South Africa’s hockey team backs out of African Games over host's unpreparedness
South Africa’s men’s and women’s hockey teams will not be participating in the Africa Games in Accra Ghana over inadequate facilities provided by host country Ghana for the games as well as inadequate preparations to host them.
The South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (SASOC) decided this after complaints that the pitches at the scheduled venue, the Theodosia Okoh Hockey Pitch in Accra were not suitable and up to international standards for the competition.
“Despite repeated assurances that the pitches would be ready” for the competition, they indicated in a statement, that the pitches remained unsuitable.
This has resulted in logistic inconveniences for the team since they had to arrange for both the men’s and women’s teams to fly to Ghana for the competition.
In a communique to the Local Organising Committee (LOC) on March 18, they indicated, “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. 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.”
South Africa's decision was based on guidelines outlined by the International Hockey Federation.
“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 the readiness of venues before the start of each competition. This, unfortunately, has not been the case for Hockey. In addition, according to the International Hockey Federation (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,” Team SA hockey team leader Ms. Patience Shikwambana was quoted by Myjoyonline.
“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," she added.
