The league itself is made up of eight teams. Each team plays the other 7 three times at home and three times away, for a total of forty two games. There is no relegation form the league, so the bottom team (this year the Bison, snigger) suffer nothing worse than severe embarrassment. The team who finish first win the League trophy, and get to drink copious amounts of intoxicating beverages, either in the trophy or just straight from the bottle (these hockey players don’t stand on ceremony!). The eight teams are then divided into two groups of four, with first, third, fifth and seventh placed teams into one, and the other four teams in the other. Each team plays the other three teams in their group home and away. (Can anybody explain why Bracknell and Basingstoke always finish out in the same group, as do Sheffield and Nottingham? Can it really be coincidence?) The top two teams from each group then progress to the ISL Championships, where the Group A winners play the Group B Runners-up, and the Group B winners play the Group A runners up, in the semi-finals. These are one-off games held at the Nynex arena, Manchester. In previous years, the play-off finals have been held over one weekend at Wembley Arena, with the semi-finals on the Saturday and the final on the Sunday. However, the ISL decided to move to the Nynex, which is cheaper to run and holds over twice the capacity of Wembley. Obviously, this has annoyed many people, as Wembley was seen as the climax to the season, and was treated as a party by all the fans of British hockey. There were always representatives from each team, regardless of who was actually playing, and again copious amounts of intoxicating substances were consumed. The ISL Championships have been a great disappointment to many, but it is hoped that they will grow to be better than the Wembley finals. Many feel that a return to a weekend format would help increase the crowds and so recreate the Wembley atmosphere.
Because all the teams qualify for the play-offs, many have criticised the league as being pointless. There is no incentive to finish as high as possible, once you have been ruled out from winning the league. This will hopefully change with further expansion. So far it is known that Leeds will enter a team in the 98/99 season, plus there are teams rumoured from Guildford, Wembley, the London Arena, Belfast and Dublin. How much truth is behind this remains to be seen, although ISL Chairman, David Temme, has been quoted as expecting there to be 16 teams in the next five years.
The other competition that ISL teams enter is the B+H Cup, the only competition still left from past years. It is the only part of the sport to have gained any kind of major sponsorship, Benson and Hedges having been involved now for several years. The first round comprises of 16 teams, invited on their merits, divided into four groups of four. Again, each team plays the other three in its group home and away. The top two teams from each group are then entered into the quarterfinal draw, which comprises of a two-legged knock-out competition. The winning teams then enter the semi-final draw, again same format, with the two winning teams going forward to the final, held at the Sheffield Arena. This has possibly been the most successful competition in British hockey, but there is often a large mismatch in the group stages, and is likely to be an even bigger mismatch as time goes on, between the top level teams (ex-Premier Division now ISL teams) and the lower teams (ex-Division 1 now PIHL/NPIHL teams). Something will need to be done about this if the Cup is to retain its credibility.
Certain teams from the ISL will also enter European competitions. Last year Manchester entered the European League (thanks to the Nynex, not merit), whilst Sheffield entered the old Europa Cup (as reigning B+H Cup, League and Play-off champions). Sheffield made it to the semi-final stages of the Europa Cup, which had already been achieved by Cardiff, but then went one further when they gained a point in their three games. Slowly but surely British Hockey is improving, and this is just one of the indications of how far we have come. This year, it seems likely that the European League will become the premier European competition, and probably Cardiff will enter that as League Champions. The Europa Cup is probably going to be phased out and replaced by a new Cup, which Sheffield will enter as Playoff Champions.