Wednesday evening saw a Maties-laden SPAR South African ladies hockey side defeat the combined team from Great Britain by a score of 3-1 at the SPAR Hockey Festival currently being played at Coetzenburg. The encounter was the second leg of a three-match series against the British, and the result now means that the two teams headed into last night's third encounter with the series tied at 1-1.

The game itself was one of two contrasting halves, with the British applying a steady flow of pressure on the South African goal throughout the opening period. They were frustrated however by some dogged defending on the part of the home side, and as half time approached the teams were still deadlocked at 0-0. However, the breakthrough finally came shortly before the interval, as Lisa Wooding gave the visitors a 1-0 advantage from a short corner.

Despite this psychological blow, the South African ladies came out after the break with renewed purpose and vigor, intent on turning the tide. They soon began laying siege to the opposition goal, with a barrage of short corners putting the visitors under extreme pressure. In the space of five minutes the complexion of the encounter changed completely, as South African captain, Marsha Marescia, scored twice from short corners to give her side a 2-1 lead.

The British were understandably stunned, and the heat of a scorching Stellenbosch night also began to tell. In this regard the South African ladies have to be commended for their tireless efforts over the full 70 minutes. They landed the knock-out punch three minutes from time as local girl, Shelley Russell, scored her first international goal to make it 3-1.

With this win South Africa has leveled the series at 1-1, meaning that tonight’s game now represents the series decider. Play will commence at 19:00. Another win would give the girls in green an excellent spring board as they head into the final leg of the SPAR Hockey Festival against Ireland and Canada from Sunday onwards.

Read the previous pressrelease here:

International Hockey Festival at Coetzenburg

Stellenbosch is currently the centre of attention for all hockey lovers in the SPAR Hockey Festival at the Stellenbosch University Sport Performance Institute at Coetzenburg.

The SPAR South Africa women team will this week battle it out with Great Brittain and matches are played on Monday 8 January (19:00), Wednesday 10 January (19:00) and Thursday 11 January (19:00).

According to Director of Sport at Stellenbosch University, Ms Jackie Wiese, this event is not only an honour for the University, but also for the Maties Hockey Club. “The test matches against India in 2006 proved that Stellenbosch University has the facilities to play host to the best teams in the world. The scheduled test matches are therefore proof of Stellenbosch’s growing international stature as sports destination of choice.”

The Festival started off with a bang, with the arrival of two of the world’s best teams – the Netherlands and Germany. The Netherlands is the current world champion while Germany holds the title of Olympic champion. The two teams provided formidable opposition for the SPAR South African team, who are ranked 12th in the world. The SPAR team played a six-match tournament from December 29 to January 3, with each team playing each other twice. In the first match the Netherlands beat Germany 2-1 and went on to outplay South Africa 6-0. In the third game Germany beat South Africa 3-1 but lost to the Netherlands 3-1. The Netherlands proved unbeaten as they won against South Africa 5-0. South Africa’s best score was however in the last game by drawing against German 2-2.


Click here for the detailed programme >>

Great Britain uses the occasion to launch their campaign for the 2008 Olympic Games with curtain raisers between the South African Students (SASSU) team and a Dutch u/21 team.

The festival of hockey ends with a six-match tournament involving South Africa, Ireland, who is ranked 14th, and Canada, who is ranked 23rd.

South African and Matie hockey coach, Jenny King, said she is thrilled at the prospect of so much international competition.

“One of the things we said after the World Cup in Spain earlier this year was that we needed more international competition if we were to improve our position in the world rankings. We are embarking on our preparations for the next major challenge – qualifying for the Olympic Games and the Olympic Games in Beijing. It will be tremendous to have a concentrated period of international competition,” said Ms King.

“It will also be very valuable having a 28-day camp with 13 international matches,” she said. “One of the things we have found is that we start off very well and then tend to fade. This should help us to overcome that problem. Some of the girls were a bit shocked at the thought of 13 tests in a month, but it will be a tremendous experience for them. They are a young team, and they will learn a lot in that month.”

Ms King said the best players were used in the matches against the Netherlands and Germany, but she would use the other matches to introduce players who are on the fringes of the national team.

The chief executive officer of the Performance Institute, Mr Rob Benade, said that after the success of the SPAR Challenge tournament between South Africa and India in July, there had been an overwhelming response from international teams to invitations to play in Stellenbosch.

“We are particularly excited about the prospect of hosting the World and Olympic champions,” said Mr Benade. “Through their particular brand of hockey, their high profile team members and their recent excellent results, these two teams are capable of drawing excellent crowd support.”

SPAR Group Marketing Executive Mr Roelf Venter said that SPAR was very pleased to be involved in a tournament of this nature.

“We are committed to supporting women’s sport, with hockey being one of them,” said Mr Venter. “We are very proud to be associated with women’s hockey, and we look forward to watching the national team go from strength to strength. We are pleased to be able to support them in their campaign to do well in Beijing.”

Die Spar Women’s Team includes:

Sharne Bailey (SG)
Tarryn Bright (WP) – Maties player
Cindy Brown (WP) – Maties player
Dirkie Chamberlain (NOR)
Henna du Bussion (WP) – Maties player
Lesle-Ann George (NW)
Kate Hector (WP) – Maties player
Taryn Hosking (WP) – Maties player
Kim Hubach (NOR)
Marcelle Keet (NOR)
Sanani Mangisa (NOR)
Lenise Marais (WP) – Maties player
Marsha Marescia (SG) – Captain
Mariette Rix (WP) – Maties player
Shelley Russell (WP) – Maties player
Vida Ryan (WP) – Maties player
Vidette Ryan (WP) – Maties player
Kathleen Taylor (WP) – Maties player

Les Galloway (Manager)
Jenny King (Coach)
Fabian Gregory (Assistent Coach)
Karin Hugo (Fitness Trainer)