Wed 8 Dec, 2004
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South African hockey teams deserve applause  x11
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| South Africa |
September 30, 2004 
The Mercury, South Africa
> Page Views 776
By Jos Robson
South African hockey Olympians midfielder Marsha Marescia and goalkeeper extraordinaire Dave Stanniforth presented their Olympic Games update at the KwaZulu-Natal headquarters of BDO Spencer Steward recently. BDO, the official sponsors of the International Hockey Federation, SA Hockey and the KZN Raiders, have been incredibly good for the sport, not only in this country but also all over the world.
Hockey is one of the 28 sporting codes that were played at the Olympic Games and to be accepted as an Olympic sport the game must to be played in at least 75 countries and on three continents.
Bearing this in mind, the South Africans really didn't do as badly as one would have first imagined. The Proteas men's team reached 10th place while the ladies finished 9th.
Listening to our two Olympians giving an overview of the hockey tournament, it became abundantly clear that the standard of refereeing was perhaps not up to the required standard at the world's biggest sporting spectacle.
Needless to say, this must have been really frustrating. Certainly on a number of occasions the men's team had looked so good against some of their more favoured opponents only to be beaten in the second half. Clearly quite a few shocking decisions went against the South Africans.
On the positive side of things for hockey, however, is the fact that the sport is regarded as one of the fastest growing in the world today.
Considering the game was only played for the first time at the Olympic Games in London way back in 1908, it has really come a long way. It is just a pity it doesn't get the support it deserves in South Africa.
What makes our South African teams' achievements that much greater is the simple fact that we don't have nearly the same amount of quality playing surfaces found in the other hockey playing nations of the world. When you travel through Europe, you can't help but notice that every second club has an artificial hockey turf, making it second nature to them.
The good news for the South African game now is that Pietermaritzburg-based carpet manufacturing giant Belgotex is busy preparing to manufacture artificial turf under licence to Holland-based manufacturer Greenfields.
They are now marketing the products, which have been well received, and indications are this will prove hugely beneficial for the sport in this country.
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Comments on this article
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Baldy
10-14-2004 9:55 am
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South African Olympic Excuses
Shocking decisions happened to all th nations, not just South Africa. The results didn't go their way due to their own inadequacies. Where were Justin King and Mike Cullen, the Old Loughtonians duo? If they were playing, South Africa may have done a lot better...
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SA
10-18-2004 2:45 pm
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Bald know it all!
you know it all don't you! stop going on about king and cullen! they decided to bail no one else!
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TOAD
10-19-2004 3:49 am
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CULLEN AND KING
CRAZY THAT THIS KING AND CULLEN THING IS STILL GOING ON.I BELIEVE THE S A TEAM WERE BETTER OFF WITHOUT THE TWO PLAYERS WHO ABANDONED THEM AT THE QUALIFIERS!!!
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mike cullen
10-28-2004 4:21 am
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hide away
yes i am tired of the whole king cullen thing too.
something that really frustrates me is that people who write in on this website never put their names to their opinions. these are only opinions and no matter how much you debate over the internet a result is never going to be achieved.
all i can say is that those people who were at ipt would have clearly seen that justin king was easily the best defender on show (jackson and ravers didnt play, fair enough)
on arriving in the uk post the olympics we have been told by international journalists and players that they thought we could have made a difference. to be honest as players of over 300 test caps combined, i would be very disapointed if we couldnt make a difference
yes it was our decision not to go to the qualifier. we both knwe that this would put us on the back foot re selection for the olympic squad. however after it was clearly expressed at ipt that every player there was being look at for selection - to me that says the matter of not going to the qualifier has been dropped. i do understand that the players who went to the qulaifier would obviously be in a better position to make the team, hence my point about king being the best defender there.
another point i find interseting, is that natal win ipt again and 3 players make the team. greg nicol scored 1 goal and fair play to beefy he took very much a back seat in a team that already had 2 corner specialists. dave staniforth, who had a good tournament but was not called on to do that much as you would expect from a team who wins most of its games and steve evans who sat out 2 mtaches through injury. somebody in the team must be doing something right to beat western province twice in the tournament, unfortunately didnt get to play gauteng!!!!!
so with all due respect to those who write until you are brave enough to put your names to your opinions, i am afraid they count for nothing in my eyes
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Dave Farrar
10-30-2004 6:28 am
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Wasn't aware of this whole selection issue (ignorant pomme), but by the sounds of things a few issues are apparent:
i) It's reassuring to know that international players read these sites and are willing to respond to comments. That deserves a lot of respect and says much about the down-to-earth nature of hockey as a sport in general. Credit to Mr Cullen (if in fact it is him?!).
ii) SA still did well to finish one place behind Great Britain in the mens, as well as the fact that at least your women actually got there! UK hockey has had (literally) millions of pounds (a few billion rand at today's exchange rates) poured into it, with results not reflecting this "investment".
iii) Relax! The qualifiers were in March, the Olympics in August. Let it go and get on with enjoying hockey.
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mike cullen
11-03-2004 6:48 am
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dave farrar
yes it is me and thanks for your kind words
i agree with your comment about SA doing well. i obviously play in the uk and see the huge amounts of funding and facilities available compared with SA. it still amazes me that england hockey doesnt do better. i am from durban (a city about the size of birmingham - guessing ) in SA where we have 1 water based astro and one sand based without lights.
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Anthony Denissen
11-08-2004 12:09 am
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I totally agree about what Mike said about our lack of facilities.
I have been to the UK, NZ and am currently in Aus for the summer. Australia is an eye opener to anyone involved in sport. They pump there Lotto funding and government money into sports. We all know how they fair at everything. SA has so many talented sportspersons, we just need the money and less Politics.
I know Mike through many avenues in sport and he is the ultimate professional. Anyone you speak to that has has played in Natal club or Provincial level only has good things to say about him. I'm glad to hear he is still playing.
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.
11-10-2004 6:32 am
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why don't you blow him whilst you at it Anthony... jeez!!
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Hockey Observer
11-22-2004 6:03 pm
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SA and Athens
If you look at the results closely SA still had a chance of playing off for 5-8 going into the last game v NZ. In that game they were soundly besten 4-1 after the score being 1-1 at half time. SA played well in Athens and lost narrowly 3-2 each time to Australia and Holland ( Gold and Silver ). Forget the comments about umpiring there were many decisions like that. I can think of NZ getting roughly done in their 3-2 loss to Holland. Australia got a couple of lucky breaks in their 4-3 win over India. Could have been NZ in semis, think about that !! The secret in these tournaments is to beat the teams that you should beat and then take on the big guns ( ie Aus and Holl ) and hope for a result. SA did not do better due their inconsistency v the lower ranked nations.
They have a very good team and Paul has done great things with them. One thing they really possess is a team spirit. In Madrid they were 2-1 down v Belgium in the last chance saloon with 20 secs to go. Clark scores and they win on strokes.
Let's not blame umpires and non selections ( they were probably better off without them from a "team" point of view ) and look at how they can get better, because they can. From memory Nicol was one of the top scorers in Athens from PC's and open play.
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clark supporter
12-02-2004 6:52 am
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He is the bomb!
GREG CLARKE IS DEFINATELY THE KING OF SA HOCKEY! NO NEED TO SAY ANYMORE!
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