Top teams head to East London for the Greg Beling Festival
The annual Greg Beling Hockey Festival will return to the SuperSport Schools screens from Thursday with a feast of exciting hockey, featuring some of South Africa’s leading girls’ hockey schools.
The action begins on Thursday evening and runs through to early on Sunday afternoon.
Top schools from all over the country will sharpen their skills, and work on combinations and team tactics as the 2024 season speeds into focus.
Matches will be played at six different venues, with Cambridge High, Stirling High, Clarendon High School for Girls, Selborne College, Merrifield College, and the Bunkers Hill Astro hosting games.
Cambridge will set matters in motion on Thursday when they run out against Montana at 17:00. Another of the local sides, Clarendon, plays their first match, against Rhenish, at 18:15.
It’s on the second day, Friday, that a smorgasbord of action will unfold, with 18 matches taking place, including Cambridge fronting up to Eunice at 09:00 in the first game of the day.
Eunice will be aiming to up their game after an up-and-down start to their season at Voortrekker’s Balling Hockey Festival. In 2023, they won three of their four games at the Greg Beling Festival, beating Parel Vallei 5-1, DSG Makhanda 5-0 and Stirling High School 2-1, and going down 1-0 to Pearson High School. Eunice would go on to become the number one ranked team in the country.
Other matches to keep an eye out for over the course of the weekend include a much-anticipated clash between Clarendon and Oranje, who made a red-hot start to the season at the Balling Hockey Festival, scoring 33 goals and conceding only one in five outings.
Pearson will lock horns with Rhenish, before Hudson Park faces Collegiate and Eunice on the same day.
Kingswood College also had a successful run at the 2023 Festival, but they will be tested over the weekend, particularly in their matches against Sasolburg High and Linden.
To wrap matters up on Sunday, Stirling High will face Voortrekker, seeking to do the double over their opponents, after they shocked the Bethlehem side 3-2 on home soil in February.
Fixtures
Thursday, 14 March 2024
Cambridge High School Astro
17:00 – Cambridge v Montana
18:00 – DSG v Eunice
18:15 – Clarendon v Rhenish
Friday, 15 March 2024
Cambridge High School Astro
09:00 – Cambridge v Eunice
12:45 – Cradock HS v Krugersdorp HS
15:15 – Brandwag v Montana
16:30 – Cambridge v HS Linden
Clarendon Astro turf
10:15 –DSG v Rhenish
11:h30 – Clarendon v Union High
14:00 – Framesby v Witterberg
15h:15 – DSG v Oranje
16:30 – Pearson v Affies
14:45 – Rhenish v Eunice
Merrifield College Astro
11:00 – Lilyfontein v Volksool
13:30 – Westering v Sasolburg
14:45 – Merrifield v Kingswood
Selborne College Astro
14:00 – Curro Waterstone v GHS
16:30 – Hudson Park v St Anne’s
Stirling High School Astro
11:30 – Alex v HS Duinveld
15:15 – Woodridge v Voortrekker
17:45 – Stirling v Collegiate
Saturday, 16 March 2024
Cambridge High School Astro
07:00 – Curro Waterstone v Brandwag
08:15 – Framesby v Krugersdorp
10:45 – Cambridge v Alex Rd
13:15 – Framesby v GHS
18:15 – Cambridge v Woodridge
Clarendon School for Girls Astro
07:00 – Clarendon Inv v Cradock
08:15 – DSG v Voortrekker
09:30 – Collegiate v Affies
10:15 – Oranje v Woodridge
12:00 – Clarendon v St Anne’s
13:15 – Union High v Duineveld
13:15 – Pearson v Voortrekker
15:45 – Rhenish Girls v Affies
17:00 – DSG v St Anne’s
18:15 – Clarendon v Oranje
Merrifield College Astro
07:00 – GHS v Volkskool
08:15 – Merrifield College v Duineveld
14:30 – Merrifield College v Montana
Selborne College Astro
07:00 – Sasolburg v Union High
09:30 – Pearson v Rhenish
Stirling High School Astro
07:00 – Kingswood College v Linden High
09:30 – Stirling v Witteberg
12:00 – Curro Waterstones v Westering
13:15 – Krugersdorp High v Volkskool
14:30 – Kingswood College v Witteberg
15:45 – Alex Rd v Linden
18:15 – Stirling v Eunice
Bunkers Hill Astro
08:15 – Montana v Westering
10:45 – Hudson Park v Eunice
12:00 – Clarendon Inv v Brandwag
13:15 – Sasolburg v Cradock
14:30 – Hudson Park v Collegiate
Sunday, 17 March 2024
Cambridge High School Astro
07:00 – Alex Rd v Krugersdorp
10:45 – Clarendon Inv v Curro Waterstone
13:15 – Cambridge v Pearson
07:00 – Collegiate v St Anne’s
08:15 – Oranje v Hudson Park
09:30 – Eunice v Affies
12:00 – Clarendon v Woodridge
09:30 – Kingswood College v Sasolburg High
Merrifield College Astro
07:00 – Brandwag v Lilyfontein
09:30 – Union High v Witteberg
12:00 – Merrifield v Volkskool
Selborne College Astro
07:00 – Framesby v Montana
07:00 – DSG v Linden
10:45 – Stirling v Voortrekker
12:00 – GHS v Duineveld
13:15 – Westering v Cradock
