The African Games in Ghana have egg on their faces following the withdrawal of the South African men’s and women’s hockey teams at the 11th hour.

The Proteas Women were meant to open their title defence against Nigeria on the weekend, while the men were set to get their title defence underway against Kenya.

However, the South African teams were withdrawn from the tournament mere hours before the start of their matches as the astro turf was only installed on Saturday night and there was a lack of communication from the local organising committee.

It’s for player safety concerns that South Africa was withdrawn, this after repeated assurances that the pitches would be ready for international-standard competition.

SA team leader Patience Shikwambana that they were assured everything would be in order ahead of the African Games.

“Over and above making this decision, our SA Hockey Federation consulted with Sports Flooring Warehouse, a South African-based specialist in carpet laying, and an FIH recognised service provider,” said Shikwambana.

“They have also advised us – having analysed the images we shared with them – that the field is not satisfactory and may cause harm to the athletes.”

“The rescheduling of the hockey competition, on three numerous occasions has, in addition, caused an inconvenience to us logistically, as a team, where we had to arrange for both the teams to fly to Ghana in time for the commencement of the competition.

“In the first Chef De Missions’ site visit meeting at the end of October 2023, we were advised that there would be test events to ensure readiness of venues before the start of each competition. This, unfortunately, has not been the case for Hockey. In addition, according to the FIH field certification guideline, ‘If a field that is not certified is being considered as a tournament venue, it should be tested at the earliest convenience to demonstrate compliance with this specification’.

“These tests should be conducted months in advance before a competition – which, in this case, have not taken place. Furthermore, ‘The FIH has a number of accredited test institutes, and these have accredited engineers located around the world’, which we are not certain if they have been involved and provided the necessary certification.”

This does not have an impact on the South African team with regards to them have already having qualified for the Paris Olympics. It does however deny them valuable match practice ahead of the global showpiece in France.

Morgan Piek OFM Sport