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Dear members,
Happy New Year!
Here are some important announcements that WMH hopes will help guide you as you make plans for the 2024 World Cup, to be held in Cape Town, RSA (O35 & O40 women and men; and O65+ men, as well as SoM teams in these age groups), Oct 12-21; and in Auckland, NZL, (O45 – O70 women, O45-O60 men, as well as SoM teams in all these age groups/genders), Nov. 7-16.
1. Registration deadline
Some members have already made their team selections for the 2024 WMH World Cup, and others are anxious to know which teams are registering. To the end, we have decided to move up the dates by which teams ought to be registered:
Deadline to register for Cape Town is February 15, 2024
Deadline to register for Auckland is March 1, 2024.
The full payment and Refund Policy deadlines remain the same. We plan to upload registered teams to the WMH website on a regular basis.
2. Player Eligibility
Please note, that the WMH World Cup is one Event, held in two separate locations at different times. However, as it is all the same Event, players are only allowed to play on one team. So, a player who plays in Cape Town, is not eligible to play in Auckland.
3. Match length
Starting with the outdoor WMH World Cup, matches will consist of 4 quarters, each of 15 minutes, with the clock stopped for 40 seconds, to allow teams to set up for penalty corners. . If the teams are ready to play in less than 40 seconds, the umpire can restart the match. The clock will not be stopped if a goal is scored, but teams will be expected to get onside as quickly as possible.
4. International Masters Cup
WMH constantly seeks to provide as many opportunities as possible for Masters players to participate in elite events. To that end, we are pleased to introduce the International Masters Cup.
The International Masters Cup (IMC) will be held at the same time and at the same venues as the WMH World Cup (WC). It will be open to all WMH Affiliate members, “B” international teams, and emerging teams from our member nations.
The matches will be played at the same time and in the same manner as the WC, but we may introduce some slight rule variations, to allow as many teams as possible to participate.
WMH welcomes all Affiliate members (Southern Cross, LX men, LX women, and Thistles), as well as Alliance, to enter women’s and men’s teams in as many age groups as possible in the IMC. We also welcome second teams from countries who have entered Spirit of Masters teams in the past (Welsh Dragons, Irish Shamrocks, England B, etc.) as well as teams from members who, for one reason or another, may either have difficulty getting a team together in a specific age group/gender (WMH does allow for players from more than one member country to play together on the same team); or may benefit from a, IMC rule variation that would allow them to field a team
As always please do not hesitate to contact Ishbel Dickens directly if you have any questions via [email protected]
Regards,
Sue Briggs
Hon Sec – WMH
2 January 2024