This comes despite the Proteas having qualified to compete in the elite hockey tournament against the world’s best counties by winning the inaugural Hockey Nations Cup in Potchefstroom last year.

The news does come as a major to the sport in South Africa especially considering that both the senior men’s and women’s team have been doing well of late.

The South African Hockey Association withdrew the Proteas from the Pro League due to limited finances.  SAHA stated that their annual revenue is less than the amount required to fulfil the minimum financial requirement by the FIH for entry into the Pro League

“Following the South African Hockey Men’s victory at the FIH Nations Cup in Potchefstroom the team had earned a spot in the FIH Pro League subject to specific financial obligations being met by the January deadline and as a result we could not accept our place in this competition.

“Since the beginning of 2022, the South African Hockey Association secured funding to pay for the Men’s Pro League, the Aslan Shah Cup in Malaysia, the Men and Women Nations Cups as well as both Men and Women World Cup events. We won the Men’s Nations Cup at the beginning of December and the due date for submission to the FIH was on 16 January 2023. With the short timelines, our ability to communicate effectively was compromised.

“The South African Hockey Association is immensely proud of the strides that our national Hockey teams are making and we are simultaneously disappointed that we could not secure a sponsor to support the positive progress of our men’s program by having our team play in the pro league 23/24 with those short timelines.

“As a National Federation our annual revenue is less than the amount required to fulfil the minimum financial requirement by the FIH for entry into the pro league (Approximately R10 million).  However, discussions will be held with the team as we continue working to give them the best opportunity to maintain their positive trend.

“We hope that results of our teams as well as the results at the recent indoor world cup will open the eyes of corporate South Africa to the opportunity of supporting the efforts of our national teams. As the South African Hockey Association, we have 8 national teams to take care of with limited funding, hence players having to pay for certain events and preparation for events.”

The FIH has included the Nations Cup runners-up, Ireland, in the Pro League following the withdrawal of the Proteas.

Morgan Piek OFM Sport