GEORGE NEWS – The annual SA Masters Hockey Interprovincial Tournament for 2010 is being hosted by Southern Cape Masters Hockey in George from 5 to 9 August.
The tournament has 64 participating provincial mens- and ladies teams and is said to be the biggest tournament in the world involving a thousand players.
The problem of the irreparably neglected Municipal hockey fields at Rooirivierrif was fortunately overcome by York High and Carpe Diem making their fields available to the organisers. However, these nine fields needed some upgrading to the required level. The biggest financial challenge was the cost of a 1000 person marquee, because the George civic centre is too small.
Castle Lager has once again come on board as a significant sponsor and will continue to play an important role in assuring the success of the tournament.
A tournament of this size stretches capacity. Finding 1000 suitable beds was a challenge and the organisers are very pleased with the response from the accommodation establishment which has not been greedy with their rates. This year, each player will bring one or more toys for distribution amongst needy Southern Cape children.
Service clubs have also been brought into the fold to give them the opportunity to raise money for their causes through refreshment sales.
The 1000 players bring enormous spending power with them and the financial injection into the region of this tournament will probably be of greater direct benefit to businesses than the recent hosting of the three soccer squads and World Cup related traffic was.
The organizers underlined the value to the Southern Cape of having an asset such as York High’s Myra Gregory Astro. If it were not for the establishment of the Astro hockey field, tournaments such as this would never be attracted to the area.