College Hockey

Overview

In addition to our eight OUHC teams that represent Oxford University, we also have a thriving college hockey system. Teams are made of undergraduate and graduate players from one (or sometimes two) colleges and are of mixed ability. We have various competitions taking place throughout the year, with most matches being played on Sundays.

The leagues take place in Michaelmas (Autumn term) there are both men and women’s leagues, but some colleges choose to enter only into the men’s league and play a mixed team. There are three men’s leagues, each with seven teams. If there are not enough Women’s teams a tournament day will be held early on in the first term to encourage more women to get involved.

‘Cuppers’ is a knock-out cup competition. The men’s and women’s take place in Hilary and mixed cuppers in Trinity.

‘Super Cuppers’ is a match played by the champions of Men’s Division 1 – it is a mixed game against a Cambridge college side that takes place before the Blues’ Varsity matches at Southgate Hockey Club.

Many OUHC players also play college hockey but it is primarily an opportunity for those who want a lower commitment way of playing hockey or for those striving to join OUHC sides. College hockey players have the opportunity to attend our Development Academy to help them progress towards the Sporadic and Renegade teams. The Academy runs on Sunday mornings and offers opportunities for individuals and whole college teams to train and be coached by a OUHC Blues member.

College hockey has a really friendly atmosphere and provides a unique opportunity to play in a mixed ability setting at a lower commitment than – or as well as – in the university teams!

PlayWaze

College hockey captains: this platform is new to the 22/23 season - please read

Playwaze is now the current platform that is used for college hockey that allows teams to see fixtures and results throughout the term. This means that fixture times and league standings are now accessible to the whole team and not just captains. In order to use this platform, you must create a login (takes less than 30 seconds). Once logged in the following screen will show:

In order to join the college hockey, use the search engine and search ‘inter-college hockey’ as shown below and click on the badge and then join as ‘myself’.

Now you have joined the community- teams, fixtures and leagues should be visible.

The idea of this platform is to make college hockey more accessible and so if captains could share this information with the rest of their team so they can sign up that would be great.

Rules and Guidance

Normal hockey rules apply! Rules can be found here. [http://www.fih.ch/inside-fih/our-official-documents/rules-of-hockey/ ]

Please ensure your team have a first aid kit. Iffley reception can be contacted for medical help if needed.

Arranging fixtures

The Cuppers Sec will publish the list of fixtures. This will now be posted on Playwaze - a new platform for college hockey. It is the responsibility of the captains to book a pitch and arrange the fixture.

Pitches should be booked and paid for by the ‘home’ team. Home and away teams will be specified on the fixtures list.

Fixtures should be played on the specified week unless cancelled due to bad weather or a frozen pitch – please contact the Cuppers Sec if you are unsure whether you will be able to play, but it is the captains’ responsibility to ensure the safety of their players.

Rearranging league fixtures is allowed, but please fix a date to postpone to, rather than postponing indefinitely. This must be agreed by both captains and you must notify the Cuppers Sec. The rearranged game should not delay any other fixtures.

Fixtures should only be rearranged if neither team can play or if one team has a genuine reason they cannot play, that has been approved by the Cupper’s Sec.

Postponing cup fixtures will usually delay the rest of the tournament so this may only be done in exceptional circumstances and with the approval of the Cuppers Sec.

Any league fixtures that are un-played at the end of term (where this is the fault of the captains not the weather etc) will be left as zero points/goals each.

Forfeiting

A forfeiting team will receive a deduction of 1 point and a goal difference of -5 points. Their opposition gets a point addition of 3 points and goal difference +5. If you need to forfeit for any reason you must try and allow enough time to contact the other captain and the Cuppers Sec before people will be travelling to the match. If a team has to forfeit, it is encouraged that you have a mixed-team friendly or training, so people still get to play hockey!

Squads

Squads must consist of 7-16 players who are eligible to play for that team [see eligibility section].
If you do not have 7 players for the entirety of the game, then you must forfeit.
People of any gender may play in “men’s” competitions, but men are not allowed to play in women’s competitions.
All spectators must watch from behind the fence.

Eligibility

If you suspect that some of the opposition are not eligible to play for that team then please ask the captain BEFORE the game rather than just complaining after! If it is not resolved, then you can of course get in contact with the Cuppers Sec afterwards.
Any player who has received a red card is suspended from college hockey for the rest of that academic year.
You may play members of the JCR and/or MCR.
You may play one alumni from your college in any particular match.
Players can only play for one team only.
All players from one college must play for the same team.
Teams may have players from either one or two colleges but not more.

Note: this means that if a college does not have a team then players from that college may play for another team but they must all play for the same team. If you plan to take on players from another college then please let the Cuppers Sec know beforehand!

If a college does not have a team but has lots of players then please get in contact with the Cuppers Sec to start a team or merge with an existing team.
Merges must be approved by the Cuppers Sec.
Blues: WBs can play in any competitions. MBs can play in men’s cuppers ONLY.

A Blue is defined to be an individual in the University 1st team who started 3 games prior to Blues Varsity, played Varsity, and is not strongly considered a member of a lower team. At the beginning of the year, Blues are considered to be members of the regular Blues squad regardless of number of starts.

Leagues

There are three men’s leagues and will be one or two women’s leagues depending on how many teams enter. In the women’s league, matches may be played with smaller squad sizes (eg. 7 or 9 a-side) but this must be agreed beforehand by both captains. In this case you may have less than 7 players in a team. Men’s blues cannot play in the leagues. People of any gender may play in the “men’s” league but men are not allowed to play in the women’s league.

3 points are awarded for a win, 1 for a draw and 0 for a loss and matches not played.

One team in each division will get promoted and one relegated each season (where there is a league above/below). If the number of teams entering the league changes significantly then more teams may be promoted/relegated.

Cuppers structure – including Mixed Cuppers

Cuppers draws will be seeded based on the league standings after the relevant teams have been promoted/relegated. If the match is a draw then it should go to penalty flicks [as this is much easier to self-umpire than shuffles & less dangerous for mixed-ability players].

The Cuppers Sec will organise the final and semi-finals at Iffley and will also arrange umpires for these matches. The final and semi-finals should be 35 minutes each way.

The structure will be as in the following image (or similarly for 16 or less teams):

Mixed Cuppers

A full squad should have at least 4 women and no more than 7 men on the pitch at any one time. If you are short of women, you must ‘lose’ a man for each woman you are short – for example, if you only have 3 women then you can play at most 6 men (similarly 2 women and 5 men). This means you must have at least 2 women in a squad
Blues: WBs can play, MBs cannot.
Short corners: a woman must take the first shot on goal. There are no gender restrictions for defensive short corners.
If a match goes to flicks then at least two women must be involved (take a flick or go in goal).

Umpires

College games generally do not have umpires but captains are free to arrange umpires so long as they are from another college. Umpires may not be from one of the playing colleges.

If umpires are present, then please listen to and respect them – please be patient with any new umpires! If no umpires are present, then players must umpire as they play. Please be fair and call fouls both for and against your team. We ask that experienced and OUHC players take a lead on this.

Umpires will be provided for Cupper’s finals and semi-finals.

Contact

The Cuppers Sec for the 2022/23 season is Megan Cottee.

Contact details: megan.Cottee@hertford.ox.ac.uk or via Facebook.