Background and History to Grand Masters
Western Province Grand Masters Hockey Association is an affiliation of the SA Grand Masters Hockey Association, now part of the SA Masters Association. We are also affiliated to the World Masters Association (originally called World Grand Masters) which was formed in 2002 as a result of a fast-growing interest in Grand Masters (60+) hockey. It is an international organization whose members include nations participating in international events for players aged 60 and over and is now amalgamated into the World Masters Hockey Association.
South Africa first participated in the Grand Masters World Tournament in 2008 in Hong Kong. We hosted the 2010 World Tournament in Cape Town, a tournam,ent which is held every two years. We have fielded teams in each of the age categories at Oxford (England), The Hague (Netherlands), Newcastle (Australia) and Barcelona (Spain). Tokyo in 2020 was cancelled but because of Covid, this will now run Oct 2022. In 2019, a 70+ team represented South Africa at the European Cup in Antwerp.
Aim
The organisation’s prime objective includes promoting and encouraging continued playing by hockey players aged fifty-five years and older, and promoting fair play in all competitions and adequate safety for all players within age divisions.
In Cape Town, we elect a WPGMHA Committee, including Chairman, Secretary and Treasurer with two other members at our AGM before the SAGMHA IPT. Currently, WPGMHA has 80 registered players, most of whom are on the field once a week, ranging in age from 53 to 80 years of age.
Every third year, we host an annual IPT. The last three IPTs were in Gauteng in October 2021, KZN in 2022 and Cape Town in 2023. 8 teams were at the last IPT, 2×55+, 2×60+, 1×65+, 2×70+ and a ladies team. For the 2024 IPT which will be in Gauteng, we hope to have 5 teams.
The SAGMHA hold their AGM at these tournaments, and WPGMHA are represented on the SAGMHA committee.
We have been fortunate to use the WPCC facilities for the past 12 years and play on a Thursday (Summer) or Monday (Winter).
Currently
With our current numbers, we can field 6 teams with several mixed and one a national lady’s majority side. Each team has a coach (we are looking for non-playing coaches at the moment), captain and administrator. The teams are not club-affiliated and attempts are made to balance strengths considering age and skills. A league is run with points and the top team and goal scorer receives a trophy. We use experienced umpires and meet afterwards for a drink and chat. We also use a sports therapist to help us warm up and down and deal with injuries. Furthermore, we have a defibrillator on the side of the field if needed.
This all costs money as we pay for the facilities, sports therapist, defibrillator, umpires and incidentals.
The current cost is R980 per season.
Players are encouraged to pay a lump sum for the season, usually for 6 games. This reduces administration and the burden on Captains having to collect money after each game.
In addition, each player is required to pay an annual “Capitation fee” to SAGMHA, R330.00, and players over 70 are exempt. This is paid to WPGMHA and transferred to SAGMHA before the SAGMHA AGM.