Ten Grahamstown hockey players are battling it out for the two Eastern Province teams in this year's South African Country Districts (SACD) tournament currently taking place in Grahamstown.
Ten Grahamstown hockey players are battling it out for the two Eastern Province teams in this year's South African Country Districts (SACD) tournament currently taking place in Grahamstown.
As hosts, EP is allowed to field two teams this year; an EP A side and an EP Invitational side. Five of the EP A players are from Grahamstown, with two from Port Alfred, while five Grahamstonians and five Port Alfred players make up the EP Invitational side.
All matches are held at the Rhodes University Astro and this is the first time since 2000 that the event has been held in Grahamstown. Playing for EP A from Grahamstown are Wayde Guedes, Murray Roodt, Matthew Hunter, Keigan Docherty and Simon Brill, with Craig Robertson and Stephen Slade from Port Alfred.
Robertson is also captain of the side. Together with father and son Lawrence and Dean Ferreira, John Midgley, Tony Booth and Patrick McCarthy are from Grahamstown, on the Invitational side. At 49 years old, Lawrence is the oldest in the two EP sides.
This is also his 15th appearance in the SACD hockey tournament. The first 14 saw him represent the A side, and now that there's a second EP team he's competing for them. From Port Alfred are Justin Dollery, Jamie Bessinger, Christopher Pike, Ryan Owsley and Ian Stiglingh.
The tournament comprises one section and two pools made up of six teams each. Today's games are cross-pool and tomorrow the winners of each set of games will play each other, as will the losers. The pools are determined by last year's rankings.
Matches start from 8am and end with the last game at around 3.30pm. This annual tournament sees players from country hockey leagues play for the SACD trophy. From this tournament an SACD team is selected that competes in the annual inter-provincial tournament.
The SACD side will be announced on Saturday night at the final awards ceremony. Results of EP's matches up until Wednesday: EP A – Day 1 – EP lost 1-3 to Northern Blues Day 2 – EP drew 2-2 to Inland Day 3 – EP beat Mynahs 5-0 and later in the day lost to KZN Coastals 3-0. EP Invitational – Day 1 – EP lost 1-2 to Western Province and then lost 5-1 to NOFS Day 2 – EP lost 1-3 to Mpumalanga Day 3 – EP lost 1-5 to Eastern Gauteng.
