All set for the Silver Jubilee edition of St Mary’s Waverley Hockey Festival
This week, St Mary’s Waverley will open their gates to welcome 32 of the country’s top hockey-playing schools to the 25th edition of the St Mary’s Waverley Hockey Festival.
The festival, which runs from 25 to 28 March, began as a one-day event in 2000. It is now a four-day extravaganza that attracts schools from across South Africa.
Catch the action LIVE on SuperSport Schools
The teams will get their campaigns underway in four pools of eight. They’ll play seven pool matches each before the competition splits into different sections.
The defending champions, St Mary’s DSG Kloof, will kick the festival off with a match against Parel Vallei (PV) on Thursday morning. The ladies from KwaZulu-Natal will be aiming to win the title for a fourth time. Joining them and PV in Pool A are their KZN Coastal rivals, Durban Girls’ College (DGC), Hoërskool Waterkloof, St John’s DSG, Afrikaanse Hoërmeisieskool, Pretoria (Affies), Roedean School, and The Wykeham Collegiate (TWC).
Six-time champions, Sekondêre Meisieskool Oranje (Oranje) will headline Pool B. The ladies from Bloemfontein have to contend with Paarl Gimnasium, Hoërskool Bloemhof, Hoërskool Garsfontein, Clarendon High, St Stithians Girls College, Pietermaritzburg Girls’ High, and Reddam House Constantia.
The festival hosts, St Mary’s Waverley, are in Pool C. They face Die Hoërskool Menlopark, St Cyprian’s, Collegiate Girls’ High, Somerset College, Windhoek High, Penryn College, and Eunice High, who are usually among the title challengers.
St Andrew’s School for Girls collected the St Mary’s Festival title in 2012 and 2013, but they haven’t been able to claim it for a third time since. They are in Pool D, where they will battle it out with Rhenish Girls’ High, Our Lady of Fatima Dominican Convent School, Pearson High, St Anne’s DSG, Herschel Girls School, Paarl Girls’ High, and the St Mary’s Waverley Festival XI.
The festival’s format remains unchanged. Matches are 25 minutes in duration. Therefore, the emphasis will be on teams scoring as many goals as possible in the limited time.
A change has been made, though, with the event now featuring promotion and relegation, which will add spice to the competition.
The festival is one of the annual highlights of the schoolgirls’ hockey calendar, with an invitation to compete in it considered an honour. Over the years, the organisers have increased the event to 32 teams. They don’t plan to expand it further. Hence, the introduction of a B section and a promotion and relegation system.
It will pit the top two teams in the B section against the two lowest-ranked teams in the A section. Not only will the title be on the line for the top teams, but a battle to survive relegation awaits those who struggle.
The result is that all matches will be important. There will be little opportunity to take the foot off the accelerator, which will be a win for the spectators and fans. Whether they’re watching at the venue or on the SuperSport Schools App, they’ll be guaranteed all-out action and high-quality hockey.
FIXTURES
Thursday
Pool A
07:45 – 08:10: St Mary’s DSG Kloof vs Parel Vallei, 08:10 – 08:35: St John’s DSG vs Affies, 08:35 – 09:00: Waterkloof vs Roedean, 09:00 – 09:25: DGC vs TWC, 11:15 – 11:40: Waterkloof vs Affies, 11:40 – 12:05: St John’s DSG vs Parel Vallei, 12:30 – 12:55: St Mary’s DSG vs TWC, 12:30 – 12:55: DGC vs Roedean, St Mary’s DSG vs Roedean, 15:10 – 15:35: DGC vs Affies, 15:35 – 16:00: Waterkloof vs St John’s DSG, 16:00 – 16:25: TWC vs Parel Vallei.
Pool B
07:45 – 08:10: Garsfontein vs Clarendon, 08:10 – 08:35: Oranje vs St Stithians, 08:35 – 09:00: Paarl Gim vs Pietermaritzburg Girls’ High, 09:00 – 09:25: Bloemhof vs Reddam House, 11:15 – 11:40: Oranje vs Clarendon, 11:40 – 12:05: Paarl Gim vs St Stithians, 12:05 – 12:30: Garsfontein vs Reddam House, 12:05 – 12:30: Bloemhof vs Pietermaritzburg Girls’ High, 14:40 – 15:05: Paarl Gim vs Clarendon, 14:45 – 15:10: Bloemhof vs St Stithians, 15:30 – 15:55: Oranje vs Garsfontein, 15:55 – 16:20: Pietermaritzburg Girls’ High vs Reddam House, 18: 15 – 18:40: Bloemhof vs Clarendon, 18:40 – 19:05: Paarl Gim vs Garsfontein, 20:00 – 20:25: St Stithians vs Reddam House, 20:25 – 20:50: Oranje vs Pietermaritzburg Girls’ High.
Pool C
09:30 – 09:55: St Cyprian’s vs Collegiate, 09:55 – 10:20: St Mary’s Waverley vs Somerset College, 10:20 – 10:45: Menlopark vs Windhoek High, 10:45 – 11:10: Eunice vs Penryn, 13:00 – 13:25: St Cyprian’s vs Penryn, 13:25 – 13:50: St Mary’s Waverley vs Collegiate, 13:50 – 14:15: Menlopark vs Somerset College, 14:15 – 14:40: Eunice vs Windhoek High, 16:30 – 16:55: St Mary’s Waverley vs St Cyprian’s, 16:55 – 17:20: Menlopark vs Collegiate, 17:10 – 17:35: Windhoek vs Penryn, 17:20 – 17:45: Eunice vs Somerset College, 19:30 – 19:55: St Mary’s Waverley vs Windhoek High.
Pool D
09:30 – 09:55: Rhenish vs St Mary’s Waverley Festival XI, 09:55 – 10:20: Our Lady of Fatima vs St Andrew’s School, 10:20 – 10:45: St Anne’s vs Herschel, 10:45 – 11:10: Pearson vs Paarl Girls’ High, 13:00 – 13:25: St Anne’s vs St Mary’s Waverley Festival XI, 13:25 – 13:50: Rhenish vs St Andrew’s School, 13:50 – 14:15: Our Lady of Fatima vs Paarl Girls’ High, 14:15 – 14:40: Pearson vs Herschel, 16:20 – 16:45: Rhenish vs Paarl Girls’ High, 16:45 – 17:10: Our Lady of Fatima vs Herschel, 17:45 – 18:10: Pearson vs St Anne’s, 19:05 – 19:30: St Andrew’s School vs St Mary’s Waverley Festival XI.
