Three days later, and I still have the flexibility of a surfboard, after six ill-advised overs into the wind for the Spin Doctors, my enthusiastic social cricket side, who took on my other sports side, celebrity hockey outfit The Mighty Dodos.

The Doctors in the field resemble a ?Dad?s Army? field operation, and anyone attempting to run more than a single faces the withering punishment of a solid hour listening to Aslam Khota commentating on Hashim Amla?s batting (never has one commentator shown such unqualified love for a player).

The Dodos, on the other hand, peppered with illegal Zimbabweans, all vested of the rich turn of speed built up from escaping security guards with electrical appliances under both arms, spent the afternoon turning ones into threes, and leaving the entire Spin Doctors side (and principally myself) in the sort of state you?d expect Toks to find himself in after attempting the Comrades.

Physical duress aside, though, it was a splendid afternoon on a hot summer?s day in Cape Town; very different from the cold, grey, wet afternoons that are the Mighty Dodos? regular stage once the hockey season gets underway. That alone would be enough to nudge sportsmen in the direction of cricket; conversation post-match, however, made it very clear that if one of the two sports was to be chosen to take to its natural conclusion, then hockey certainly wouldn?t be it.

South Africa?s cricketers are home after a mixed tour of India, and getting a few days break before returning to the sub-continent; they?ll be spending their free time perusing luxury yacht brochures, buying colour-coded Rolexes, and signing off on the leather and walnut interiors on bespoke Bentleys. Yup, it?s another season of cash-rich Indian Premier League, and the players signed up for Lalit Modi?s millionaire carnival will be marching further up the Forbes List by the end of March. Which isn?t quite the case for another group of South African sportsmen in India...

Hockey?s World Cup in underway in India, and South Africa is two games down: a 4-2 loss to Spain, having been squared at two apiece until late in the second half, and a 6-4 loss to England, after again having been level at two-all. Brave losses, then, but nothing to get South Africa?s sporting pulse racing ? until you consider just how well the hockey team has done to simply be in India.

This may be a World Cup, but where the cricketers, rugby players and soccer stars would be holed up in five star luxury with nothing to worry about but their results, South Africa?s hockey players had to raise their own funds just to get to India. There?s letter of thanks from the players on the South African Hockey website, thanking those people who?ve lent financial support to getting the squad over for the tournament; you?re unlikely to see something similar from Graeme Smith on Cricket South Africa?s website.

And compounding the situation that the side finds itself in, the players will receive a match stipend of just R380, roughly the amount an IPL player will make between leaving a delivery, and it reaching the ?keeper?s gloves. The chasm is down to the fundamental economics and sponsorship of the two events, certainly, but when a team ranked 12th in the world has to operate with such modest support (the squad had to fork out over R10 000 a man just to get to last year?s World Cup qualifying tournament in Argentina), the situation needs urgent attention.

Hockey?s had a rough ride in South Africa, Sam Ramsamy?s ridiculous decision to prevent the men?s team from attending the Sydney Olympics the low point for a sport that enjoys massive support around the country every weekend, but that somehow hasn?t seen that translate into a more stable product at international level. South Africans play in various European leagues on a personal level, but Ramsamy?s call a decade ago broke the spirit of a fine South African squad, and the subsequent ripple effect has been a sport firmly on the back foot when trying to participate at national level.

And so players like Ian Symons, Steve Evans and John McInroy have been lost to the working world, attempting to sustain an international hockey career simply not viable. Reversing that isn?t a simple process, with work to be done by hockey?s administrators as well as anybody else; the success of hockey in South Africa, given the trying conditions, warrants greater support from sponsors, supporters and government. That the tournament is being shown on SuperSport is at least an opportunity for a strong South African team to get some rare publicity; there?s a still long way to go for hockey to reach the platform it deserves to operate from.

  • Catch South Africa?s remaining pool matches on SuperSport 6: Thursday 4 March versus Australia, at 13:00; Saturday 6 March versus Pakistan, at 15:00; and Monday 8 March versus India, at 17:00, with play-off matches to follow depending on results.

  • Only two teams unbeaten in this year?s FNB Varsity Cup, and both of them are from the Cape. Stellenbosch, under the guidance of a balding Chean Roux, are playing a fast, physical brand of rugby; vested of lesser resources, but also boasting a coach who doesn?t use much shampoo, UCT?s Ikey Tigers have also been in impressive form. John Dobson?s side continue to flourish despite a tight budget; Business Day?s excellent article earlier this week sums up perfectly just why a small university rugby club is proving so successful. Well worth a read.

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  • Contact Dan at dan@metropolis.co.za