Hockey revival in Bulawayo

Simba Jemwa, Sports Correspondent
NOSTALGIA is in the air as Bulawayo relives its famed fascination with hockey, bringing back memories of the times the sport evoked strong reactions.

The old and the young are again turning up at the Khumalo Hockey Stadium, which has been hosting a schools’ hockey league that runs from May to the end of August.

And as the sport waned over the past few years, development programmes focused on schools have been leading the road towards the revival of the once hugely popular sport.

Development coach, Lyle George, said the schools’ league is part of efforts aimed at trying to revive the sport made popular in the country by the Golden Girls when they won an Olympic gold medal in 1980 before the likes of the late Colin “Porge” Williams, Erasmus Hodza, Mike McKillop, Linda Watson, among many others.

Khumalo Stadium has hosted major events like the All-Africa Games in 1995 and the Jardav Easter Hockey Tournament.

The current crop of hockey development coaches hopes to overcome decades of historical baggage to revive the sport in Bulawayo.

But its weight will be felt every bit as much as that of gold.

After a golden era where the Golden Girls won an Olympic gold medal right through to the late 1990s when clubs like Bulawayo Athletic Club (BAC), Bulawayo Sports Club (BSC) and Queens Sports Club reigned supreme, came the long punishing drought.

It wasn’t a decline as much as a jump to death from a skyscraper.

It was caused as much by external circumstances; the failure to maintain the artificial turf at Khumalo Stadium and a declining economy, as the Bulawayo hockey community’s own doing.

There was an inability to move with the changing times; administrators’ apathy and short-sightedness, divisions and intra-team politics.

At provincial and national team levels, players were dropped unceremoniously and fell out of love with the game, while coaches changed frequently.

Every so often in the past few decades, Zimbabwean players have shown up at Khumalo’s astro turf and just crumbled under the weight of its history and expectation.

The revival was not achieved during those years.

There was no real turnaround moment.

But the groundwork has been laid for years now.

“A lot of people have been working behind the scenes to try and revive hockey in Bulawayo.

It hasn’t been easy and club hockey is still a way off due to funding constraints.

However, we have managed to get the schools going and we have a very competitive schools’ league running as we speak.

“Hockey is finding its way back to full swing.

We recently took part in the girls’ Under-16 and Under-18 inter-provincial tournament in Harare which was very competitive and well organised.

There is, however, a gap still to be filled if we want to return to the glory days.

“Due to Covid-19, a few of the programmes were forced to stop.

However, there’ve been ongoing work at academies that kept hockey going in Bulawayo.

There are various leagues running in Harare all year round, but in Bulawayo the lack of clubs has made it difficult for a league to start.

However, a social every Wednesday is hosted by D&T.

Academies like D&T and 1OAK are taking young tots (4-7 years) and seniors (8-18 years) on a weekly basis for training and little games in which all students come together for a fee charged per month or session.

And this way the technical aspects of the game are imparted to the future players,” said George.

That there are academies working and school hockey is vibrant and active are twin achievements that will underpin a new moment in Bulawayo hockey; its revival.

What has helped is the experience of working under a stream of top-quality coaches like the late Porge Williams.

These coaches didn’t just introduce just the game of hockey, but a new attacking style of play built on speed and strength, and introduced a new culture of team spirit and self-belief.

Zimbabwe saw a drought in the sport after 2000 and was unable to maintain its spot in the African region, falling down to sixth place in the continental rankings.

To revive hockey in the country, an African Olympic Qualifier in 2011 was organised in Zimbabwe.

However, the stadium was not ready in time.

Zimbabwe asked for help from South Africa and on July 8 of that year, the Hockey Association of Zimbabwe announced that the ship with the containers holding the new carpet for the Khumalo Hockey Stadium was due to dock in Durban, South Africa.

Chairman of the Hockey Olympic Qualifiers local organising committee at the time, Gavin Stephens, said in a statement that the carpet would be delivered in Bulawayo by July 16.

In response to a call from the Matabeleland Hockey Board (MHB), approximately 60–70 people arrived at the Khumalo Hockey Stadium on Saturday, 2 July 2011.

About 20 of these were labourers from Petra School, Burger & McBean and Precast Concrete Products.

The other 50 were made up of hockey players, parents of hockey players, and members of the public.

Zimbabwe performed poorly in the tournament and lost four out of five games with a draw against Morocco.

Later on, Zimbabwe hosted the African Hockey Club of Championship in 2014 and won a silver medal after losing to Kenya 7–0.

However, since then, Zimbabwe is regularly organising local competitions and events.

They registered their biggest win in the 2015 African Olympic Qualifier by defeating Botswana 19-0.

Matthew Williams scored a record six goals in the game, becoming the first Zimbabwean ever to score more than five goals in a match.

He emerged as the highest scorer for Zimbabwe in the tournament with 11 goals.

In 2018, Zimbabwe played a five’match Test series against archrivals Namibia and lost all the games.

Tendayi Maredza, current skipper of the team, is regarded as one of the finest players in the African continent.

Maredza was included in the International XI side that toured South Africa in 2016. — @RealSimbaJemwa