Premier Hockey League comes to wet but thrilling conclusion

The Premier Hockey League (PHL) just keeps getting better and better.

This according to South Africa’s women’s hockey team coach, Sheldon Rostron after this year’s scintillating finals took place at Randburg Astro on 12 December.

Orange River Rafters were crowned women’s champions after beating Private Property St Lucia Lakers 3–2, while Crossroads Maropeng Cavemen lifted the men’s trophy for a second consecutive year when they secured a comfortable, although highly exciting 3–0 victory over Pro-Grip Drakensberg Dragons.

“From last year’s PHL, I think we’ve seen a big improvement in the quality of hockey,” said Rostron.

“Within Africa, this is definitely one of the strongest leagues and we need to look at how we grow ourselves from this – potentially latching on to international players that could maybe come and add value in a process like this, and hopefully being able to professionalise in the long-term.”

CEO of SA Hockey, Marissa Langeni was also full of praise for the tournament. “I’m absolutely pleased with how the tournament has gone. I think there’s been some really exciting hockey for fans out there,” she said.

Langeni added that the persistent rain posed a challenge but more than 8 000 fans still came through to enjoy the action.

“We’re now looking forward to PHL 2018 and to build on the successes achieved this year which, additional to the on-field game, include educational workshops presented by the South African Institute for Drug FreeSport as well as Milk SA from a nutritional perspective.

Rostron hinted that thanks to the league, there may be a few surprises in the South African team selection for next year’s Commonwealth Games in Australia.

The men’s player of the tournament went to Miguel da Graca of Crossroads Maropeng Cavemen, while in the women’s section it was Kristen Paton of Old Mutual iWYZE Namaqualand Daisies.

Read how the weekends of hockey went:

Week one 

Week two