From: garyth@sunvax.sun.ac.za (Garyth Harris)
Newsgroups: rec.sport.hockey.field
Subject: Major Tournament in SA
Date: 15 Sep 92 14:48:05 GMT
Organization: Stellenbosch University

For those interested,

The field hockey season in South Africa came to a close during August.  The
finale was the annual Nedbank Interprovincial Tournament (IPT) which this
year was hosted by Western Province in Cape Town.  Here follows a very 
one-sided view of things (I played for WP).  

The tournament takes place over a week (23rd - 28th August) with all the 
teams split into either of two pools (A or B).  These play a round-robin 
competition from which the top two teams (1st and 2nd) go through to the 
semi-finals.  The semi's are played so that 

       1st in A vs 2nd in B
       1st in B vs 2nd in A

The final is played between the winners of the two semi-final matches.
The major teams in South Africa include 		      Pool
	Transvaal (Johannesburg area)				B
	Natal (greater Durban area)				A
	Western Province (greater CAPE TOWN area)		A
	Eastern Province (greater Port Elizabeth area)		B
Other teams present were:
       Wits (Transvaal second-stringers)			B
       Natal Mynahs (Natal second-stringers)			A
       Peninsula (WP second-stringers)				A
       Northern Transvaal (greater Pretoria area)		A
       Jacarandas (N Tvl second-stringers)			A
       Settlers (EP second-stringers)				B
       Orange Free State (Bloemfontein/Goldfields area)		B
       Eastern Transvaal (Benoni (east Johannesburg))		B

Pools are determined by final placing in the previous years' tournament.
From the outset, by perusing the tournament brochure, it became clear that 
these four teams would be vying for the trophy.  We (WP) had been preparing 
for 9 weeks prior to the tournament.  The players, coach (Kelly 
Fairweather), manager (Colin Levine) and local opinion felt thatwe stood a 
good chance of winning the trophy.  For the first time (in my 
brief association with the team) spirit was great and all were very focussed 
in whatour objective.  WP played sort of OK-ish during the week, winning all 
our pool games exceptagainst Natal who beat us 1-0 and were VERY LUCKY TO DO 
SO.  We had 80% ofthe game and literally camped in their half of the field.  
Somehow they got abreakaway short corner which was converted (inidrectly).  
So we ended 2nd in our pool thus qualifying for the semi-finals.  The top 
two teams in pool Bturned out to be Transvaal and EP ending up 1st and 2nd 
respectively.The semi-finals were played on Friday morning at 09h00 and 
10h30 so that theycould be broadcast live on SATV.
	09h00 Eastern Province vs Natal
	This game turned out to be a classic.  Oceans of hard flowing hockey
	with counter-attack after counter-attack by both teams.  No score
	at half-time.  Near the close of the second half, Natal managed to 
	score and retain their lead to the final whistle.  The game was mainly
	a mid-field tussle which leads me to say that the EP coach(player)
	Richard Leman (ex GB/England) was a force to be reckoned with.  He and
	the current national captain (Wayne Graham) squashed numerous attempts
	by Natal to turn the tables.  It was great to watch Leman at play.
	At the final whistle, Natal 1 - EP 0.  Natal progress through to the
	final.

	10h30 Western Province vs Transvaal

	Although Transvaal are a force to be reckoned with,  we had watched
	them through the week, and were not that impressed with their play.
	It turned out that we won the match (I don't even remember the score,
	but I suspect it could have been 3-1???)  Once again we were not that
	impressive in the field, but did enough to guarantee the win.  Final
	score WP (3?) - Tvl (1?). WP go through to the final.

The final was played at 11h00 on Saturday.  Another fast-flowing game ensued,
but this time it was the Natal mid-field who were ever-present.  Paul Logan
and Gary Boddington doing fine work, supported extremely efficiently by 
Andrew Brown and 'Boris' Teversham.  On the day Natal were more focussed and 
the betterof the two teams and deserved the accolade for winning 1-0 through 
an (indirect)short corner from Jonty Rhodes (the one and only:-)
Their captain (Giles Bonnet) received the Nedbank Trophy for Natal.
Other announcements made were:

1) The South African Sports Writers Player of the Year: 
       Gary Boddington (Natal)

2) An (open) national training squad:
   W. Phillips (Natal)			S. Schoenegeval (EP)
   G. Pilling (Natal)			G. Bonnet (Natal)
   G. Pio (Natal) 			A. Brown (Natal)
   W. Graham (EP)			G. Ortlieb (EP)
   M. Cullen (Natal)			M. Anderson (WP)
   P. Kilkenny (WP)			P. van Blerk (WP)
   G. Boddington (Natal)		P. Logan (Natal)
   T. Holman (Natal)			S. Cooke (Natal)
   A. Chandler (Tvl)			C. Teversham (Natal)
   G. Clarke (Natal)			C. Ferreira (Tvl)
   R. Pullen (Tvl)		  ..... There are three others I can't seem
					to remember (no disrespect intended)
Please pardon any inaccuracies (It was a while back).  I accept full 
responsibility.

all for now,
garyth

PS: how about posting hockey-happennings in YOUR area.
Newsgroups: rec.sport.hockey