would note that due to the revised England Hockey Transgender policy, a female born player wishing to play in a development team in an open / men’s league will no longer be eligible to play in the Women’s league.

If a Development Team is not able to meet these criteria, then participation is not recommended