Meeting of Scottish ice hockey clubs
At the Murrayfield Ice Rink, 11am Sunday 18 November 2018
The future governance of ice hockey in the UK and the impact on Scottish clubs

Ice Hockey UK would like to update Scottish clubs on the current work that it and the English Ice Hockey Association (EIHA) are jointly undertaking on the governance and decision-making in ice hockey across the UK.

There have been many previous discussions about this over recent years in an attempt to clarify and improve the decision-making in the sport.

Earlier this year, the EIHA members asked for a review of the governance in English ice hockey including whether or not to become unified under a single UK body.

This review was carried out by a working group chaired by an independent sports governance expert, Jonathan Hall, and representatives from EIHA and IHUK.

The group made a range of recommendations set out in a Report back to the EIHA members – a copy of the Report is attached for information.

The key one being that the EIHA should commit in principle to establishing a new unified UK organisation to govern ice hockey in the UK and to replace the existing organisations.

In order to progress this to the next stage, it was agreed by both the EIHA and IHUK that there should be a joint working group to oversee, direct and monitor the move to a new UK organisation.

A joint IHUK/EIHA steering group was therefore established and is currently working through the various recommendations in the original Report. The joint steering group comprises Jonathan Hall (independent Chair), Richard Grieveson (IHUK), Eric Morton (IHUK), David Hand (IHUK), Joy Johnston (EIHA) and Andrew Miller (EIHA).
The meeting is therefore an important opportunity to update Scottish clubs on the process and work of the joint steering group and to hear the views of the Scottish clubs on the governance of the sport.

Why is the meeting important for Scottish clubs ?
We have asked Jonathan Hall and Joy Johnston from the joint steering group to join the meeting and Jonathan will give a presentation to help clubs understand the purpose of the joint steering group’s project, what the aims of the project are and how it affects Scottish clubs and Scottish ice hockey.

We would also like to use the meeting as an opportunity to consult with Scottish clubs and hear your views on the governance of the sport so that the joint steering group can take those views into account.

Finally, if you agree at the meeting, we would like to obtain your endorsement of the work the joint steering group is doing and we have set out below a possible resolution for clubs to agree (or not). It is not a formal members meeting so it is simply a suggested form of wording which we can discuss at the meeting on 18 November. The wording is based on what was agreed formally by the members of the EIHA in July.

Proposed Scottish clubs endorsement
“The Scottish clubs agree to the commitment in principle to establishing a new unified UK organisation to replace the existing governing bodies for ice hockey in the UK. They welcome the joint steering group’s work and to it progressing all the remaining recommendations made in the EIHA Governance Working Group Report.

The clubs note the timelines in the Report and look forward to seeing the final proposals of the joint steering group which will be brought back to Scottish clubs as part of a consultation process in Q1 2019.”

Conclusion
Given the importance of the issues being presented and discussed we would welcome seeing as many of the Scottish clubs represented at the meeting as possible.

As it is not a formal meeting, there are no strict requirements on who may attend on behalf of a club, but we would recommend each club is represented by at least one person who is in a position to express the view of the club and report back to their colleagues after the meeting.

It would help us if you could you please let me know by email who is planning to attend the meeting on behalf of your club via richard.grieveson@icehockeyuk.co.uk.

We look forward to seeing as many of you as possible on 18 November.