Scottish Hockey announced the U18 Youth Cup draw today with a new format designed to reduce costs. The event’s fixtures start 22 November and end at the final in April.
Scottish Hockey Youth Development Officer Steven Percy said: “This year we have changed to a central venues format to try and make the competition fairer to our participating teams. By using central venues we play a number of matches on the same day, reducing continual travel costs and trying to ensure everyone travels an equal distance.
“A healthy side effect is that the teams involved instantly obtain more matches during the season. As the old format was a knock-out, some teams only played a handful of matches throughout the competition. More matches means more opportunity to develop youth players.”
Pool matches will take a place over pre-set dates across five venues. The venues include: Bellahouston in Glasgow, Forthbank Stadium in Stirling, Peffermill in Edinburgh, DISC in Dundee and Meadowmill in East Lothian. Fixtures will be played on 22 November, 21 February, 28 February, 21 March and 28 March with the final coinciding with the GB Super League on 18 April at Peffermill.
The event is the premier domestic competition at U18 level with a total of 29 teams competing for the cup this year. There are 12 teams in the boys’ draw, 12 in the girls’ draw and 5 boys’ teams in the reserve cup.
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