| Sport | Ice hockey |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1996 |
| No. of teams | 9 |
| Country |  United Kingdom |
| Official website | NIHL South Division 1 - EIHA |
The NIHL South Division 1 is the top-level league in the Southern Region of the British National Ice Hockey League setup.
It forms one of four NIHL divisions, of a total of 43 teams, which are divided regionally.
The NIHL was reorganised for the start of the 2017-18 season,[1] and South Division 1 features nine teams. The closing of the English Premier League meant that Basingstoke Bison, Swindon Wildcats, Bracknell Bees and Peterborough Phantoms joined the division, as the NIHL came to be the second tier of British ice hockey instead of the third.
The combination of semi-professional teams from the former EPL with largely amateur teams from the old NIHL South Division created pressure, with several teams preferring to play in South Division 2, in the face of increased costs and an unnaturally tougher playing field.[2]
At the end of the season, the top eight sides will play two-legged quarter-finals before the final four sides will contest a play-off weekend.
Promotion and relegation between divisions in both the north and south have been aligned, with both sides operating an automatic one up, one down system, but in year one there will be no automatic relegation from D1 South (Britton) to enable the division to return to ten teams.[3]
- ^ "NIHL: national cup, playoffs and promotion/relegation confirmed – English Ice Hockey Association". eiha.co.uk. Retrieved 2017-09-05.
- ^ "New look NIHL South enters uncharted waters". Pro Hockey News. 2017-06-16. Retrieved 2017-09-04.
- ^ "NIHL confirms national cup competition | British Ice Hockey". British Ice Hockey. 2017-06-15. Retrieved 2017-09-05.