The Limpopo ladies field hockey team had a very successful 2012 SA Country District tournament, taking an overall third place during this year’s tournament, which was held at Kearsney College in Durban from 30 June to 7 July.

Limpopo went to the tournament with the expectation of trying to improve on their fifth-place performance in 2011, and it was therefore vital that they started well from the first game.

“It usually takes Limpopo teams a couple of days to settle into playing conditions on the Astro-turf surface, and it is usually only from day three onwards that Limpopo teams begin to acclimatize from grass to Astro. This year, however, the team was competitive from the first game, and after day two they had recorded two draws against KZN inlands B (1-1) and Northern Gauteng (2-2) respectively. It became apparent to me after day two that Limpopo possessed the fastest players at the tournament, especially among our midfielders and forwards, and we could outpace most of the teams present,” said coach Pieter Jooste.

On day three, Limpopo comfortably outplayed Eastern Province, beating them 4-1. Day four saw Limpopo go down to reigning champions Southern Gauteng 1-3 after putting up a hard fight. The score had been 1-1 deep into the second half, and the third goal was scored just seconds before the buzzer sounded to end the game. On day five, Limpopo was well-placed in the pool standings, but they needed to improve their goal-difference to secure a place in the top four, and this they duly achieved through a clinical performance against the KZN Mynahs, beating them by 9-0. 

In the cross-pool semifinal play-off against KZN Midlands A, Limpopo was outclassed by a well-organized KZN team, and they went down 0-4 to the eventual tournament winners. An unexpected result in the other semifinal saw Southern Gauteng losing to Northern Free State in a penalty shootout, and this meant that Limpopo would face Southern Gauteng for the second time, in the third-and fourth-place play-off.

“I have never seen a team so determined to defend their goal. The Limpopo girls successfully defended for about 70% of the match, and they kept seven Southern Gauteng penalty corners out. It was incredible to see. Limpopo were awarded no attacking penalty corners throughout the match. With the 30% possession that we did have, however, we managed to score twice - Marli Beetge scoring late in the first half, and Andri van Heerden clinching the match with the second goal when only two minutes were left on the clock.  This left the final score 2-0 in Limpopo’s favour,” said Jooste.

At the prize-giving ceremony, Limpopo also received the Fair-Play trophy, which is awarded according to the choice of each of the teams present.

To crown off a successful week, Limpopo had three players selected to the SACD-B team to take part at the inter-provincial tournament (IPT) in Randburg in August. They are Hettie Trollip, Zelda van Rooyen and Ashley Lynn Murray.

The team wishes to express a big thank you to the following sponsors for contributing to the success of the tour: Specsavers Louis Trichardt for the kit bags; Cranetech Phalaborwa for the team shirts; and Werda Toyota Louis Trichardt & CP Minnaar Vervoer Letsitele for the match kit.