Anderson Cup decider finally gets go ahead

THE Anderson Cup final, which was postponed last month due to a player ineligibility issue, is to go ahead later this week — even though the domestic season finished several weeks ago.

Ulster Hockey’s competition committee has dismissed Instonians from the competition and their semi-final opponents Mossley will now take on Kilkeel in the decider on a date and venue to be confirmed.

The ineligibility rule in question caused problems in the Kirk Cup back in December, with Bangor having to leave out several players whom they had transferred from Mossley.

But the governing body hopes to review the rule to take away any ambiguity and also permit transferred players to play for their new club in any cup competition that they had not played in for their former club.

In a statement Ulster Hockey explained that Instonians had played former Banbridge player Dane Ward in the semi-final and that he would have been ineligible as he had played for Bann II in a Junior League One Cup tie.

Inst, they accepted, had left out Chris Barnes who had transferred around the same time and had previously played for Civil Service in the Kirk Cup, but believed that Ward, who hadn’t played in the Kirk Cup, was clear to play in the Anderson Cup and that they had made no attempt to contravene rules.

Inst believed they had strong grounds for appeal but agreed not to go down that route after assurances that the rule would be reviewed for next season.