Leeds Chiefs’ Sam Zajac sees hurdles for game to cross before new season can start

The 2019-20 season was brought to an unexpected conclusion in early March because of the coronavirus pandemic and although Telford Tigers were clear enough on points to be crowned the inaugural NIHL National champions, there was to be no playoff campaign.

The Chiefs finished bottom of the regular season standings in their debut campaign, with Zajac having spent the past few weeks putting together what he believes will be a more competitive roster next time around.

Just when the puck drops on the 2020-21 campaign and he put his new-look team out on the ice for the first time, however, is the big question with the government’s current social distancing rules in place not conducive to either playing or watching the sport.

The full-time Elite League announced last month a provisional starting date of early October for their season - a month later than usual - and it is expected that leagues governed by the English Ice Hockey Association, including NIHL National, will likely follow suit.

Everything hinges on changes to the government’s Covid-19 strategy, in particular their social distancing rules, with UK ice hockey authorities keen to await any further changes before making firm commitments to when next season will begin.

Earlier this week, Planet Ice, owners of both the Chiefs and their Elland Road rink, said they were working towards a provisional re-opening date for all of its rinks of July 6.

That is based on the current government advice which states that they will not look at allowing certain leisure facilities to re-open until July 4 at the earliest.

The Planet Ice statement added that it was “not expecting the resumption of league hockey to begin this year” although it went on to say that would be “reviewed in line with government guidance and engagement with the relevant ice hockey leagues.”

Some fans and, indeed, some people working inside the sport, fear next season will be lost completely.

But Zajac, while mindful of the many issues the sport faces in order to get next season up and running, remains hopeful some kind of campaign will take place.

“All teams can do right now is put those early building blocks in place and be as prepared as possible for when we do get the green light,” said Zajac. “Essentially it is a waiting game for everybody.

“I’m hopeful that we can get back to playing before the end of the year but it’s really hard to tell. Until we hear any different, we’re planning as if it is going to be September but with a big nod to the odds being that it is going to be later than that.”

While other major sports in the UK, such as football and cricket, work towards the option of playing behind closed doors - with Premier League football set to resume on June 17 - Zajac said such a scenario was not an option for minority sports such as ice hockey.

Unlike football, there is no TV money to spread around teams in UK ice hockey, teams rely on gate receipts and sponsorship as their two main sources of income. And until the current social distancing rules are ended, or at least amended in some practical way, the Chiefs’ boss doesn’t see how games can go ahead.

“At the best of times in this country it can be quite tight in terms of finances, it is a minority sport but the indoor aspect will work massively against us when it comes to letting fans into the building,” explained Zajac.

“I’m no expert, but I can see us being one of the last sports to be given the green light, just given the nature of the game. You obviously hope it goes away before that becomes an issue but if the government or whoever stagger when they let some sports back before others, then I think, unfortunately, we’ll be quite far down the list.

“Without fans in the building, teams will struggle to function. It just wouldn’t go ahead. Every team relies on the two main sources of income: sponsorship and gate money.

“You really need both kinds of income in order to survive. Sponsorship is a huge question mark because a lot of businesses are closed and a lot will be feeling the pinch. I imagine that, across all the leagues, sponsorship will be something that is hard to come by. We’re lucky that we’ve got some great sponsorship relationships in place already.”

As a result, Zajac said it would not surprise him if playing budgets across the game were reduced as a result of the anticipated drop in income.

“Maybe there is going to be a scaling down and budgets are cut back, squad sizes trimmed,” he added. “If that’s what it takes for the sport to continue, then so be it - every club is going to be in the same boat. It’s not like only half of the clubs are going to be affected, every club will be affected equally. It will probably be a big leveller.”

A joint-statement from the various governing bodies covering ice sports in the UK, including the English Ice Hockey association (EIHA), which runs NIHL National and Ice Hockey UK, which oversees the Great Britain programme, said in its most recent statement, that it would not roll out any re-opening programme until the government deemed it safe to do so.

“We are diligently working on a multifaceted return-to-rinks plan for each sport that will happen when, and only when, governments and health authorities deem it safe to do so,” said last Friday’s statement.

“This plan includes everything from health and safety regulations to communications, structure, customer engagement, competitions and national teams.”

Zajac highlighted obvious on-ice issues which could prevent the sport from getting back up and running as early as everyone would like, with social distancing being the biggest hurdle to overcome.

“In terms of spectators, you’ve got to look at entrances, exits, toilets, concession stands, everything,” he said. “It is a massive job and while I wouldn’t say it is insurmountable, it’s definitely going to cause a huge headache for everyone involved.

“Then there are issues with players, too. You would hope that maybe the test and tracing capacity would be higher by then and that it would be easier to discover any cases that were happening with players but, if not, you’re looking at loads of other things.

“For instance, how do you spread the dressing room out? How do you social distance on coaches going to away games?

“On the ice, it’s obviously not a sport where you can social distance, it is a really physical sport and it is fast and you obviously couldn’t have a competitive game maintaining that 2-metre distance.

“It would be like basketball on ice or something, with 30 or 40 goals each way, it’s just not do-able.

“So, for me, that is probably the first hurdle for us to get over, that the social distancing rules change. Once that happens, I feel everything else will start falling into place and we’ll see a bit more of a road map back for the sport.”

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