The SA hockey teams’ financial struggles with participating in the Olympics have resurfaced.
Having qualified this year for their sixth appearance at the Olympic Games, the women’s team must raise funds to fulfil their Paris 2024 dream and cover the build-up expenses before the July Games.
The men are facing the same predicament.
In an exclusive interview with the Daily Dispatch, SA Hockey interim CEO Shaune Baaitjies said cash flow was an issue within SA Hockey and that all players and management were aware of their predicament.
“The funding model for our national teams, including the SA Hockey women’s team, is widely understood within hockey circles,” Baaitjies said.
“Like many other sports in South Africa, our programmes are primarily self-funded unless external sponsorship is secured.
“It’s crucial to acknowledge that this isn’t exclusive to hockey. Numerous sporting codes in the country face similar financial realities.
“Even in top hockey-playing nations, there’s a growing trend of reprioritising programmes due to funding constraints.”
The situation mirrors 2020 ahead of the Tokyo Olympics when the men’s and women’s teams had little financial assistance besides Sascoc’s funding.
Since the start of the year, the SA women's team have been in partnership with ProTouch Africa, which has set up a crowdfunding campaign and assists in commercialising and growing their brand.
ProTouch Africa says all flights to Paris will be provided by Sascoc but internal (SA) travel, pre-event accommodation and meals must be covered by the team. A budget of about R800,000 is needed to help the squad achieve this.
The final step is to get the team to Europe to acclimatise and to go through their final preparation phase ahead of entering the village.
The team will travel to Paris to play France in an international series and then move to Belgium for additional training games and sessions. From there they will return to Paris.
Baaitjies said Sascoc’s role had historically been focused on covering the expenses associated with Team SA’s participation in the Olympic Games.
“This remains consistent for Paris 2024. While Sascoc has been supportive of our team arrangements surrounding the Games, it’s essential to clarify that the preparation for the Olympics, including pre-Olympic camps and preparation games, falls under the responsibility of the respective sporting codes.
“This is a standard practice across all qualified codes, including hockey.
“Both our men’s and women’s teams understand that Sascoc isn’t responsible for these preparatory expenses and efforts to secure funding for such activities are ongoing.
“All our team plans are contingent upon securing adequate funding, and any commitments made directly affect the funding required.
“We maintain separate programmes for men and women, necessitating careful consideration of our financial commitments.
“While we’re pleased that some support has been secured, we continue to seek additional funding to alleviate the burden on players.
“Importantly, as both our men’s and women’s outdoor teams have qualified for the Olympics, our efforts to secure funding extends to both teams.”
Sascoc withdrew the country’s hockey teams from the Africa Games in Ghana in March, citing the poor condition of the playing surface.
Senior women’s player Robyn Johnson says they need intense preparation to surpass their Tokyo 2020 finish of 12th.
SA are in group B with decorated teams such as Australia, Argentina, Great Britain, Spain and the US.
“We have been struggling for several years,” Johnson said. “We don’t have a full sponsorship and it makes it very difficult to compete on the world stage.
“To compete internationally, you need international exposure and to be competing with the best, so you know where you stand and what you need to work on as a team.
“Our new coach Giles Bonnet came in and wanted to accelerate our programme towards 2024 and part of that was getting more international games.
“But travelling and other expenses come with that which we are raising through ProTouch Africa. We have stipulated what we need. We are not asking for the R2 to 3-million at one go.”
Leading up to team selection will be a high performance camp in Stellenbosch next month. Accommodation is the most expensive component of the camp, which is about R485,000.
To assist with raising these immediate funds, Unorthodox Group, which manages brand commercial deals for Springboks Lukhanyo Am and Makazole Mapimpi, will host a Women in Sports Symposium event on Thursday.
Johnson is expected to be one of the speakers.
The crowdfunding page can be found here.
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