Fairtree Super 12 Hockey Tournament. Sekondêre Meisieskool Oranje in Bloemfontein is set to play host to the long-awaited Fairtree Super 12 Hockey Tournament that kicks off this week on Friday 5th August. This is the country’s top school hockey tournament that will see 12 of South Africa’s best school hockey teams play off against one another for the winner’s title. Matches are played over three days with the final fixture taking place on Sunday 7th August.
The event is planned annually around the public holiday of 9th August – National Women’s Day – and aptly so as this tournament shines the spotlight on female sports, which still does not receive the kind of attention and support that traditional men’s sport gets in our country.
Sekondêre Meisieskool Oranje is undoubtedly the powerhouse of South African girls’ school hockey and currently ranks Number 1 in the country. They have dominated this tournament since its inception in 2014 – walking away with the winning title each year – with the exception of 2018. The tournament, which went into an involuntary hiatus in 2020 and 2021 due to the pandemic, makes a comeback this year, and all eyes will be on the team to defend their position.
Participating teams represent South Africa’s top all-girl and co-ed schools including Paarl Gymnasium (Western Cape), Voortrekker High School (Bethlehem), Herschel (Cape Town), St. Mary’s Waverley (Gauteng), Collegiate Girls’ High (Gqeberha), Durban Girls’ College (KwaZulu Natal), Beaulieu College (Midrand), Rhenish Girls’ High (Stellenbosch), Pearson High (Gqeberha), Menlo Park High (Tshwane), Eunice High School (Bloemfontein) and of course, Sekondêre Meisieskool Oranje (Bloemfontein).
This is the first year in the tournament’s history that three Free State schools will be in action.
Fairtree is on board for the first time this year as title sponsor for the 1st hockey team and also the Fairtree Super 12 Hockey Tournament. Kobus Nel, Group CEO for Fairtree says: “We are truly honoured to be part of this very special event where South Africa’s top girls’ school hockey players can showcase their skills and where we will celebrate excellence, dedication, and determination. At the heart of everything we do at Fairtree is our purpose to enrich the lives of all our stakeholders, including our sponsorship partners. We believe our primary role is to be a real partner to the teams, the schools, and the communities we support and to help them to achieve their individual and collective callings.”
The school bids a sad farewell to Coach Morné Odendaal this month – the man who has led their hockey teams to victory over the past decade. He will be pursuing an opportunity in the USA and he leaves a legacy of excellence and an indomitable fighting spirit that sets a strong foundation for the future. During his tenure the school has won just about every major regional and national hockey league, match and tournament, including winning the St. Mary’s hockey festival from 2014 to 2017 and again in 2019 and 2022; being named Tops Schools Winners in 2021; All Girls’ Festival winners (2013-2019); Free State Cup winners (2013-2019); and Bloemfontein League winners (2013-2019 and 2022).
Captain of the Oranje 1st Hockey Team this year is 18-year-old star player Ané Janse van Vuuren (Grade 12), who is also a member of the Southern Free State u18 and u21 sides and SA u18A. She was named Best u16 Player in South Africa in 2019. “I am so proud to lead our all-girl team of dedicated players this year,” she says. “This will be my final Super 12 Schools Tournament and I and the team will be giving it all we’ve got.”
The Super 12 Hockey Tournament has an interesting history, with the first match in this competition, initially called the Super 8, taking place on Thursday, 7 August 2014 between Sekondêre Meisieskool Oranje and DF Malan with the hosts prevailing by 4 goals to 0.
Entrance to the tournament is free and there is ample parking available on and around the school grounds.
Free State well represented
The Super 12 hockey tournament returns after a two-year absent with a strong local flavour to it.
The tournament for the top 12 first female school hockey teams in South Africa will be played at astro of the the Sekondêre Meisieskool Oranje’s from 5 to 7 August. There is a new headline sponsor on board in Fairtree.
For the first time in the competition’s history, three Free State schools will be in action. They are the host, Eunice High from Bloemfontein (ranked 2nd) and Voortrekker High from Bethlehem (ranked 3rd). Eunice last featured in 2016.
The dominance of the Southern Free State (SFS) on the u18 national female hockey landscape was also illustrated by the SFS winning the Interprovincial Tournament last month for the first time since 2013.
The umpires
- Strelza van Aardt (North West)
- Annelize Rostron (North West
- Chantelle Blignaut (Free State)
- Thabang Diole (Southern Gauteng)
- Siya Lusiba (Eastern Cape)
- Wayne Coetzee (Free State)
- Marcel Cronje (Free State)
- Stefanie van Schalkwyk (Southern Gauteng)
- Jacques Odendaal (Northerns)
- Jo-Nelke Swanepoel (Free State)
Participating teams in 2022
Beaulieu College (Midrand) = ranked 7th
Collegiate Girls’ High (Port Elizabeth) = ranked 8th
Durban Girls’ College (Durban) = ranked 12th
Eunice High School (Bloemfontein) = ranked 2nd
Herschel Girls’ High (Cape Town) = ranked 6th
Menlopark High School (Pretoria) = ranked 11th
Paarl Gymnasium (Paarl) = ranked 5th
Pearson High School (Port Elizabeth) = ranked 9th
Rhenish Girls’ High (Stellenbosch) = ranked 10th
Sekondêre Meisieskool Oranje (Bloemfontein) = ranked 1st
St Mary’s Waverley (Johannesburg) = ranked 4th
Voortrekker High School (Bethlehem) = ranked 3rd
Previous winners
- 2014 Oranje
- 2015 Oranje
- 2016 Oranje
- 2017 Oranje
- 2018 Menlopark
- 2019 Oranje
- 2020 No tournament
- 2021 No tournament
Previous Player of the Tournament:
- 2014: Antonet Louw (Oranje)
- 2015: Minke van Heerden (Oranje)
- 2016: Hannah Pearce (St Mary’s Waverley)
- 2017: Lizanne Jacobs (Oranje) & Kayla de Waal (Herschel)
- 2018: Kayla de Waal (Herschel)
- 2019: Cally den Bakker (St Mary’s Kloof)
- Biggest win: Oranje 9-0 York (in 2014)
- Most goals scored in a tournament: 38 (Oranje in 2015)
- Least goals conceded in a tournament: 3 (Paarl Gym in 2017) & (Herschel in 2018)
Super 12 trivia
- The very first match in this competition, initially called the Super 8, took place on Thursday, 7 August 2014 between Oranje and DF Malan with the hosts prevailing by 4 goals to 0.
- Beaulieu College from Midrand is the only newcomer this year, becoming the 23rd team to play in the tournament.
- Three teams make a return after a couple of years. Durban Girls’ High last featured in 2015, Eunice in 2016 and Pearson in 2017.
- St Mary’s and Oranje are the only two teams to have played in all 6 previous tournaments. They also met in 2 finals (2014 and 2016).
- In total, 21 matches over the years failed to produce a goal, ending 0-0.
- Oranje has only suffered 4 defeats in the previous 6 tournaments (out of 46 matches), all being by a single goal.
- Oranje is the only team to go through a tournament without a single loss or draw. That occurred twice in 2015 and 2016.
- When Herschel conquered over Oranje (by 1-0) on 10 Augustus 2017, it brought an end to their unbeaten run of 852 days and 127 matches.
Did you know
- Chanette Jansen van Vuuren (age 14) of Oranje will be the youngest player in the tournament.
- Voortrekker High will have the youngest team at the tournament with 5 gr. 10’s and 4 gr. 9’s amongst their 16 players.
- Paarl Gymnasium and Oranje both have 2 players in their team who played for the SA u18A side last month against Namibia. Leané McLaren (currently injured) was Oranje’s 3rd member.
PROGRAM POOL A POOL B
ORANJE EUNICE
ST MARY’S WAVERLEY VOORTREKKER
PAARL GIMNASIUM HERSCHEL
COLLEGIATE BEAULIEU COLLEGE
PEARSON RHENISH
DURBAN GIRLS’ COLLAGE MENLOPARK
FRIDAY, 5 AUGUST 2022
ROUND 1:
7:30 ST MARY’S WAVERLEY vs PEARSON
8:20 ORANJE vs DURBAN GIRLS’ COLLEGE
9:10 PAARL GIMNASIUM vs COLLEGIATE
10:00 EUNICE vs MENLOPARK
10:50 VOORTREKKER vs RHENISH
11:40 HERSCHEL vs BEAULIEU COLLEGE
ROUND 2:
12:30 ORANJE vs PEARSON
13:20 COLLEGIATE vs DURBAN GIRLS’ COLLEGE
14:10 ST MARY’S WAVERLEY vs PAARL GIMNASIUM
15:00 EUNICE vs RHENISH
15:50 BEAULIEU COLLEGE vs MENLOPARK
16:40 VOORTREKKER vs HERSCHEL
ROUND 3:
17:30 ORANJE vs COLLEGIATE
18:20 PAARL GIMNASIUM vs PEARSON
19:10 ST MARY’S WAVERLEY vs DURBAN GIRLS’ COLLEGE
20:00 EUNICE vs BEAULIEU COLLEGE
SATURDAY, 6 AUGUST 2022
7:30 HERSCHEL vs RHENISH
8:20 VOORTREKKER vs MENLOPARK
ROUND 4:
9:10 ORANJE vs PAARL GIMNASIUM
10:00 ST MARY’S WAVERLEY vs COLLEGIATE
10:50 DURBAN GIRLS’ COLLEGE vs PEARSON
11:40 EUNICE vs HERSCHEL
12:30 VOORTREKKER vs BEAULIEU COLLEGE
13:20 MENLOPARK vs RHENISH
ROUND 5:
14:10 ORANJE vs ST MARY’S WAVERLEY
15:00 DURBAN GIRLS’ COLLEGE vs PAARL GIMNASIUM
15:50 PEARSON vs COLLEGIATE
16:40 EUNICE vs VOORTREKKER
17:30 MENLOPARK vs HERSCHEL
18:20 RHENISH vs BEAULIEU COLLEGE
PLAY-OFF
19:10 A5 vs B6 Match A
MATCHES
20:00 B5 vs A6 Match B
SUNDAY, 7 AUGUST 2022
PLAY-OFF
7:30 A3 vs B4 Match C
MATCHES
8:30 B3 vs A4 Match D
9:30 A1 vs B2 Match E
10:40 B1 vs A2 Match F
FINAL
11:50 POSITION 11/12 Losers A + B
ROUND:
12:40 POSITION 9/10 Winners A + B
13:30 POSITION 7/8 Losers C + D
14:20 POSITION 5/6 Winners C + D
15:10 POSITION 3/4 Losers E + F
FINAL:
16:10 POSITION 1/2 Winners E + F
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