Last year we devised the first ever masters competition across the NW - The North West 500 and it was a great success!
This is how it works:
- Goalie can be either sex, any Masters age group (35+)
- Mixed teams normally 5 men + 5 ladies outfield; any number of subs allowed
- Combined ages of outfield players must always add up to 500 or more
- Playing approx. weekly, May to mid-July in a league structure
Last year we started with 9 teams each in a “Northern” league (roughly Warrington & North) and a “Southern” league (rest of Cheshire & Greater Manchester). We will allocate each pair of teams in a league a “Match window” normally of 1 week, within which it’s up to the teams to agree where and when to play.
To make it as easy as possible for clubs to get a team together we allow various elements of flexibility, in particular
- You can field more ladies than men if you wish, and can subtract 20 from your required age total for every extra lady (e.g. if 7 ladies & 3 men outfield you’d only have to have ages adding up to 460 rather than 500)
- In special circumstances (e.g. you only have 5 ladies but lots of men one week and need to give the ladies a breather) you can field an extra man, in which case you must ADD 20 to your required age total (i.e. it becomes 520)
Otherwise normal mixed hockey rules apply – so the first strike at any penalty corner must be taken by a lady.
Some clubs would like to join in but can’t commit to getting a team out every week, so we’re also looking at running a tournament format competition one (or more) weekend to accommodate them.
Finally we totally understand that some clubs don’t have enough older players – we’d be delighted if you wanted to join forces with another local club or clubs, or simply to invite a bunch of guest players to help you put a team together.