After numerous years involved in hockey, both locally and internationally, as Umpire and Umpires Manager, Luis Romero has decided to retire.

The GHA would like to take this opportunity to thank Luis for the time and work he has given to hockey and especially for promoting local hockey abroad during his trips.

The SG Hambros Senior Leagues will commence next weekend, Saturday 24th January, those teams who have still not handed over the Players Registration Form should do so by latest Wednesday 21st January. Furthermore I would also like to remind those clubs who may have new players that have still not signed up, that they must be registered by Thursday 22nd January otherwise they will be unable to play on the first week.

The Men's 1st and 2nd Division will consist of 4 rounds.

I have happy to announce that this year will see a 4th team, Lions Hawks 2 (in additional to the Barclays Wealth Youth Team), taking part in the Ladies League. Although games played against them will not carry any value (no points will be won or lost against this team), due to the fact that this team will require some players from Lions Hawks 1, it will add additional games to this League.

The Ladies League will consist of 3 rounds where all 4 teams will take part and an additional round where the 3 Full Teams (Lions Hawks 1, Eagles and Barclays Wealth) will compete against each other. The GHA decided to do this due to the lack of weekends available and to avoid having to play during long weekends where it often so hard to get a team together.

The GHA will not allow any team to postpone matches and those games which will have to be cancelled due to bad weather will be reallocated to a Sunday afternoon.

Congratulations to Collegians Vets who won the men's competition and Eagles Ladies who won their competition without losing (only drawing one game).

This season the GHA will see the start of a 5 year plan for its Men's Senior Side, as we aim to mirror our efforts shown with the work with our youth programme, which now sees a steady flow of youngsters feeding our senior sides. The aim of this plan is to hopefully see Gibraltar return to the top 16 teams in Europe .

The GHA has made plans for the first 3 years which shall include euro competitions, training camps in foreign countries, local tests against visiting sides, fitness assessments, technical & tactical assessments, etc. After this period, we will review the results of these 3 years before moving forward.

In order to ensure that these plans, and the GHA squad, are led by the most competent individuals available, we are delighted to say that we think we have secured the services of a very strong and experienced 5 man management team.

The team will be composed as follows:

Team Manager              Stephen Valarino

Team Coach                  Steven Soussi

Team Consultant          Karl Stagno

Head of Delegation       Peter Pizarro

Team Secretary             Brian Buckley

Last Sunday saw the first training session, which was open to all senior male members (over the age of 16). There was a very good turn out, with representatives from all 3 first division clubs (even those players who are currently injured turned up to see the new project in full flow). The session included a fitness assessment as well as some basic drills. The general feed back from all players was very positive and they are all looking forward to being part of the future plans of the GHA.

The GHA next meet on the 14th December for another training session. We also plan to meet at the beginning of January where they will hold 2 training sessions & plan to have games against the visiting Great Britain Youth squad.

Further updates to follow.

Dear All,

As you may be aware the EHF are currently running a Survey about Values and Behaviour in hockey. The GHA is looking to assist them by asking you to complete the questionnaire before the 5th December 2008.

The EHF is trying to obtain feedback from hockey players throughout Europe and in a way is allowing us to have our say in the subject of Values and behaviour within the hockey field.

You will be able to find this questionnaire by clicking on the below link:

http://www.eurohockey.org/survey.htm

Thank you for your support!

As part of our 60th anniversary celebrations the Gibraltar Hockey Association committee will be starting our season with a social 6-a-side tournament for both men and ladies, which will be played on Saturday 11th October. This tournament will be held throughout the whole day. The idea of the tournament is to celebrate our 60th anniversary with both present and past players, as well as people who may have an interest in the sport, in a social and friendly atmosphere with the aim to attract more people to play socially.

This is the first of many events which will be held throughout the season as part of our celebrations.

The tournament will be an open tournament (no need to be a member of the GHA), although current teams have been encouraged to enter a couple of teams. The feedback from both members and non members (some retired players and supporters of local hockey) has been very positive and a good number of teams are expected.

Teams should have a minimum of 5 players (goal keepers will be present and can play for any team they wish) and there will be a £10 entrance fee per team, payable on the day, which would go to charity (Cancer Research). Players should be over 12 years of age.

MEN'S COMPETITION
Group A	Group B	Group C	Group D
Britannia H.T	Casi 30	Women Can't Drive	ICEMAN PARROSO
Willy Salsa H.C	Calpense H.T.	City Fire Brigade	Eagles 58
Grammarians Team 2	Taylor's 3rd Base Army	Europa H.T	Grammarians Team 1
Los Naranjito	Sloggers HC	Shampanski HC	The Vets
Pirates

MEN'S COMPETITION FIXTURES & RESULTS
10:00	MAIN	Grammarians Team 1	3	vs	0	The Vets
10:00	SMALL	Women Can't Drive	0	vs	2	City Fire Brigade
10:20	MAIN	ICEMAN PARROSO	5	vs	1	Eagles 58
10:20	SMALL	Britannia H.T	1	vs	1	Pirates
10:40	MAIN	Taylor's 3rd Base Army	0	vs	3	Sloggers H.C.
10:40	SMALL	Europa H.T	3	vs	3	Shampanski HC
11:00	MAIN	ICEMAN PARROSO	1	vs	2	Grammarians Team 1
11:00	SMALL	Britannia H.T	1	vs	1	Willy Salsa H.C
11:20	MAIN	Calpense H.T.	0	vs	1	Sloggers H.C.
11:20	SMALL	Los Naranjito	2	vs	2	Pirates
11:40	MAIN	Eagles 58	3	vs	0	The Vets
11:40	SMALL	Casi 30	5	vs	0	Calpense H.T.
12:00	MAIN	City Fire Brigade	0	vs	2	Shampanski HC
12:00	SMALL	Britannia H.T	3	vs	0	Grammarians Team 2
12:20	MAIN	Women Can't Drive	2	vs	3	Europa H.T
12:20	SMALL	Casi 30	3	vs	0	Taylor's 3rd Base Army
12:40	MAIN	Grammarians Team 2	0	vs	3	Los Naranjito
12:40	SMALL	Eagles 58	2	vs	3	Grammarians Team 1
13:20	MAIN	Grammarians Team 2	0	vs	3	Pirates
13:20	SMALL	Willy Salsa H.C	3	vs	0	Los Naranjito
14:00	MAIN	Casi 30	2	vs	3	Sloggers H.C.
14:00	SMALL	Women Can't Drive	1	vs	3	Shampanski HC
14:40	MAIN	Britannia H.T	2	vs	1	Los Naranjito
14:40	SMALL	ICEMAN PARROSO	3	vs	0	The Vets
15:20	MAIN	Willy Salsa H.C	3	vs	0	Grammarians Team 2
15:20	SMALL	Calpense H.T.	3	vs	0	Taylor's 3rd Base Army
16:00	MAIN	City Fire Brigade	1	vs	2	Europa H.T
16:00	SMALL	Willy Salsa H.C	3	vs	0	Pirates
				Quarter Finals
16:40	MAIN	Winner A Willy Salsa H.C.	1	vs	3	Casi 30 Second B	1
16:40	SMALL	Winner B Sloggers HC	4	vs	2	Britannia H.T Second A	2
17:00	MAIN	Winner C Shampanski HC	6	vs	0	ICEMAN PARROSO Second D	3
17:00	SMALL	Winner D Grammarians Team 1	4	vs	4	Europa H.T Second C	4
						Europa H.T win 3 - 4 after penalties
				Semi Finals
17:20	MAIN	Winner 1 Casi 30	3	vs	4	Sloggers HC Winner 2	5
17:40	MAIN	Winner 3 Shampanski HC	4	vs	3	Europa H.T Winner 4	6
				Final
18:15	MAIN	Winner 5 Sloggers HC	4	vs	2	Shampanski HC Winner 6
	WINNERS:	Sloggers H.C.

WOMEN'S COMPETITION

Teams

HAWKS TEAM 1

HAWKS TEAM 2

EAGLES ORANGE

EAGLES BLACK

WOMEN'S COMPETITION FIXTURES & RESULTS
Time	Pitch		ROUND 1
13:00	MAIN	HAWKS TEAM 1	1	vs	1	HAWKS TEAM 2
13:00	SMALL	EAGLES ORANGE	1	vs	4	EAGLES BLACK
13:40	MAIN	HAWKS TEAM 1	3	vs	0	EAGLES ORANGE
13:40	SMALL	HAWKS TEAM 2	1	vs	2	EAGLES BLACK
14:20	MAIN	HAWKS TEAM 1	0	vs	2	EAGLES BLACK
14:20	SMALL	HAWKS TEAM 2	1	vs	0	EAGLES ORANGE
			ROUND 2
15:00	MAIN	HAWKS TEAM 1	1	vs	2	HAWKS TEAM 2
15:00	SMALL	EAGLES ORANGE	1	vs	3	EAGLES BLACK
15:40	MAIN	HAWKS TEAM 1	2	vs	0	EAGLES ORANGE
15:40	SMALL	HAWKS TEAM 2	1	vs	2	EAGLES BLACK
16:20	MAIN	HAWKS TEAM 1	1	vs	2	EAGLES BLACK
16:20	SMALL	HAWKS TEAM 2	6	vs	0	EAGLES ORANGE
	WINNERS:	EAGLES BLACK

GHA 6 – A – SIDE TOURNAMENT RULES

•  Matches are 15 minutes straight

•  Teams can have 5 outfield players and a keeper or 6 outfield players

•  Teams must be ready to play 15 minutes before their scheduled game.

•  Players can play for one team only (excluding goalkeepers)

•  NO HITTING (slapping and pushing only)

•  Roll on, roll off substitutions

•  Green Card (minimum 3 minutes), Yellow Card (miss remainder of the game), Red Card (GO HOME!)

•  Should any quarter final, semi final or final game end in a draw then there will be penalty strokes. 3 per team.

•  No short corners, any foul inside the D will result in a penalty.

•  Penalty strokes – one on one against keeper (8 seconds to score). Intentional foul by the keeper is a goal.

•  A player from each team currently playing will have to umpire the next game once theirs has finished.

•  Normal standard FIH rules apply.

•  Tournament Committee (Carl Ramagge, Nathan Stagno & Shane Ramagge) will have the last say on any matters arising during the day that may not be covered by the rules.