Mouth-watering clashes headline 2025 Synsport Greg Beling Festival
Hockey enthusiasts in East London can expect a buzz of activity, top talent and quality clashes with two major hockey tournaments grabbing the spotlight in the city this weekend.
The action will come thick and fast as the annual Synsport Greg Beling Hockey Festival and the Tony Godding Hockey Festival signal the start of a new season.
Both events run from Thursday, 20 March, to Sunday, 23 March.
The matches will be played at five venues: Selborne College, Clarendon High School for Girls, Stirling High, Cambridge High, and Merrifield College.
Annually, the Greg Beling Festival welcomes some of the top girls’ teams from across South Africa, and this year is no different.
Last year’s winner of the Fairtree Super 12 Hockey Tournament, Rhenish Girls’ High School, will be in attendance, looking to get their season off on a high note.
In 2024, coach Chris Gerber’s side dominated at the Greg Beling Festival. They racked up five convincing victories, thumping Clarendon 4-1, DSG Makhanda 3-0, Eunice 5-1, Pearson High 4-0, and Affies Girls 4-0.
They head into this year’s event high in confidence after beating Rustenburg Girls’ High School twice in recent weeks.
Bloemfontein powerhouses, Eunice, and Oranje Meisieskool, will also be in action in East London.
They both began the 2025 season at the Balling Festival late last month, in Bethlehem, and have played a series of matches since then.
Last weekend, they hosted Pretoria’s Die Hoërskool Menlopark and Hoërskool Waterkloof in a dual derby weekend that featured the season’s first Hyundai Friday Night Lights match.
Oranje scored a 3-1 victory over Menlopark on Friday evening but were held to a goalless draw by Waterkloof on Saturday.
Eunice, meanwhile, defeated Waterkloof 3-1 on Friday night but was stunned by Menlopark the following day, going 0-1 down.
The Eastern Cape will have extensive representation at the festival. Top teams that stand out, excluding the hosting schools, are Collegiate Girls’ High, Pearson High, DSG Makhanda, Hudson Park High School, and Kingswood College.
Collegiate and Pearson had promising seasons in 2024, and kicking off 2025 strongly will be on their to-do list.
DSG Makhanda, meanwhile, will be led by Abigail Holderness this season, and they defeated Woodridge College 4-0 in their season opener last week.
Hudson Park will face stiff competition against both Eunice and Oranje, two teams they faced and against whom they did relatively well last year.
Another side to keep an eye out for will be St Anne’s DSG. The girls from the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands, led by coach Morne Odendaal, are brimming with confidence after winning the Spar KZN Hockey Challenge Pietermaritzburg North title last week.
They defeated The Wykeham Collegiate 2-0 in the final, but coach Odendaal knows competition at the Greg Beling Festival will be tougher and they’ll need to bring their A-game.
Parel Vallei is fresh off competing in the Springfield Festival, while Bethlehem Voortrekker defeated Hoërskool Sentraal 10-1 in the WesGrow league last weekend. Both teams head to East London in an optimistic mood.
Gqeberha’s Framesby and Westering will be keen to test themselves against the best.
The schedule is littered with entertaining matchups, and it all starts on Thursday when Eunice takes on DSG Makhanda and Clarendon faces Rhenish.
Stirling High will host Pearson on their home turf.
The action ramps up on Friday and Saturday, with Friday’s action including a much-anticipated clash between Oranje and Rhenish.
Merrifield College will end their games at home against Kingswood College on Sunday.
Follow SuperSport Schools Plus Hockey for all the results. See fixtures below:
@Clarendon
Thursday, 20 March
18:00 – Eunice vs DSG Makhanda; 19:15 – Clarendon vs Rhenish.
Friday, 21 March
08:30 – Hudson Park vs Parel Vallei; 09:45 – Rhenish vs Voortrekker; 12:15 – Kingswood College vs Witterberg; 13:30 – Hudson Park vs Collegiate; 14:45 – Lilyfontein vs Brandwag; 16:00 – Eunice vs Parel Vallei; 17:15 – Clarendon vs Glenwood House; 18:30 – Oranje vs Rhenish.
Saturday, 22 March
07:00 – Kingswood College vs Sasolburg; 08:15 – Collegiate vs Middelburg; 09:30 – Clarendon vs Witterberg; 10:45 – Rhenish vs St Anne’s DSG; 12:00 – Parel Vallei vs Middelburg; 13:15 -Hudson Park vs Eunice; 14:30 – Union High vs Sasolburg; 15:45 – DSG Makhanda vs Parel Vallei; 17:00 – Oranje vs St Anne’s DSG; 18:15 – Rhenish vs Eunice; 19:30 – Clarendon vs Alex Road.
Sunday, 23 March
08:15 – DSG Makhanda vs St Anne’s DSG; 09:30 -Eunice vs Middelburg; 10:45 – Hudson Park vs Oranje; 12:00 – Kingsridge vs Volkskool; 13:15 – Clarendon vs Woodridge College.
@Cambridge High School
Thursday, 20 March
18:00 – Cambridge High vs Union.
Friday, 21 March
09:45 – Lilyfontein vs Duineveld; 11:00 – Cambridge vs Volkskool; 14:45 – Framesby vs Duineveld; 16:00 – Cambridge vs Curro Waterstone; 18:30 – Queenstown Girls’ High School vs Union High.
Saturday, 22 March
08:15 – Brandwag vs Montana; 10:45 – Cambridge vs Jim Fouché; 12:00 – Lilyfontein vs Cradock; 13:15 – Westering vs Montana; 14:30 – Woodridge College vs Witterberg; 18:15 – Westering vs Jim Fouché.
Sunday, 23 March
09:30 – Union vs Duineveld; 10:45 – Brandwag vs Curro Waterstone; 13:15 – Cambridge vs Westering.
@Selborne College
Friday, 21 March
08:30 – Queenstown Girls’ High vs Sasolburg; 14:45 – DSG Makhanda vs Voortrekker.
Saturday, 22 March
07:00 – Lilyfontein vs Curro Waterstone; 08:15 – DSG Makhanda vs Oranje.
Sunday, 23 March
09:30 – Collegiate vs Parel Vallei.
@Stirling High School
Thursday, 20 March
16:00 – Stirling High vs Pearson.
Friday, 21 March
09:45 – Stirling vs Framesby; 12:15 – Pearson vs Middelburg; 13:30 – Kingsridge vs Westering; 17:15 – Stirling HIgh vs Woodridge College; 18:30 – Pearson vs St Anne’s DSG.
Saturday, 22 March
08:15 – Stirling High vs Volkskool; 10:45 -Queenstown Girls’ High vs Kingswood College; 12:00 – Pearson vs Voortrekker; 14:30 – Glenwood House vs Volkskool; 17:00 – Collegiate vs Voortrekker; 19:30 – Stirling High vs Duineveld.
Sunday, 23 March
07:00 – Cradock vs Sasolburg; 09:30 – Framesby vs Jim Fouché; 10:45 – Alex Road vs Witterberg; 12:00 – Stirling High vs Voortrekker.
@Merrifield College
Friday, 21 March
08:30 – Kingsridge vs Cradock; 09:45 – Merrifield College vs Montana; 12:15 – Union vs Jim Fouché; 13:30 – Cradock vs Montana; 16:00 – Merrifield College vs Alex Road.
Saturday, 22 March
07:00 – Alex Road vs Glenwood House; 09:30 – Merrifield vs Woodridge College; 12:00 – Kingsridge vs Brandwag; 13:15 – Curro Waterstone vs Duineveld; 14:30 – Merrifield vs Framesby.
Sunday, 23 March
08:15 – Queenstown Girls’ High vs Glenwood House; 13:15 – Merrifield College vs Kingswood College.
