Top dogs off to strong starts at Tony Godding Festival
Spectators were treated to all-round good quality hockey action, closely fought contests and blowouts, on the second day of the annual Belgotex Tony Godding Festival, being jointly hosted by Clarendon, Selborne, Cambridge, Stirling, and Merrifield.
The four-day festival kicked off on Thursday and ends on Sunday.
Despite it not being a victory, Dale College was the first team to record a result they could view in a positive light. Last year, they had such an atrocious run that in May they were at a psychological low and, according to assistant coach, Andrew Senekal, they needed a mental recalibration. Selborne College and Queen’s College completed doubles over them, handing the Qonce boys severe losses.
This year, they have a new coach, Junior Mqingwana, and they are hopefully in a different headspace after beginning the Tony Godding Festival with a gritty 1-1 draw against Curro Waterstone. Later in the day, they were comfortable 5-0 winners over Montana.
Selborne, coached by Kenneth John (KJ) Friend, made an emphatic start, walloping St Andrew’s School 4-0.
The Tre’ Gilbert-captained unit looked sharp and played with purpose as they wrestled control of the contest from St Andrew’s. A testament to how well they functioned as a team was the fact that the four goals were scored by different players, with 2023 veterans, Cade Kock and Waeden Plaatjes, among those to get their names on the scoresheet.
Grey College, under coach Wayne Coetzee, came into the festival high in confidence after sweeping all of their preseason games, including a gritty 1-0 win over Hoërskool Waterkloof and a thrilling 3–2 triumph over Hoërskool Garsfontein. The Bloemfontein outfit then kicked off their Tony Godding Festival campaign with a 9–1 dismantling of Cambridge.
Seven-and-a-half hours after man-handling Cambridge, Grey College faced stiffer competition in the form of Pearson. Ignatius Malgraff‘s boys were a handful last year, giving many a team a run for their money, and they carried that trait into 2024.
They put up a spirited fight against Grey College, but the in-form boys from Bloem came away with a 2-0 win. College’s namesake, Grey High, produced the biggest winning margin of the day in their 11–0 thrashing of Cambridge.
One of the big stories of the day occurred in the early afternoon on the Stirling Astro, when Woodridge faced an optimistic Queen’s College. Queen’s coach Michael Baiden had high hopes his charges would make their mark at the first event on the hockey calendar only to be upstaged 3-1 by their Eastern Cape opposition.
Day three promises more fireworks with mouthwatering contests that include a tussle between the two Greys, College and High, Queen’s going toe-to-toe with Grey College, and Pearson against St Andrew’s School (Bloemfontein), among others.
Results
Cambridge 0-1 Montana, Curro Waterstone 1-1 Dale College, Cambridge Boys 1-9 Grey College, Selborne 4-0 St Andrew’s School, Westering 2-1 Krugersdorp, Hudson Park 0-3 St Andrew’s College, Framesby 0-5 Linden, Westering 2-1 Krugersdorp, Dale 5-0 Montana, Curro Waterstone 0-1 Witteberg, Merrifield 0-4 Kingswood, Pearson 0–2 Grey College, Cambridge 0–11 Grey High, Montana 3–0 Westering, Stirling 1–2 Voortrekker, Queen’s 1–3 Woodridge
Fixtures
Saturday
07:00 – Montana vs Westering; 08:15 – Curro Waterstone vs Dale College; 08:15 – Kingswood College vs Linden High; 09:30 – Framesby vs Krugersdorp High; 09:30 – Merrifield College vs Duineveld; 09:30 – Hudson Park vs Grey College; 10:45 – Grey High vs St Andrew’s School; 10:45 – Stirling vs Witteberg; 10:45 – Queen’s College vs Pearson; 12:00 – Selborne vs Woodridge; 12:00 – Cambridge vs Alex Rd; 12:00 – St Andrew’s College vs Voortrekker; 13:15 – Curro Waterstone vs Westering; 13:15 – Queen’s College vs Grey College; 14:30 – Framesby vs Duineveld; 14:30 – Alex Rd vs Montana; 15:45 – Dale College vs Voortrekker; 15:45 – Kingswood College vs Witteberg; 15:45 – Merrifield College vs St Andrew’s College; 15:45 – Hudson Park vs Grey High; 17:00 – Pearson vs St Andrew’s School; 17:00 – Cambridge vs Woodridge; 17:00 – Stirling vs Krugersdorp High; 18:15 – Selborne vs Linden High
Sunday
08:15 – Framesby vs Montana; 08:15 – Alex Rd vs Krugersdorp; 08:15 – Westering vs Duineveld; 08:15 – Queen’s College vs Kingswood College; 09:30 – Grey College vs St Andrew’s College; 09:30 – St Andrew’s School vs Curro Waterstone; 09:30 – Stirling vs Grey High; 10:45 – Selborne College vs Voortrekker; 10:45 – Merrifield vs Witteberg; 12:00 – Dale College vs Linden High; 12:00 – Cambridge vs Pearson; 13:15 – Hudson Park vs Woodridge
