The T&T Hockey Board has been forced to delay the scheduled start of matches in the local outdoor hockey season by at least a week for the latest at the National Hockey Centre, Tacarigua due to the poor state of the current playing surface.
The 2019 season was due to flick-off yesterday with three Trinity Division matches (men and women) as well as three Championship Division (men and women), together with one Trinity Division and three Championship Division matches.
However, contacted yesterday, officials of the T&THB stated that the league competition will be delayed by at least a week.
It is believed that the delay has been caused by the poor state of the playing surface, which is in dire need of being replaced as well as the poor lighting at the facility.
With regards to the format of this year's divisional competitions, the league official said it is the organisation's intention to play two rounds of league matches in each division, however, at the same time, there are activities which are outside the control of the local board which may adversely affect the final format for the season.
Last week, the T&THB opened its season with the annual Opening Day seven-a-side competition, at the end of which Malvern (men) and Harvard Checkers (women) captured their respective divisional titles, in almost pure darkness.
Two years ago, hundreds of outdoor hockey players, men and women, did not get the opportunity to play in the annual league season, and last year's competition was limited to one round of competition as they awaited the purchase of an AstroTurf mat to replace the existing one at the National Hockey Centre in Tacarigua.
Commenting on the issue, Douglas Camacho confirmed that the AstroTurf which cost the T&T Government close to $1,356,000 from German supplier Polytan, is en route to T&T with its arrival date expected to be at the end of April or within the first two weeks of May.
He added, "We are now in the process of putting in a place a plan and time frame for the relaying of the turf when it arrives in the country, and at the same time trying our best to have little disruption to the senior national men's hockey team preparations for the Pan American Games which comes off in Lima, Peru from July 29 to August 20.
In Peru, the T&T men will come up against Cuba, Chile and Argentina and Pool A while Mexico, Canada, USA and host Peru are in Pool B.
Camacho added, "When the turf arrives in T&T, we are trying our best to have everything in place so that it will spend as little as much time at the port in the containers, but be transported to Tacarigua to be laid down as soon as possible.
"At the same time, the national team will be preparing for the Pan American Games, so maybe during the time of the laying of the new surface, we may try and facilitate the team's preparation by sending them on a pre-Pan Am Games tour.
The current hockey format comprises of over 14 teams in the Open Men and Women divisions, all fielding teams in the other divisions such as the Under-19s, Trinity or Second division and the Veteran division.