A proposal for the introduction of an All-Ireland League, which would have featured matches between the country's leading clubs over four weekends in the season, has been rejected by the Irish Council of the Irish Ladies' Hockey Union (ILHU).

The cost of staging the League and the extensive travel and expenses involved for the competing clubs were the primary reasons behind the council's decision, according to Joan McCloy, honorary secretary of the ILHU.

"All the branches had their own meetings on the issue and studied it in close detail but, at the end of the day, I don't think the clubs were fully convinced that this was the way to go forward," she said. "For that reason, we felt it right to recommend that we were not yet ready for an All-Ireland League structure."

McCloy insisted that other ideas which would help develop the game in Ireland will be considered, including plans to improve the quality of coaching.

"It's not only a matter of bringing the players on, but the coaches too. There have been significant changes in the game and while the majority of our coaches are up to speed, there would be some people, particularly in the schools and the lower clubs, who aren't. There is an onus on us to see that that situation is improved upon."

It was also decided at the Irish Council meeting that there would be no appointment of a new Irish coach until the "brief and time-scale required for the post is further defined".

"We are in the throws of defining the job description more closely, but we are some way off thinking of names," said McCloy. "When we drew up this season's fixture list, it was agreed that Irish players would be fully committed to their clubs until the end of March, the end of the domestic season, so that means we have some time to be assured of where we were going and what we were doing."