Top teams head to Jeppe for the Nomads Hockey Festival
Hockey fans in Johannesburg will be treated to some high-quality and entertaining action this coming weekend when Jeppe High School for Boys hosts the Nomads Hockey Festival.
The highly anticipated event takes place from Saturday, 29 March, to Monday, 31 March.
In action on the picturesque Boden AstroTurf will be 10 top hockey-playing schools from around the country.
Jeppe will be joined at the festival by their Gauteng counterparts St Benedict’s College, King Edward VII (KES), Pretoria Boys High (PBHS), and St John’s College.
The hosts have made a promising start to the season under head coach Siya Sityana, and the Nomads Festival gives them a chance to build further momentum.
They opened the season with a 4-2 victory over coach Owen Mvimbi’s St Benedict’s side before beating PBHS 1-0 and KES 4-2.
Jeppe had their struggles in 2024, during Sityana’s first year at the helm, but they seem to have turned the corner early on this season.
PBHS, despite losing to Jeppe, will enter Nomads high in confidence after beating Parktown Boys’ High 2-0 last weekend.
St John’s College, KES, and Bennies, will also want to make their mark against some top opposition.
KwaZulu-Natal will be represented at Nomads by Hilton College and last year’s hosts, Maritzburg College.
Coach Damian Kimfley’s Hilton boys have proved to be a handful in the early going. Their first two matches of the season yielded positive results: a 2-0 win over Kearsney College and a 4-0 drubbing of Westville Boys’ High.
They lost their captain Xavier Enslin to an injury in the win over Kearsney, and coach Kimfley will have his fingers crossed that he’ll have Enslin back on the field for the festival.
College, on the other hand, is yet to register a win. Coach Mark Sanders’ young side showed their fighting quality in a 2-2 draw against Durban High School earlier this month but, most recently, suffered a 3-4 loss to Northwood School in Pietermaritzburg, on Saturday.
It was only their second loss against Northwood on Pape’s Astro; the first came in 2023.
Other teams that will be in attendance are Grey College, Selborne College, and Cape Town’s Wynberg Boys’ High.
Grey College, under the guidance of coach Dallan Phillips, has played an impressive brand of hockey early in the season, which brought them four victories at last week’s Synsport Tony Godding Festival, in East London.
There, the boys from Bloemfontein defeated Hudson Park 5-0, Queen’s College 4-0, St Andrew’s College 3-2, and Pearson High 4-2.
Coach Phillips will, however, be aware that the competition at Nomads will be another step up in quality, and his team will need to bring their A-game to meet the challenge.
Selborne College is the only Eastern Cape side heading to Nomads this year, with Grey High currently on an international tour of The Netherlands.
Coach KJ Friend‘s side has had a challenging start to the season, with a bunch of young players still finding their feet at first-team level.
At the Tony Godding Festival, they recorded three victories but were stunned 3-2 by St Andrew’s School on day two.
Wynberg Boys’ High, meanwhile, heads into Nomads with a few surprises up their sleeves.
Coach Ben Wiley’s troops participated in a pre-season festival in the Western Cape last week, but not many people have seen them in action.
That could play to their advantage, and they’ll be eager to cause a couple of upsets away from home.
The opening day will kick off with a clash between Jeppe and Selborne College at 07:30.
Sunday will be filled with mouthwatering fixtures before a tasty-looking clash between the hosts and Hilton College on the final day completes the schedule.
FIXTURES
Saturday, 29 March
07:30 – Jeppe vs Selborne College; 08:45 – Grey College vs Pretoria Boys; 10:00 – St John’s College vs Hilton College; 11:15 – Maritzburg College vs St Benedict’s; 12:30 – Jeppe vs Wynberg Boys’ High; 13:45 – King Edward VII vs Selborne College; 15:00 – St Benedict’s vs Hilton College; 16:15 – St John’s College vs Grey College; 17:30 – Wynberg Boys’ High vs Pretoria Boys; 18:45 – King Edward VII vs Maritzburg College.
Sunday, 30 March
07:30 – Jeppe vs Grey College; 08:45 – St John’s College vs Wynberg Boys’ High; 10:00 – Selborne College vs St Benedict’s; 11:15 – Hilton College vs Pretoria Boys; 12:30 – King Edward VII vs Grey College; 13:45 – Maritzburg College vs Wynberg Boys’ High; 15:00 – St John’s College vs Selborne College; 16:15 – St Benedict’s vs Pretoria Boys; 17:30 – King Edward VII vs Hilton College; 18:45 – Jeppe vs Maritzburg College.
Monday, 31 March
07:30 – King Edward VII vs Wynberg Boys’ High; 08:45 – St Benedict’s vs Grey College; 10:00 – Selborne College vs Pretoria Boys; 11:15 – St John’s College vs Maritzburg College; 12:30 – Jeppe vs Hilton College.
