The North West Hockey League manages competitive hockey within the North West Area and comprises just over 400 Men’s and Women’s teams. Our teams are based in Cheshire, Cumbria, Derbyshire, Greater Manchester, Lancashire, Merseyside, North Wales and Shropshire.
The North West Hockey Adult League Management Committee (ALMC) is responsible for managing the League with Divisional Secretaries working directly with Clubs and teams to ensure we have a fair and consistent competition. The structure of the ALMC can be found in the Adult Hockey Contacts page.
The League provides a single structure in which North West teams can compete, from foundation hockey at Grade 5 through to Premiership at Grade 2. The structure is consistent across Men’s and Women’s hockey, with 17 Divisions for Men and 18 for Women. The structure is provided in the League Structure attachment on this page.
The League operates under the Adult League Regulations, agreed at a National Level in conjunction with the other 7 Areas and England Hockey. Regulations can be found under the Regulations and Supporting Documents page.
The ALMC reviews the structure of the League and sets promotions and relegations for each Division. This structure is reviewed each year taking account of relegations from National League and applications received for changing the number of teams in the North West Area.
Game Management System (GMS)
The GMS is used in the North West to register players, manage fixtures and record results and match details. This is a national system, common across all 8 Areas.
As per the new Adult League Regulations every player will need to register on the GMS to be eligible to play league hockey. Only registered players can be selected in online team sheets which applies to every game, irrespective of area or level of the game. This player registration will ensure that a fair selection policy is maintained, guided by the regulations, and a transfer process is in place if players wish to move clubs.
Fixture Management
All North West Hockey League Fixtures, results and tables can be found in our dedicated match centre.
North West Hockey aims to balance home and away fixtures for clubs to optimise pitch space and make club administrators' lives easier. Clubs will need to enter venues and times for all fixtures into GMS within given timescales and team managers and captains will be responsible for match day administration.
Please ensure all team contact details on GMS are up-to-date to enable smooth communication between teams participating in the North West Hockey Leagues.
Contacts
If you have any questions relating to the Adult Leagues and Competitions, the main contacts for the North West Hockey Area are below. The list of Divisional Secretaries can be found in the Adult Hockey Contacts page.