ATLASVILLE, SOUTH AFRICA – Hope everyone is in good spirit this week and hockey is going well. Just an update on the African Nations Cup of Ice Hockey. As you all know the tournament was scheduled for the 19th September to 26th September 2009, unfortunately the tournament has had to be postponed due to financial implications experienced by the teams but more specifically by Algeria and Morocco. As we never had sponsors the tournament was going to be self funded by the players. Algeria managed to get 9 players together who were willing to cover their costs themselves which includes the flight, accommodations and meals. They were however looking at obtaining sponsorship from their government but were unable to do this. On the other hand Morocco had the same problem, they were travelling from Canada as most of their players are based there, they were also unable to obtain sponsorship to cover the costs of coming to RSA. This however does not mean that the work we have put in is lost, what it means it a delay in the inaugural African Nations Cup of Ice Hockey.
All three teams have agreed that this tournament needs to happen and as I write this article we are still working on obtaining sponsorship for next year. The organizing committee in RSA is in talks with Morocco and Algeria as to when international breaks are as most of their players play in European and Canadian leagues. Our new objective is to host the inaugural tournament during the international break before RSA go to World Championships Division III. The African Nations Cup of Ice Hockey organizing committee is looking forward to making this tournament happen. We have an even stronger drive now to succeed and build the sport. Players have already shown interest and are returning to the game which was our ultimate goal, to build the sport to the level it used to at in RSA. Thankfully not all is lost as the weekend of the 10-12 October we are having our National championships in Cape Town. The teams competing are Southern Gauteng, Northern Gauteng, Western Province 1, Western Province 2 and Kwazulu Natal. A review of the tournament will appear on these pages. Keep your eyes open for the article. Yours in Ice hockey in South Africa
Contact gary.bock@prohockeynews.com
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