Premier Hockey League

Infobox Sports league

caption = The logo of the Premier Hockey League
sport = Field Hockey
founded = 2005
teams = 7
Hyderabad Sultans
Sher-e-Jalandhar
Maratha Warriors
Bangalore Lions
Chandigarh Dynamos
Chennai Veerans
Orissa Steelers
country = IND
champion = Bangalore Hi-fliers
most_champs = Bangalore Hi-fliers (2 titles)
TV = ESPN
website= [http://www.premierhockeyleague.com premierhockeyleague.com] The Premier Hockey League (PHL) is a professional league competition for field Hockey clubs in the top division of the Indian hockey system. There are, at present, seven teams in the PHL. The competition has been played since 2005.

History

Origin

The tournament was initiated to revive interest in the sport which was losing spectator interest to cricket in recent times. Hockey is India's National Sport, with the country having won a record eight Olympic Gold medals and having lifted the World Cup once.

One of the main reasons for the waning popularity of the existing domestic competition was the rise of corporate teams such as Indian Airlines and Punjab & Sind Bank which do not have a steady fan following. PHL is trying to change that by bringing in regional flavor. It fields teams from traditional hockey bastions such as Bombay, Punjab, Orissa, and Tamil Nadu, as well as from other places like Hyderabad and Bangalore, where it has got some fan following.

Founding

The competition was first played in 2005 involving 5 teams. Initiated by Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) with active support from sports channel ESPN India. First season had two tiers division 1 and division 2 but from 2007 season onwards division 2 was scrapped. Except team winning 2006 division 2 championship rest all teams in division 2 were scrapped.

The 5 inaugural members of the new Premier Hockey League in 2005 were Bangalore Hi-Fliers, Chennai Veerans, Hyderabad Sultans, Maratha Warriors and Sher-e-Jalandhar.

Competition

Format

PHL regular season runs between december and january. From inaugural season till last season format has varied regularly. According to last format during the course of regular league season each team plays each other once in a round robin format (21 matches), then the top 4 play 2 semifinals (1 vs. 4 and 2 vs. 3) followed by a best of three finals for the top 2 teams-a total of 26 matches. During a PHL match, points that contribute to team standings can be earned in a number of ways:

A. Result in regulation time

* 3 points to the winner
* 0 point to the loser

B. Result after extra time

* 2 points to the winner
* 1 point to the loser

In case of no winner has been decided after completion of a match and two periods of extra time, the winner of the match will be determined by a shoot-out competition.

New Features

The fundamental aberration from the format of normal hockey games is the number of sessions. A normal 70 minute hockey game includes two sessions, each of 35 minutes each. The PHL has four sessions each of 17.5 minutes. This format is tailor made to include more advertising time in order to generate funds. Teams are allowed to take time-outs to chalk out new strategies during the course of the game.

If the match is deadlocked after full-time, the number of players of each team is gradually reduced till a result is obtained. A win within full-time fetches three points, whereas a win after full-time fetches two points to the winning team and one to the losing team. Each team is also allowed to field up to five international players.

In addition, another feature of the PHL for the year 2007, has been the innovative penalty shootout competition, modelled similar to the Major League Soccer penalty shootout. Each team will have five penalty shoot outs each where 5 players will play a one on one with the goal keeper of the opponent team. Each player will start with the ball on the 25 yard line and when the umpire blows the whistle player will have maximum of 8 secs to score a goal with only the goal keeper defending the goal. The player can take as many shots possible within the stipulated 8 secs.

Another interesting feature of PHL is timeouts, similar to basketball and volleyball. Each team will be allowed 2 x 120 second timeouts per team in regulation time. These timeouts will be mandatory and has to be taken once in each half of play. There will be a warning from the bench 5 minutes before the end of the second/fourth quarter if the team has still not availed of the mandatory timeout. 2 minutes from the end of the second/fourth quarter the timeout will be imposed by the technical bench if the team has still not availed of it.

In addition, each team will also be allowed 1 x 2 minute timeout which is not mandatory and could be taken at any point in time during the regulation time. Each team will also be allowed 1 x 2 minute timeouts which are non mandatory and can be taken at any point in time during the extra time period.

Players

A team shall consist of maximum of 18 (eighteen) players to be registered with PHDPL. Out of the above 18, maximum of 3 players can be of foreign origin. At any given point of time minimum 2 players of foreign origin shall be within the field of play during the course of a game. All eighteen players in a team have to be registered with the PHDPL and need to submit their identity cards before the start of the league qualifying for playing in a team. All Indian players currently employed have to be taken on lien for the duration of the league and then be registered with PHDPL. All the foreign players must obtain international transfer certificates from their respective countries and or clubs before signing up with the team and PHDPL.

International Players

There are a number of players from countries other than India, who have been contracted to play in the league.

Results

By Year

* 2005 Hyderabad Sultans
* 2006 Bangalore Lions
** Chandigarh Dynamos finished 1st in the league table.
* 2007 Orissa Steelers
** Orissa Steelers also finished 1st in the league table.
* 2008 Bangalore Hi-fliers
** Chandigarh Dynamos finished 1st in the league table.

Likely impact

While most experts agree that it is too early to predict the fallout of the PHL, many in the Indian Hockey circles are delighted to have hockey glamorised with the intention of reviving the flagging sport. Experts accuse the Indian Hockey Federation of being to lethargic and bureaucratic in popularising the sport. Meanwhile the International Hockey Federation is keenly studying the format.Fact|date=August 2008

Critics argue that traditional hockey bastions such as Kodagu (Coorg), Jharkhand, Orissa and parts of Punjab have been ignored, but organisers say that in due course of time more teams may be included.Fact|date=August 2008

ee also

* Hockey in India
* Indian Premier League, professional cricket leagues in India

External links

* [http://www.premierhockeyleague.com/phl/phl_index.html Official Website]
* [http://www.indianhockey.com/Tournaments/PremierHockeyLeague/PHL200708/tabid/85/language/en-US/Default.aspx PHL 2007-08]