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New Work Permit criteria agreed

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A lengthy and proactive series of meetings between officials of the Elite Ice Hockey League and Work Permits UK have resulted in a new agreement for ice hockey players.

League Chairman Eamon Convery commented, “this is an excellent result for the league as WPUK have agreed to further extend and improve the criteria for players requiring work permits. The league however, would like to stress that this agreement is not intended to limit or impair the employment and development of home grown British players but, more of an avenue to improve the quality of the players available from other countries around the world.”

Summarising the changes, clubs can now sign players from a much wider pool of leagues, most notably from North America where as well as the National, American and East Coast Hockey Leagues, players meeting the minimum number of games played in the previous season can now come from the United and Central Hockey Leagues.

In respect of Europe, the potential pool of players has been extended to include players from teams in the top two professional leagues of each country as determined by the ranking of the International Ice Hockey Federation.

Convery added, “The directive from Work Permits UK is a lengthy document and has been circulated to all ten members clubs of the league. Nobody now will be under any misapprehension as to who can and who cannot be recruited on a work permit basis. And as stated, this agreement is intended to improve the overall quality of the players and the game as a spectacle. It is therefore very encouraging to see that all the club rosters already include a number of British players and I fully expect this season to see more British players than ever this season in the Elite League.”