
THE EASTERN PROVINCE HOCKEY FEDERATION
Men, started their hockey from 1950 to 1953 when Mobbs B broke it all up. But, the women continued with great contributions from some individuals.
Remnants of the men’s hockey started Cavaliers in 1962/3 in a house in Bullen Street. They played games against teams in Queenstown and Cape Town.
Lakeside Rovers (LRMHC) was started in 1968, in Salt Lake, as a result of people grouping together as a result of forced removals.
There was much turmoil then, at government level, and at hockey levels too. Some of our players left, or were threatening to go and play with White clubs. Union meetings were torrid then with clubs, like Alpha, on the SACOS side and Maple Leaf on the NSC’s side. EP took their concerns to the SAHB, but were berated as being disloyal. Colin was treated as a traitor by the Secretary, and EPMHU was kicked out as a member of SAHB. They decided to go it alone and find out which route to take. The NSC route seemed to be the only one to take. Colin was requested to find out what to do and met up with the local NSC branch at Judge Ronnie Pillay’s house in Malabar, attended by Danny Jordaan, Errol Heynes, Barry Hendricks, and one or two more. They advised EP to start the NSC Men’s Hockey group. The women in Natal had already started. And so, EP had meetings with Border (who were undecided), Colleges, etc, and then linked up with the NSC women to be part of SAdiscussions on hockey. What followed was just history, and provinces were urged to unify.
There is still much more to say about unification, but our clubs did not really benefit, and after 2 years, no-one from the Union were in the top positions of the organization. Colin served as Development Officer for 2 years and then also in the office, where he met some really nice people. The worst aspect of unification was the feeling of unfairness, for instance, the fees were too high, and a number of former Union clubs soon died away because they could not afford it any more. Thanks to people like Carol Mungur for keeping St Peters going, the late Garth Cuddumbey for keeping Cavaliers going, and a number of others that kept the amalgamated Gelvan going, for example the Ajam brothers, etc