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local hockey action coming to SuperSport
SuperSport International has
concluded an exclusive five year deal to broadcast selected matches from the Premier
Hockey League (PHL) – The South African Hockey Association’s (SAHA’s) new elite
hockey competition, which launches in September 2016.
For the 2016 event, 24 of the
40 PHL games, including all semi-finals and both finals, will be broadcast live
across all SuperSport platforms, including television, mobile and online - throughout
Sub-Saharan Africa. A further eight PHL games will be streamed exclusively live
via the SuperSport website and will be repeated, on a delayed basis, on selected
SuperSport broadcast channels.
“This is a very exciting
moment for hockey in South Africa and is a key part of the SA Hockey Revolution
strategy that we launched a few months ago. We are grateful for SuperSport’s
investment and commitment to growing the sport over the next five years,” said Marissa
Langeni, CEO of SAHA.
SuperSport’s
Gideon Khobane, Chief Executive Officer added: “This is a watershed moment for
SA hockey and we are delighted to be a part of it. Hockey is fast and
action-packed; perfect television fare. We look forward to seeing hockey reach
new heights and enhance the SuperSport viewing experience.”
Thanks to support and
investment from the Department of Sport and Recreation, the inaugural PHL event
will be hosted at the Randburg Astro, Johannesburg and will consist of both a
men’s and women’s league that will run over four weekend’s – from Saturday 3rd
September to Sunday 25th September 2016 (inclusive).
The PHL forms a key part of
the SAHA high performance pipeline which is aimed at better equipping our
national men’s and women’s teams for international competition in future. To
this end the PHL will be the very first Hockey League in the world where all
the women participating will be paid to play the game.
On weekend one, hockey fans
across South Africa will be able to watch the following games, via various
SuperSport platforms:
Matchday
1 - Saturday 3rd September, 2016:
Time
|
Pool
|
Team 1
|
Team 2
|
TV Channel
|
SuperSport.com
|
10h00
|
Men’s
|
Mapungubwe Mambas
|
Every
Sun Addo
Elephants
|
Live on SS8
|
|
12h00
|
Women’s
|
Blyde
River Bunters
|
Orange
River Rafters
|
Live on
SS10
|
|
14h00
|
Men’s
|
Drakensburg
Dragons
|
Maropeng
Cavemen
|
Delayed
broadcast
on
SS10 at 16h30 on Saturday.
|
Live
online
|
16h00
|
Women’s
|
Lip
Ice Namaqualand Daisies
|
Wineland
Wings
|
Delayed
broadcast on SS10 at 18h00 on Saturday.
|
Live
online
|
Matchday
2 – Sunday 4th September, 2016:
Time
|
Pool
|
Team 1
|
Team 2
|
TV Channel
|
SuperSport.com
|
08h00
|
Women’s
|
Young
Solutions St Lucia Lakers
|
Madikwe
Rangers
|
Live on
SS5
|
|
10h00
|
Men’s
|
Mapungubwe Mambas
|
Drakensburg
Dragons
|
Live on
SS5
|
|
12h00
|
Women’s
|
Blyde
River Bunters
|
Wineland
Wings
|
Delayed
broadcast on SS10 at 07h00 on Monday.
|
Live
online
|
14h00
|
Men’s
|
Every
Sun Addo Elephants
|
Garden
Route Gazelles
|
Delayed
broadcast on SS10 at 08h30 on Monday.
|
Live
online
|
How the PHL Works:
The inaugural event consists
of six men’s teams and six women’s teams, respectively, playing in two gender
based competitions. These teams are all franchise teams that are 100% owned by
SAHA.
The team identities have been
inspired by famous tourist areas in South Africa and are representative of all
nine Provinces. The team names are as follows:
·
Men: Every Sun Addo Elephants,
Drakensburg Dragons, Garden Route Gazelles, Golden Gate Gladiators, Mapungubwe
Mambas and the Maropeng Cavemen.
·
Women: Blyde River Bunters, Madikwe
Rangers, Lip Ice Namaqualand Daisies, Orange River Rafters, Young Solutions St
Lucia Lakers and the Wineland Wings.
In 2016, two of the twelve
participating teams will be the SA u21 Men’s and SA u21 Women’s National teams,
respectively. This is to prepare our national age group teams for the FIH
Junior World Cups which take place later this year. The SA u21 Men’s team will
play as the Golden Gate Gladiators and the SA u21 Women’s team will play as the
Lip Ice Namaqualand Daisies.
Event Structure and Format:
The event consists of a league
stage and a play-off stage where each team will play each other once in the
league stage. This means each team will play five games.
At the end of the league
stage, the teams who finish fifth and sixth in the log, will have a play-off to
determine who places fifth and sixth in league. The top four teams in the log
will progress to the semi-finals. The losing semi-finalists will play-off for
third and fourth respectively and the winning semi-finalists will progress to
the finals of the men’s and women’s competitions.
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