A jam-packed hockey weekend awaits the Eastern Cape
While the 2025 hockey season has concluded for some schools around the country, the action will intensify in the Eastern Cape with local derbies on the menu this weekend.
Exciting matchups are on the cards, with intriguing clashes lined up for East London, Komani, Makhanda, and on the outskirts of the province, in George.
The meeting between local teams, Hudson Park High School and Selborne College, is, arguably, the match of the weekend in East London.
They meet for the first time this season at the Buco AstroTurf on Friday at 15:45.
Last year, Selborne recorded an emphatic 6-1 victory over their opponents, but Hudson will be keen to reverse that result.
On current form, coach KJ Friend‘s Selborne side heads into the contest as the favourite. Before the mid-year break, they had worked themselves into good form, beating Stirling High 5-1, Cambridge High 3-2, St Andrew’s College 1-0, and earning a 2-2 draw with Grey College.
Hudson, meanwhile, downed Stirling 3-1 in their last outing, and coach Sipe Matafeni will back his boys to cause some trouble for Selborne.
Speaking of Stirling, they will be in action at home against Dale College.
In the same fixture, a year ago, it was the men in green and white who edged out Dale 3-2 in Qonce, so coach Andrew Senekal‘s red and black-clad charges will be out for revenge.
In Komani, Queen’s College has a bumper weekend in store, with two matches to play.
On Friday, they face Merrifield College before welcoming Bloemfontein’s St Andrew’s School to their campus on Saturday.
Queen’s has had a topsy-turvy season. It has included losses against Grey High and St Andrew’s College, but also a 4-1 win over Hudson Park and a 4-2 win over their arch-rival Dale College. Two wins on the Chris Harker AstroTurf would be a nice boost for their record.
In Makhanda, Graeme College hosts Pearson High on Friday afternoon.
Pearson enters the contest on the back of a 1-2 loss against the touring UK side, Magdalen College, in a midweek match.
The meeting with Graeme will give coach Karl Lavender and his troops a chance to fine-tune their game before tackling Queen’s College and Parel Vallei in their last fixtures of the season.
The town of George will also be treated to some quality hockey when Grey High School visits York High.
The clash between the two has become a regular fixture over the years, and it’s Grey which has dominated and won the majority of the meetings.
In 2024, they met at the Rectory AstroTurf, in Gqeberha, and coach Andrew Beynon‘s charges romped to a 7-0 win.
It will be a different challenge this time around, though, with coach Jason Slater and York set to offer a tough challenge to the visitors.
York has been on the up this year, and they will have an upset on their minds. That clash starts at 18:30.
On Saturday, Cambridge High takes a short trip to face Merrifield College at 11:00, in East London.
EASTERN CAPE BOYS’ FIXTURES:
Friday, 25 July
15:00 – Queen’s College vs Merrifield College
15:45 – Hudson Park vs Selborne College
16:15 – Graeme College vs Pearson High
18:00 – Stirling High vs Dale College
18:30 – York High vs Grey High School
Saturday, 26 July
10:00 – Queen’s College vs St Andrew’s School
11:00 -– Merrifield College vs Cambridge High School
