Portsmouth Hockey Club coach: I’d be happy to play just half of our fixtures and still have promotion and relegation

Chris Bollom, right, in action for Portsmouth against Southampton in a Hampshire/Surrey Regional 2 fixture. Picture: Chris Moorhouse

Portsmouth have so far completed six of their scheduled 22 games, with a restart now unlikely until late February or early March at the earliest.

Normally, the season would finish towards the end of March, but Wimshurst is hopeful of an extension.

Monday’s lockdown announcement hasn’t really altered the local hockey landscape; before Christmas clubs in the South and Hampshire Leagues were told there would be no games until February 20.

‘They need to do something because of the league restructuring they’re bringing in,’ said Wimshurst.

‘Next season isn’t due to start until the end of September, so there’s plenty of time.

‘I would hope they’d extend the season and at least enable us to get half of the games played.

‘I wasn’t really in favour of the league starting, but reaching the halfway stage would be a reasonable conclusion.

‘You could play half the games and then draw a line under it, with promotion and relegation - I’d be happy with that.’

The new leagues being brought in for 2021/22 will end Portsmouth’s trips to the London area and to parts of Dorset.

Instead of having to travel to Gillingham in north Dorset or into the capital, they will have more games around the Oxford/south Midlands region.

The furthest west they will have to go is to Bournemouth.

The ladies leagues are also being changed, meaning no trips to clubs such as Swanage & Wareham, Wimborne, Weymouth or Blandford & Sturminster Newton.

‘I wouldn’t say it will mean less travelling, but it will be easier travelling - rather than having to drive into central London or in country lanes in Dorset where you can get stuck behind a tractor!’

Wimshurst told The News last autumn that he didn’t think the grassroots hockey season should be starting due to the pandemic-related restrictions.

He added: ‘It’s been difficult - we haven’t been able to use the changing rooms or the dug-outs.

‘We had to go to Teddington, get soaked, and then drive home without having a shower, and the sad fact is we haven’t been able to offer any hospitality either.’