Innovative PHL to be played in Randburg

MALANSHOF – Two of the 12 participating teams will be the SA U21 men's and SA U21 women's national teams.

The coaches look forward to the start of the league. Photo supplied.

An exciting new hockey format, which is expected to transform the sport in South Africa, will take place in Randburg.

The Premier Hockey League (PHL) will run at the Randburg Astro in Malanshof over four weekends from 3 – 25 September, every Saturday and Sunday from 8am to 6pm.

The inaugural PHL will feature six men’s teams and six women’s teams, playing in two gender-based competitions. These franchise teams represent all South Africa’s nine provinces and are owned by the South African Hockey Association (Saha). This event consists of league stages, where each team will play the other, once. The top four teams in the log will progress to the semi-finals and the losing semi-finalists will play for third and fourth positions with the winning semi-finalists progressing to the finals of the men’s and women’s competitions.

Two of the 12 participating teams will be the SA U21 men’s and the SA U21 women’s national teams. This is to prepare the teams for the Hockey Junior World Cup,which takes place in November and December. The SA U21 men’s team will play as the Golden Gate Gladiators and the SA U21 women’s team will play as the Namaqualand Daisies. The men’s teams are, Addo Elephants, Drakensburg Dragons, Garden Route Gazelles, Golden Gate Gladiators, Mapungubwe Mambas and the Maropeng Cavemen.

The women’s teams are, Blyde River Bunters, Madikwe Rangers, Namaqualand Daisies, Orange River Rafters, St Lucia Lakers and the Wineland Wings.

Some of the players to watch in this competition are marquee players, who were revealed by Saha and were allocated to different PHL teams. The marquee players include a host of participants who have represented the South African senior men’s and women’s national teams at international level.

The men’s national team captain, Tim Drummond, has been allocated to the Drakensberg Dragons, while his female counterpart, Nicolene Terblanche, will play for the Blyde River Bunters. Lloyd Norris-Jones and Sanani Mangisa, 2012 olympians, were selected for the Garden Route Gazelles and the Orange River Rafters.

The men’s coaches are, Cheslyn Gie for Addo Elephants, Sihle Ntuli for Drakensberg Dragons, Steve Evans for Garden Route Gazelles, Gareth Ewing for Golden Gate Gladiators, Krinesan Moodley for Mapungubwe Mambas and Mark Saunders will lead the Maropeng Cavemen. The head coaches of the women’s teams are, Lindsey Wright for Blyde River Bunters, Robin van Ginkel for Madikwe Rangers, Patrick Tshushani for Namaqualand Daisies, Lenise Marias for St Lucia Lakers, Pietie Coetzee-Turner for Orange River Rafters and Ryan Pillay for the Winelands Wings.

Details: Premier League Hockey, 011 303 7000.

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