Ehlanzeni masters shine at Masters Hockey World Cup
The duo both returned home with silver medals for their efforts in Cape Town.
Two hockey players from Ehlanzeni, Tjoff van Staden and Alec Blair, helped their respective South African sides to second place finishes at the 2024 Masters Hockey World Cup in Cape Town.
The two of them are both long-standing legends of hockey in not only Ehlanzeni, but Mpumalanga and South Africa.
Van Staden, who lives in and plays club hockey for White River, was called up to the South African side for the Men’s Over 35 Masters Hockey World Cup.
Blair, who lives in Mbombela and plays for Lowveld Country Club, represented the South Africa International Masters Cup (IMC) side in the men’s Over 40 Masters Hockey World Cup.
Van Staden and his O35 side were in impressive form throughout the tournament, scoring 22 goals and only conceding five in five matches before the final. The White River local contributed three goals to this tally, two being field goals while one was scored during a penalty corner.
Seemingly unstoppable, the O35 side faced a formidable England outfit in the final and played out what was arguably the game of the tournament across all age divisions. South Africa went one goal up before England took a 3-1 lead.
But SA rallied back in the final quarter to draw level at 3-3. England landed the final blow with one minute to go, scoring the fourth and deciding goal to win 4-3. This meant Van Staden and his side returned home with silver medals, having made the country proud.
Blair represented the SA IMC side in the O40 division. The IMC is a separate ‘development’ competition played within the Masters Hockey World Cup. IMC teams take part in the pool stages of the world cup before breaking off into their own knockouts.
But the ‘development’ tag isn’t quite apt as the standard of hockey in the IMC sides is still incredibly high. This is evident in the fact that Blair and the SA side beat Argentina’s regular O40 side in the pool stages. They defeated the O40 IMC Alliance team (an invitational side) to qualify for the final, where they faced a tough Australian IMC side that had beaten them 5-1 earlier in the competition.
The South Africans were determined to get revenge in a fine display of hockey in the final. The hotly contested encounter remained goalless for the entirety of the 60 minutes, requiring an eight-second shootout in order to determine the winner. The shootout ended 1-0 in the Aussies’ favour and Blair and his teammates walked away with a silver medal, too.
