Fife Flyers miss out on UK Government funding

The £4m award was part of a ‘Winter Survival Package’ released by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport south of the borderin which the EIHL was included.

After further discussions with Sport England and DCMS, the league has now been advised that the funding allocated last week relates to teams in England only, with separate funds made available to the devolved authorities under the Barnett formula.

This means that Fife Flyers, along with fellow Scottish teams Dundee Stars and Glasgow Clan, will not be eligible for any of the initial payout.

Also ineligible are Irish side Belfast Giants and Cardiff Devils from Wales.

League chairman Tony Smith said: “We are not losing sight of the fact that we applied for government help as one Elite League across four nations.

While the funding that covers England is extremely welcome, our next steps are to try to secure similar possibilities for the remaining five teams."

Mr Smith said he was hopeful that the otherthree countries would follow England’s lead.

"Until we know more, there is no guarantee that these nations will allocate funding for ie hockey," he said.

"We are calling on the devolved administrations in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales to assess the options available to all teams in their regions as soon as possible.

The EIHL will do everything it can to assist these teams in requesting funding from their devolved administrations, and take the lead in the process where required.”

Mr Smith added that there are conditions attached to the league’s funding boost.

The funding is only available to us if we put an Elite League level product on the ice, and that it is not a ‘blank cheque’ - everything in England will need to be applied for via Sport England to ensure funds requested are appropriate and proportionate to putting a product on the ice.

"There are a lot of different aspects that we will continue to look at over the next few days and weeks, when we have a clearer picture of how things stand across all parts of the UK we will keep our fans updated.

He added: "We’re still some way from being able to guarantee something might happen in early 2021, and again I’d ask for everyone’s patience while we continue to find out more information."