I hibernate until January! with a eye out for Salford City FC - 'The Ammies'

Farnborough FC in the Blue square south - must have a thing about badly run clubs who struggle to get their kits on sale by Christmas

Never mind Jaybs, I'm sure as he's doing so brilliantly it'll only be a matter of time before Barca come in for Fat Sam!

I watch Ingmar Bergman films for a bit of light relief between seasons

Ice hockey via live games in UK and NHL (if /when the lock outs over) on the tv.

Fantastic game that needs to be seen live to be fully appreciated, most RL fans would take to it i think if they took the leap and saw a game.

Yeah I watch the Sheffield Steelers now and again and you're right, its a cracking sport. Fast and brutal with some tremendous skills on show - atmosphere is good as well.

Ice hockey's a great game. I've really never understood why it's never taken off in this country, but then I could say the same for RL. Occasionally went to watch Streatham Redskins back in the old days, but I lost interest in the game in this country when the teams decided to just fill their boots with imports. Still catch a few Maple Leafs games on the internet from time to time, although that's another useless club. There's a pattern emerging here!



There's been some talk recently of a Europe-wide league starting off. The very rich Russian league would be one conference with, 20-odd teams from western Europe making up the other conference. Would be a huge step forward for the British game if we could get a team included.

Are there any teams in West London ?

No. There used to be a team in Richmond until the locals got tricked out of their ice rink. The nearest team this way means heading further out west to Slough or then Bracknell. Not sure what standard they play at these days.

Yep Slough, Bracknell, Guildford and Basingstoke are all in that neck of the woods (ish) and all play in the EPL, the 2nd tier of UK hockey, maximum 4 imports per side.

Most are around £10 entrance. Other than that you have Streatham, currently playing at Brixton but having a new rink being built. They play in the league below that has 2 imports. If you come further east theres my side Romford, Chelmsford, Gillingham. No teams south of Coventry play in the top Elite league that Trinity mentioned, they have max 11 imports. Im the other way with imports (no not THAT way!) love seeing higher grade Canadians and Euro's play. Have been hoping a London Elite side would return but it would take serious £ to make it happen.

Read about the Russian KHL expansion recently too, was a direct quote from top brass saying they are looking into starting sides in non traditional markets like London and Paris. They already have teams from outside Russia like Latvia, Prague etc and Milan joins next year i think. Also understand AEG are selling the O2. Wonder if Roman fancies owning a second KHL team?

I'd love to see a local team in that comp. Essentially a GB team but with four or five really top end imports, a bit like Catalans I suppose.



The problem I have with the imports in the Elite League (and before that the Super League that almost killed off the game in this country) is that very few of them are actually top line players. I remember watching Doug Smail play for Fife and, even at that age, he was fantastic. But players like him have been few and far between, Stanley Cup winners like Ken Priestlay and Jamie Leach, but I also saw an awful lot of dross come over and milk a living.



You also have to consider the damage done to the British game. Tony Hand was a genius, and outplayed the likes of Priestlay. How many local boys, potentially as good as Hand, were denied the opportunity to progress because of the college-standard Canadians who filled the playing rosters? The only reason Hand became that good was that he was afforded the chance to play, not simply sit on the bench as a token British player.

Good points but i cant help thinking Tony Hand is / was a one off, hard to believe he turned down a contract at Edmonton Oilers during their peak trophy laden era. Theres also a counter arguement that the imports help raise our players skill levels and the product wouldnt be as attractive to punters with mostly Brits. Though all sides have good Brit players and some are as good as anyone on their team there wouldnt be enough top level ones to go round to run the top leagues at the current skill level. My team only has 2 imports allowed but if i was allowed to choose i would want to see more imports, probably be happy to pay more to fund it too. What would be a good idea in the Elite and EPL imo is force top sides to have a minimum of 1 or 2 under Brit 21's on each team getting regular ice time.

Never went to see the Knights in the Superleague, remember seeing their DLR train and the ads but never got around to going, wish i had now. Would have loved the level of play, im told there was plenty of AHL's making up the squads, but its easy to see how ot collapsed with 18 or so imports per side it must have cost a fortune to run.

Btw ESPN are showing KHL games as from Wednesday, I've just signed up, Ovechkins Moscow side is first UP iirc.