SA hockey

Leading South African hockey writer John Cook recently did a post about financial support for two players who are supposed to represent the U21 team in Singapore at the U21 World Cup.

In a nutshell - each player needs R28000 to represent their country on this tour. The South African Hockey Association (SAHA) kicks in about R10000 per player.

So get this logic - you reach the top of your game, are selected for national representation and then you're told that if you don't have R18000 you will be replaced by somebody who can afford to pay the money to go on tour...

... errr ja that sounds fair... especially when you have guys like Buthana Khompela complaining that not enough players of colour are selected.

I appreciate that there is no bottomless pit of money to support all the international teams that we roll out every year, but then government must also accept that they cannot force their political agendas onto people who can't afford to be selected.

SAHA has also known for four years that this this event was coming up - in four years you couldn't raise R250k?

I've been involved with hockey for the last six years in various administerial positions and I know for a fact we have great hockey players. One has only to remember that Marsha Marescia was selected as one of the best in the world despite our very amateurish local setup.