PETALING JAYA: Stick to the rules or pay the price.
The Malaysia Hockey League (MHL) teams will be placed under a bubble system from March 10 until April 4 to contain the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic and those caught flouting the rules will be banned from the tournament. They are also barred from returning to the bubble.
The men’s league comprising Tenaga Nasional, Universiti Kuala Lumpur (UniKL), Terengganu, TNB Thunderbolts, UiTM, Nur Insafi, Maybank and Sabah will start from March 11-April 3 while the women’s teams – PKH-Uniten, Mutiara Impian, Police, Sabah, UniKL Ladies and Young Tigers – will commence from March 15-to April 3.
The Malaysian Hockey Confederation (MHC) will bear the cost for the bubble system at several venues, which will be announced soon.
MHC competitions committee chairman Datuk Seri Anil Jeet Singh (pic) said a task force would be formed to ensure there would not be any breach of the rules.
“If any players or officials sneak out of the bubble, we will blacklist them immediately, ” said Anil.
“A task force will be put in place. But there will be exceptions in emergency cases like death, illness, etc.
“I understand that it’s not easy to be in an enclosed area for a long duration, but I do hope the teams know the reasons behind this.
“For weeks, we have negotiated with the authorities to get this league going, so we don’t want to jeopardise those efforts.”
Anil expects more than 600 players and officials to be in the bubble and it is estimated to cost at least RM200,000.
After holding several online meetings from Feb 12-14, he said the team managers had accepted the rules and code of conduct set by the competitions committee.
“No teams have pulled out and I can gladly say that they are looking forward to the tournament.
“MHC will bear food, transportation and accommodation costs and I’ve to thank the executive board for making this happen.”
Every team will undergo a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test three days on their own before entering the venue.
“When in the bubble, we will do the Rapid Antigen Test once every seven days during the tournament which will be borne by the MHC.”
