Butali Sugar kick off league campaign against returnees Sailors

What you need to know:

  • According to the 2019 season fixtures released by the fixture secretary Moses Majiwa, 19 times champions Telkom will start their women’s league title defence against Amira Sailors on March 10 at City Park Stadium.
  • The first leg that will end on August 11 will be interrupted on March 23-24, April 27-28 and May 25-26 for the National Teams training and June 1-2 for Mombasa Hockey tournament.
  • Majiwa explained that this year, they will focus more on restructuring the Super League for both men and women as they witness the rapid growth of the sport across the country

Butali Sugar Warriors launch their Kenya Hockey Union (KHU) men’s Premier League title defence against newly promoted Sailors on March 17 at City Park Stadium.

According to the 2019 season fixtures released by the fixture secretary Moses Majiwa, 21 times champions Telkom will start their women’s league title defence against Amira Sailors on March 10 at City Park Stadium.

Butali Sugar, who are chasing their fifth title, and Kenya Police will clash on April 20 at City Park in the men’s league with Strathmore hosting Telkom the following day at the same venue.

Majiwa said that the hockey leagues season gets underway on March 2 with all the matches being played at City Park Stadium.

Men’s Premier League will feature 10 teams after three teams-Park Road Badgers, Nakuru and Kenya College of Accountancy University- were relegated with only Sailors being promoted. The restructuring of the league started last season when teams were chopped from 15 to 12.

Women’s league will feature nine teams after only one team was relegated with two teams joining the top flight league. Vikings was chopped from the top tier as Kenyatta University and Lakers from Kisumu were promoted.

The first leg that will end on August 11 will be interrupted on March 23-24, April 27-28 and May 25-26 for the National Teams training and June 1-2 for Mombasa Hockey tournament.

The first leg will also take a break on June 22-23 for Olympic Day celebrations, June 29-30 for the National teams training and July 12-13 for Nakuru Hockey tournament.

"The women's premier league has, however, been increased from 7 teams to 8 teams for the 2019 season and hopefully we shall have it settle at 10 teams eventually after the gradual growth,” said Majiwa.

Majiwa explained that this year, they will focus more on restructuring the Super League for both men and women as they witness the rapid growth of the sport across the country.