LHA Statement re National Indoor Competition
January 24, 2015
The Leinster Hockey Association have requested that the Irish Hockey Association reverse the decision to award the National Indoor title to Queens University and have asked that a new date is set to run the National final.
The LHA Indoor Competition through the great efforts of Rob Abbot (Railway Union ) was reinstated in late September when it looked that the IHA may not be organising one this season. The Tony Byrne trophy was returned to Leinster having been loaned to the IHA for the National competition for the past few years. The Ulster Branch organised their competition with two Men sides participating and in the absence of an All-Ireland final QUB were “declared†winners.
The dates and venues for the Leinster competition were booked with the final set for early January. The LHA only became aware of the overlap of dates when approached in late December for the names of the Leinster winner to contest the All-Ireland. The LHA requested a deferment until the Leinster winners were known. No prior information was communicated regarding the final date nor the IHA website updated
The current IHA Indoor committee was established by invitation, the LHA had not been requested to nominate a member.
The LHA has always supported the promotion of the Indoor game but believe that having separate provincial and All-Ireland competitions is not necessary from a calendar and expense prospective.
The LHA were very disappointed that the "winners" of the IHA Indoor were declared rather than win the right to represent Ireland at indoor level. The LHA support the demand of the Leinster champions who are seeking the opportunity to play and possibly win the title of National Champions.
