Both the Eastern Cape boys and girls under-19 hockey teams got their SA Games aspirations off to a cracking start when they won their opening matches at Xerox Park that saw four teams penalised for including provincial players in their teams, two teams failing to make appearances for their matches. One province, although in East London, failed to pitch for their match, claiming they were informed the tournament starts on Tuesday.
The hockey started off on the wrong foot when KwaZulu-Natal failed to pitch for their opener against North West, claiming they were informed that the tournament was only due to commence on Tuesday.
Under the rules governing the tournament North West were credited with a 5-0 win, but later in the day were stripped of the victory when it was established they had included provincial players in their line-up.
Their girls suffered the same fate when they too, after going down 1-0 to KwaZulu-Natal in pool A, were found to have transgressed for the same reasons.
Both Northern Cape teams were penalised for playing provincial players in their respective line-ups, after the boys had won 2-1 over Gauteng in pool A, and the girls had played to a 1-1 draw with Gauteng, also in pool A.
To add to the woes of the organisers, both Limpopo teams failed to make an appearance, and it remains to be seen whether they too, should they arrive, were under the impression that the Games only got under way on Tuesday.
In Tuesday’s programme, games of 20 minutes duration per half were set to be played, with Free State boys taking on Mpumalanga in pool B at 8am, and Western Cape and North West completing the day’s programme at 5pm. — Sapa