Grey hockey festival draws top sides

Some of the country’s top hockey schools will travel to Port Elizabeth this week to take part in the inaugural Hibbert Cup tournament to be hosted by Grey High from Friday to Monday.

A total of six teams will compete in the round-robin tournament, which is being held as a tribute to the contribution the Hibbert family has made to hockey in the region, and in particular, Grey High.

Former Grey pupils Andrew and Chris Hibbert were stalwarts in the Eastern Province team for many years, while Chris went on to achieve national colours.

Their father Brian, a former teacher at the school, was a leading figure in South African hockey for many years, coaching at provincial and national levels.

Fittingly, the weekend event should throw up some highquality hockey as some of the best sides in the country vie for the title.

The teams are Bishops, Grey High, Garsfontein, Michaelhouse, Paul Roos and Selborne.

In a prominent website ranking, the unbeaten Grey outfit are placed at No 1 in the country, while Bishops slot in at No 3. However, none of the remaining teams will stand back for anyone and the tournament format will give everyone a chance to land the inaugural title.

The sides will face off in round-robin matches from Friday to Sunday before playoffs on the Monday.

Each school will play six matches, with the playoff games getting under way at 8am on Monday.

The final between the top two sides on the log will start at 10.40.

The games are set to be intense affairs, decided over 48 minutes, and split into chukkas of 12 minutes each.

A best-of-three eight-second shootout will be held to determine the winners if a match is drawn.