Hockey New Zealand is pleased to announce in partnership with the School Sport New Zealand and the New Zealand Sports Collective, that instead of holding National Tournaments in 2020 they will be hosting regional-based tournaments.

Hockey New Zealand has been monitoring the Covid 19 situation carefully and has been working with the School Sports New Zealand, our Associations and many school Principals around what Winter Tournament Week will look like in the hockey space in 2020.

Due to several factors such as domestic travel, tournament administration and the financial impact that the Covid 19 crisis has had on our community. Hockey New Zealand has made the following changes to the Secondary Schools Tournament Week Structure.

National Tournaments such as Federation and Rankin Cup as well as all tier 3 and 4 tournaments will not be run in 2020. The venues will be rolled over to the 2021 season to ensure that schools deposits can be held in credit.

Schools that were eligible to attend Rankin Cup, Federation Cup, India Shield and Marie Fry Trophy will now attend three regional Premiership tournaments. The venues for these tournaments will be Christchurch, Palmerston North and North Harbour.

This will also allow for the Boys and Girls tournaments to be held at the same venue for the first time, meaning, for example, the Premiership Boys and Girls regional tournaments for the South Island will both be held at Ngā Puna Wai in Christchurch.

Schools that were due to attend tier 3 or 4 tournaments will be eligible to enter into the Championship tournaments held in their region. These tournaments will be held in Dunedin, Nelson (South Island), Wellington, Hawkes Bay (Lower North Island), Whangarei and Pukekohe (Upper North Island).

We understand that this time has been very difficult on people throughout the community and believe that a regionally based tournament approach is the best solution to allowing our Secondary Schools to still receive a tournament experience.

The results of this year’s tournament will have no impact on the teams place at next year’s tournaments and will not contribute towards promotion or relegation in the 2021 seasons. All schools will retain their eligibility in these tournaments based on the 2019 hockey season.

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Article added: Thursday 04 June 2020