The green light for St Peters to host the tournament was granted last year and they happily accepted the invitation to give them a chance to showcase their club. Established in 1946, the club had shown exceptional growth in recent years, tournament organiser Crystal Stuart said.
“We have grown from just one team to four, with a first league men’s team and women’s teams in the premier league, first league and third league.” Stuart said much of their focus was on developing young hockey players and to that end they would kick off the celebrations with a youth development tournament on Monday.
“We have a lot of young players in our club and we want to give back to hockey in the community by hosting this event on Monday.” The tournament will consist of seven-a-side teams, with eight boys’ sides and eight girls’ teams. The primary schools competing are Gelvan Park, Parkside, St Theresa, De Vos Malan, Dietrich, Astra and Fontein.
The action will take place from 9am to 3pm. The celebrations will continue with the KC March Festival, which will kick off with a few matches on Thursday, before the main action at the KC March venue and Westering High from Friday to Sunday.
Stuart said they were delighted with the entry for the tournament and predicted a weekend of topclass hockey. “We have teams from as far afield as Kimberley and Cape Town, while several clubs from East London will also be competing,” she said.
“I think there will be some very good competition for the title, with the finals on Sunday.”
Eastern Province premier league champions Lakeside Cavaliers men and Gelvan women will be in action, looking for an early opportunity to establish their credentials for the year.
However, they can expect strong competition from a number of teams for the top honours, including Old Boys and Parkside, from East London.
