Last night the EIHA shared some great news for our plans to return to competitive play, when they announced that they had successfully secured from the government £1.2m for the three NIHL divisions. This has been down to the determined efforts of the EIHA Board, and in particular board member Andrew Miller who has worked tirelessly as our NIHL National liaison and in driving the funding application. We’d like to extend our thanks to Andrew and the Board for what they have achieved.

What we need to do now is to work through the detail to understand the form and allocation of the funding to model the impact that it will have on NIHL National clubs. This will involve looking at how the funding can be made available (e.g. through grants or loans), what needs to be put in place to draw down on it, and how much is available to each club.… Read the rest

The NIHL National Owners Group met earlier this week to reflect on the Streaming Series and discuss the potential next steps in our plans to return to competitive play. There was general agreement that the Streaming Series provided valuable insight into the viability of behind-closed-doors play, and was very well supported by fans from across the UK. It provided fantastic entertainment over the three weekends and the group would like to extend huge thanks to everyone involved, including the clubs, rink operators, streaming providers and fans. Well done to all three teams who took part.

Moving forward, we recognise that the world is changing and that there have been some positive developments in government guidance. Currently there are a number of NIHL National teams who are in Tier 2 areas which would potentially allow fans back in, subject to various rules and conditions, to watch games in person. There are also some in Tier 3 for which the restrictions are, at the moment, greater.… Read the rest