Hong Kong Veterans – a Veterans League to start!

With the growth of the number of Veteran Hockey players in Hong Kong the potential to create a league for these players has been addressed and it has been decided by the Hong Kong Hockey Association –Veterans Section to establish a Veterans League

The following steps are therefore to be taken:

-Removing the current Veterans A and B teams from the main leagues

-Generating interest from up to 8 teams to get a league started to commence in Sept 2014

-A number have already committed to the league: Nav Bharat, KCC and HKFC ( 2 teams)

-Other teams have confirmed interest: Valley, HKCC, IUHK

-Further teams are to be approached:Khalsa, Shaheen, ,Recreio, and others who express interest

-There could be an opportunity for some teams to initially ‘combine’ to get a full roster of players, and the Vets League will allow players to play for different clubs initially to help get the league started.

Pitch Requirements–HKHA have kindly offered to provide assistance with pitch bookings and the Vets League will be run at a number of pitches to ensure players from all parts of Hong Kong can participate – there will be games at Happy Valley, Boundary St and Lok Fu, and potentially at Kings Park

Additionally HKFC have kindly allowed their teams games to be played at the HKFC pitch so there will be no further pressure on pitch times from this league – taking the Vets teams out of the league actually means that overall requirements for pitch time will decrease as the extra games are to be played at HKFC

Financials – Costs – It is intended to charge teams HK$8,000 to enter the league which will be used in the following manner:

-HK$ 100 per player to be a registered HK Veteran, and assuming 20 players registered per team that would be HK$2,000 per team = HK$16,000

-Running costs of the league which would cover the following:
- @40 pitch times @ HK$278 per session = @HK$12,000 (not covered by HKHA)

-Admin costs to HKHA for managing the fixtures,etc - @ HK$20,000

-Expenses ( Trophy?, Meetings, Kit?) - @ HK8,000

-TOTAL COSTS - @ HK$56,00

- 8 teams pay HK$8000 to enter = HK$64,000 – so there is a small surplus for
any other expenses( Interport, Tournament)

With a squad of 20 players in the team each player has to contribute HK$400… for a season of 14 games ( @ HK$ 30 per game…), including their registration to the HK Veterans Section ( Note that subscriptions to the Vets Mens Section were HK$800 last season so the players are getting a good deal..!!)

Umpires – would propose that teams provide their own umpires – most Vets teams should have registered umpires and if teams wanted to pay others to perform their duties that would be up to them..

Management – HK Veterans Sections would take responsibility for the League and have set up a working committee to structure the league and to sort out the practical requirements – registrations, fixtures, results, etc – working with the administration of the HKHA to establish the league

Player Registration Teams will be allowed to register more than 20 players, but ALL players will need to pay the HK$100 registration fee to be a Veterans Section Member, so if a team decides to register 25 players, the team will need to pay HK$8,500 ( HK$8,000 plus HK$500 for the extra players).

Additional players added during the season will also need to pay the registration fee of HK$100

Next steps:

-Teams to commit to joining the league – we would like confirmations by July 15th to allow for us to develop the fixtures and ensure pitch bookings.

-Register teams and players ( August)

-Start the league ( September)

We are looking forward to this next chapter in the development of Veterans Hockey in Hong Kong and hope that you will support this development which will broaden the base of players playing Veterans Hockey and make us more competitive for Veterans tournaments here and abroad.

The next tournament we are planning to attend will be the Asian Masters to be held in Kuala Lumpur in 2015 ( exact dates to be confirmed) and we have plans to take 4 teams ( Mens40; 50 and 60; and a Ladies Team) so we will need a good base of players from which to select.

If you have any queries or questions, please send me an email

Simon Shepherdson,

Chairman, Hong Kong Hockey Association, Veterans Section