The first competition games will start on March 20 for the men and women. Manning Hockey president Frank Birkefeld said there has been an increase in teams for the minor grades in the men and women’s grades.

“Scheduling the matches could be a bit of a headache for us,’’ he admitted.

“The men play Thursday nights and Saturday with the women having exclusive use on Friday nights. But we may not be able to get all the men’s games on the two turf fields.’’

Mr Birkefeld said this gives the association two options - look for another night, possibly Monday, or play a Saturday afternoon game on grass fields.

The grass fields at Taree Recreation Centre have only been used occasionally since the association’s first synthetic turf field came into play more than 20 years ago.

However, Mr Birkefeld believes a number of older players - including himself - would relish the occasional match on grass.

“We were brought up playing on grass fields,’’ he said,

“So I don’t think it would be a bad thing to have a game there again. It wouldn’t hurt the younger players, either.’’

Gloucester makes a return to Manning Hockey for the first time in more than a decade this year, fielding a team in the men’s B-grade competition. Mr Birkefeld said this provides another opportunity.

“This is only my suggestion and it would be up to the match committee to decide, but we could head over to Gloucester occasionally and play a match,’’ he said, recalling the days when trips to Gloucester were a highlight of all Taree-based club’s calendar.

Five clubs will contest the Mid North Coast Premier League men’s competition, down on one from 2009.

“We lost Port Rovers, which is a bit disappointing,’’ Mr Birkefeld said.

“Although that will probably make the other two Hastings clubs stronger.’’

Defending premiers Tigers, Chatham and Sharks will be the Manning representatives.

Five sides will make up the women’s division one, on par with 2009 - with Taree West, Wingham, Tigers, Sharks and Chatham to battle out for the premiership. Wingham will field three women’s sides this year.

Numbers are up in both the men’s and women’s minor grades.

Mr Birkefeld said there is a bit of a ‘lull’ in the older age in the juniors.

“This will have an impact on senior grades in a couple of years time,’’ he said.

“But to counter this, we also have players staying longer in the game.’’

Mr Birkefeld added that there has been a significant increase in the younger age groups, which is positive for the future.