A couple of weeks on and there is still a warm sense of appreciation as we look back on the ๐ฏ๐ณ๐๐ต ๐ฎ๐ป๐ป๐๐ฎ๐น ๐ฅ๐ผ๐ฟ๐ ๐ฆ๐๐น๐น๐ถ๐๐ฎ๐ป ๐ฆ๐ฒ๐ป๐ถ๐ผ๐ฟ ๐ฅ๐๐ด๐ฏ๐ & ๐๐ผ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฒ๐ ๐๐ฒ๐๐๐ถ๐๐ฎ๐น.
Played out in beautiful Karoo conditions, the festival delivered not only high-quality hockey and rugby, but also a wonderful spirit of camaraderie between all participating teams.
From the first whistle on Friday to the final moments on Monday, the fields were filled with energy, sportsmanship and the unmistakable buzz that has become synonymous with this special weekend.
๐๐ฟ๐ผ๐บ ๐ฎ ๐จ๐ป๐ถ๐ผ๐ป ๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ฐ๐๐ถ๐๐ฒ, ๐ถ๐ ๐๐ฎ๐ ๐ฎ ๐ฝ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐๐ถ๐ฐ๐๐น๐ฎ๐ฟ๐น๐ ๐บ๐ฒ๐บ๐ผ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ฏ๐น๐ฒ ๐ณ๐ฒ๐๐๐ถ๐๐ฎ๐น ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฟ๐ผ๐๐ ๐ฏ๐ผ๐๐ต ๐ฐ๐ผ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐.
Our 1st team hockey girls produced a series of outstanding performances, showcasing both attacking flair and disciplined structure. Convincing wins over Hoรซrskool Brandwag (11-0), Hoรซrskool DF Malherbe (13-0), and Nico Malan High School (10-0) set the tone early on, before a composed 4-1 semi-final victory over Pearson High School secured their place in the final. In a fitting end to the weekend, Union met a strong Oranje Meisieskool 2nd team in the final, finishing as worthy runners-up after a hard-fought match. ๐๐ฐ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ณ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ด๐ถ๐ค๐ฉ ๐ข ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ต๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ท๐ฆ ๐ง๐ช๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ด ๐ข ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ข๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ค๐ฉ๐ช๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต.
It was also delightful to see Hoรซr Volkskool Graaff-Reinet‘s 1st hockey team doing exceptionally well, finishing fifth overall in the tournament. ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฆ ๐๐ณ๐ข๐ข๐ง๐ง-๐๐ฆ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ต ๐ด๐ค๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ ๐ข๐จ๐ข๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฉ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ญ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐จ๐ต๐ฉ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ค๐ฌ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฏ.
๐ข๐ป ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฟ๐๐ด๐ฏ๐ ๐ณ๐ถ๐ฒ๐น๐ฑ๐, our 1st XV delivered two confident performances, securing a well-earned 19-7 victory over Cambridge High School, followed by an impressive 40-7 win against Somerset College. These results were a pleasing reflection of the sideโs physicality, cohesion and intent and added to an already successful festival weekend for Union.
๐ช๐ฒ ๐ฒ๐ ๐๐ฒ๐ป๐ฑ ๐ผ๐๐ฟ ๐๐ถ๐ป๐ฐ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐ฐ๐ผ๐ป๐ด๐ฟ๐ฎ๐๐๐น๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป๐ ๐๐ผ Sekondรชre Meisieskool Oranje‘s 2nd team on successfully defending their title as 2026 champions and to all participating teams for the passion, skill and respect shown throughout. A special ๐ช๐ข๐ฅ๐ ๐ข๐ ๐ง๐๐๐ก๐๐ฆ goes to the coaches and managers, whose dedication – often over a busy holiday period – ensures opportunities like this for their players. To the parents and supporters on the sidelines, your encouragement added immeasurably to the occasion.
Finally, our ๐๐๐๐ฅ๐ง๐๐๐๐ง ๐ง๐๐๐ก๐๐ฆ to our anchor sponsors, Astron Energy Eastern Cape, together with local partners Astron Energy Graaff-Reinet, represented by ๐ ๐ฟ ๐ฆ๐๐ฒ๐ฝ๐ต๐ฎ๐ป ๐ฑ๐ฒ ๐ฆ๐ผ๐๐๐ฎ, and Astron Energy Bothas Market Square, represented by ๐๐ผ๐ต๐ฎ๐ป ๐ฆ๐บ๐ถ๐ and ๐ ๐ถ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฎ๐ฒ๐น๐ฎ ๐ฆ๐บ๐ถ๐. Your support plays a vital role in making this festival possible and continues to uplift school sport in our community.
๐๐ฐ๐ด๐ต ๐ช๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต๐ข๐ฏ๐ต๐ญ๐บ, ๐ธ๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ข๐ช๐ฏ ๐จ๐ณ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ง๐ถ๐ญ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ต๐ฆ๐ข๐ฎ๐ด ๐ต๐ณ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ๐ญ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ข๐ง๐ฆ๐ญ๐บ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ง๐ณ๐ช๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ด๐ฉ๐ช๐ฑ๐ด – ๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ธ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐จ๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ – ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐จ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ. ๐๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฌ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ธ๐ข๐ณ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฃ๐ข๐ค๐ฌ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ข๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ฆ๐ด๐ต๐ช๐ท๐ข๐ญ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐น๐ต ๐บ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ.
