It is four year’s since the Cape has held an uwh tournament and thanks Hendri Mouton, Reddam House and Boland, Inter-Clubs 2019 was hosted in the picturesque town of Somerset West.
No sure if the call of Table Mountain, the winelands or the magnificent beaches was the motivating factor, but Inter-Clubs boasted a substantial increase in team entries and players, both local and international, this year. A Barbarian team, consisting of 80% international players, as well as, for the third year in a row, the Angolan Team, made their way to the Cape. Many local clubs had the allotted 2 international players per team, thus exposing all players to international standards.
Cape Town entered a record number of teams – 3 Men and 3 Ladies with Normal Air, not far behind with 4 teams. A total of 25 team entered; 16 men and a resounding 9 ladies teams.
The competition was held over three days with 100 games being played on day 1 and 2 and 32 games being played on day 3.
Due to the large number of entries, the game time was reduced to 13 minutes per game with no break and a 2 minute change around. This made for some interesting hockey as it was fast, intense and fitness was not always the winning factor.
A wonderful initiative from Boland, the hosts for Inter-Clubs 2019 was that every player received a customised medal for participating in the tournament.
