The points deductions – see article published on the SGHA website on 7 May 2012 – has attracted much comment from clubs.

Southerns are calling for players in Premier and League 1 to register to attend trials for inclusion into the Kaspersky Southerns teams for IPT. Please remember you will have to pay the full amount to attend IPT 6 weeks before IPT takes place. The Team Managers will tell you how much this will be.

You will be invited to trials. Please do not just arrive.

Hero speaks about moment that sealed Olympics spot

JONATHAN COOK


SHARP SHOOTER: South Africa’s goal-scoring hockey hero Thornton McDade is welcomed back to St Peter’s Prep School for Boys by (from left) Matthew Daniels, Jordan Twiss, Makomborero Magara and Murray Dittmar.

THE boys at St Peter’s Preparatory School in Johannesburg sat glued to their TV screens early last Sunday morning and witnessed a magical goal.

Dear Clubs

Welcome to another exciting season of Hockey in the Province. We trust that all the Clubs have done the necessary preparation to ensure your teams perform well during the 2012 season. We as the SGHA Executive need the support from all Club team administrators to ensure the smooth running of all leagues and for everyone to have a successful season.

Jaime Carpenter

There is a common theme amongst field hockey players that complain of back or hamstring pain. That is, they all have tight hip flexors and/or weakness in the gluteus medius muscle.

In the Special General Meeting last year it was noted that it is impossible to market hockey to potential sponsors without knowing exactly how many players were registered in the Province. The League Rules at section 5.11 state

• "5.11. It shall be the duty of clubs to forward a complete list of their players (per team) before the commencement of the first league match. New members may be added throughout the season."

This year to enable us to market hockey better, the Executive Committee decided this rule was to be enforced with all clubs being given a deadline of the 30th of April by which to submit these lists, or face a 3 point deduction for every team the club fields in the League. Please note that this imposed deadline actually included a 15 day period of leniency.

Only 14 submissions out of the 33 clubs were made by the deadline and some of those submissions were only for particular teams. As a special dispensation the individual teams that have submitted their list will not be deducted 3 points, but the rest of the teams of that club will. It must be noted that the League Rule makes this a duty of the club to submit a list of ALL registered players and not the individual teams.

Please note that there is a further deadline for all clubs that will incur a loss of points at section 5.4 of the League Rules. The deadline for paying fees being the 30th of April has passed. Clubs that have not paid their fees already will not be able to claim the early payment deduction. Clubs that have not paid their fees by the 31st of May will have 3 points deducted from every team. If they have not paid by the 30th of June a further 6 points will be deducted for every team and if payment has not been made by the 14th of July all teams from that club will be suspended. Please badger your club committee to pay the fees so your team is not subjected to these sanctions.

JONATHAN COOK in Kakamigahara


SA Coach Greg Clark kisses the Trophy that seals their berth at the Olympics.

The South Africa men’s hockey team beat host nation Japan 2-1 after the scores were locked 0-0 at half-time in the Olympic Qualifier Tournament’s sell-out final at Gifu Green Stadium Sunday.

JONATHAN COOK in Kakamigahara

Not even a faint Earth tremour that set the TV sets in their hotel bedrooms rattling or overnight lightning and thunder to rival anything on the Highveld was enough to divert the focus of a quietly confident South Africa men's hockey team from the task ahead at Gifu Green Stadium in this sleepy Japanese town Sunday.

JONATHAN COOK in Kakamigahara

The South Africa men’s hockey team drew 2-2 with Austria Friday but the result was only of academic interest as the men in green and gold knew before the match that they will face host nation Japan in Sunday’s 8 am SA time final at Gifu Green Stadium anyway.

JONATHAN COOK in Kakamigahara

The South Africa men’s hockey team will meet Japan in Sunday’s 8 am SA time final of the Olympic Qualifier Tournament in this sleepy town three hours from Tokyo.