A frenetic four days across two Western Cape venues have reached their conclusion and our champions have been crowned. Ultimately it was the defending champions in both tournaments who followed similar scripts to reverse their pool stage defeat and emerge victorious.
In the women’s A Section final Western Province took on KZN Raiders looking to end a three-year hold on the trophy. The hosts had produced a brilliant performance to end a long undefeated run for the KZN Raiders in the pool stage, their first defeat since 2019 and were hopeful of adding to that in the final.
Isabella Booyens opened the scoring for Western Province early on and it was a lead they held until half time. They would surrender the lead when a mis-trap saw the ball come across to Tatum Kroutz who made no mistake to level the score.
With seconds left in the third quarter KZN Raiders took the lead for the first time. Western Province was unable to clear their lines and Malikah Hamza popped up and finished to punish the opportunity.
A brilliant run from Kelsey Swanepoel saw her convert to stretch the lead to 3-1 before Western Province set up a grand stand finish when captain Jamie Southgate pulled a goal back. The hosts poured everything in, including pulling their keeper from the game as they searched for an equalizer. But Malikah Hamza took advantage of the open goal and slammed it home to seal a fourth consecutive title and 8th in nine years.
In the men’s tournament Southern Gauteng had secured a place in the final with a 100% record in the pool stage including a brilliant 7-6 win in an ill-tempered group stage game.
It was an enthralling battle between the two giants of indoor hockey which was ultimately decided by a third quarter blitz. Liam Hermanus gave Southerns the lead from a penalty corner, but it was a lead that lasted only four minutes when Ryan Julius scored on the counter.
Province netted not one but two strikes in the final minutes of the opening quarter through Mustapha Cassiem and Hans Neethling. Travis Krumples and Neethling exchanged goals before JP Britz made it 4-3 at the half time break.
Then came the Western Province storm to move it to 9-3 and 10-4. Neethling scored a hat-trick and Litha Kraai produced his own magic to set the crowd into the frenzy.
Southern Gauteng made the game interesting with a superb final quarter to pull it back to 10-8 but the game ended with Western Province victorious and securing a fifth consecutive title.
Earlier in the day the WP Peninsula men secured promotion to the A section with a 6-4 win against the WP Disa men with Luthando Jonas getting a double. In the women’s B section tournament, the KZN Mynahs secured promotion with a brilliant battering of the Northern Daisies.
SPAR & Tops at SPAR Indoor Hockey IPT 2024 – Individual Awards
Men’s Player of the Tournament – Dalpiarro Langford (Southern Gauteng)
Men’s Young Player of the Tournament – Travis Krumples (Southern Gauteng)
Men’s Top Goal scorer – Mustapha Cassiem (Western Province)
Men’s Goalkeeper of the Tournament – Bongumusa Mngoma (KZN Raiders)
Womens Player of the Tournament – Daniella de Oliveira (Western Province)
Womens Young Player of the Tournament – Laiken Brisset (Northern Blues)
Womens Top Goal scorer – Cerian Fourie (Northern Blues)
Womens Goalkeeper of the Tournament – Sarah Paget (Southern Gauteng)
SPAR & Tops at SPAR Indoor Hockey IPT 2024 – Final Standings
Men’s – A Section
- Western Province
- Southern Gauteng
- KZN Raiders
- Northern Blues
- SG Witsies
- Mpumalanga
- KZN Mynahs
Men’s – B Section
- WP Peninsula
- WP Disa
- Eastern Province
- Northern Daisies
Womens – A Section
- KZN Raiders
- Western Province
- Northern Blues
- North West
- Southern Gauteng
- Mpumalanga
- WP Peninsula
- SG Witsies
Womens – B Section
- KZN Mynahs
- Northern Daises
- WP Disa
- Eastern Gauteng A
- Eastern Province
- Eastern Gauteng B
SPAR & Tops at SPAR Indoor Hockey IPT 2024 – Day 4 Results
Men’s A Section
Western Province 6-2 SG Witsies
Southern Gauteng 4-3 KZN Raiders
KZN Mynahs 3-4 Northern Blues
Final – Western Province 10-8 Southern Gauteng
Men’s B Section
Bronze Medal – Northern Blues 0-12 Eastern Province
Final – WP Disa 4-6 WP Peninsula
Women’s A Section
5th Playoff – Mpumalanga 1-2 Southern Gauteng
7th Playoff – SG Witsies 0-2 WP Peninsula
Bronze Medal – Northern Blues 4-0 North West
Final – KZN Raiders 4-2 Western Province
Women’s B Section
Bronze – Eastern Gauteng A 0-4 WP Disa
5th Playoff – Eastern Province 2-0 Eastern Gauteng B
Final – KZN Mynahs 7-0 Northern Daisies
by South Africa
