The Zimbabwe men's national field hockey team is the team that represents
Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and ...
in the sport of
field hockey
Field hockey is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with ten outfield players and a goalkeeper. Teams must drive a round hockey ball by hitting it with a hockey stick towards the rival team's shooting ...
. Field hockey has the second biggest player base in the country after football. Currently, Zimbabwe has four pitches, two in
Bulawayo
Bulawayo (, ; Ndebele: ''Bulawayo'') is the second largest city in Zimbabwe, and the largest city in the country's Matabeleland region. The city's population is disputed; the 2022 census listed it at 665,940, while the Bulawayo City Council ...
– one water base and one sand filled – and another sand filled at the
Arundel School
Arundel School is a private, day and boarding school for girls aged 12–18 in Harare, Zimbabwe.
Arundel School was ranked 48th out of the top 100 best high schools in Africa, based upon quality of education, student engagement, strength and acti ...
and water base at
St John's College in the capital city of
Harare
Harare (; formerly Salisbury ) is the capital and most populous city of Zimbabwe. The city proper has an area of 940 km2 (371 mi2) and a population of 2.12 million in the 2012 census and an estimated 3.12 million in its metropolitan ...
. Bulawayo has approximately 1,000 hockey players and Harare 8,000. The 5,000-capacity
Khumalo Hockey Stadium in
Bulawayo
Bulawayo (, ; Ndebele: ''Bulawayo'') is the second largest city in Zimbabwe, and the largest city in the country's Matabeleland region. The city's population is disputed; the 2022 census listed it at 665,940, while the Bulawayo City Council ...
is their home stadium. Field hockey club Skies Hockey Club also use the venue for home games. They are currently ranked 61st in
International hockey ranking. While the country had a tradition in the sport, they struggled in recent times largely due to their inability to participate in international competitions organized by the
African Hockey Federation (AfHF) and the
International Hockey Federation (FIH), until the Khumalo Hockey Stadium was refurbished and played host to the
2011 African Olympic Qualifier.
The governing body for field hockey is
Hockey Association of Zimbabwe
The Hockey Association of Zimbabwe or HAZ is the sports governing body, governing body of field hockey in Zimbabwe. Its headquarters are in Harare, Zimbabwe. It is affiliated to IHF International Hockey Federation and AHF African Hockey Federatio ...
. It was formed in 1925.
Medals table
History
Early Years
Back when the country was
Rhodesia, the national hockey team qualified for the
1964 Olympics in Tokyo after beating the
United Arab Republic
The United Arab Republic (UAR; ar, الجمهورية العربية المتحدة, al-Jumhūrīyah al-'Arabīyah al-Muttaḥidah) was a sovereign state in the Middle East from 1958 until 1971. It was initially a political union between Eg ...
. Team captain
Lloyd Koch was
Rhodesia's flag bearer,
and
the team won one game over New Zealand. Koch scored two goals in the tournament.
1980s – Rise in Africa after Independence
Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and ...
got independence in 1980. Soon after independence, various attempts were made to establish sports in the country.
Women's team won the inaugural Gold medal in
1980 Olympics. Men's team picked the graph and went on to perform decent in the International games. They won silver and bronze medals in 1987 and 1991
All-Africa Games respectively. The team also bagged bronze medal in
Hockey African Cup for Nations in 2000 by defeating
Ghana
Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...
. They managed to hold a strong position in the African continent for almost two decades.
Decline and re-establishment
Zimbabwe saw a drought in sports after the year 2000. They couldn't manage to maintain their spot in the African region and fall down to sixth in the continental ranking. To revive the game of hockey in the country,
2011 African Olympic Qualifier were organised in Zimbabwe. But the problem was the stadium was not ready by that time.
Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and ...
asked help from
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...
. On 8 July 2011 The Hockey Association of Zimbabwe announced that the ship with the containers holding the new carpet for the Khumalo Hockey Stadium (KHS) was due to dock in Durban, South Africa. Chairman of the Hockey Olympic Qualifiers local organising committee Gavin Stephens said in a statement that the carpet should be delivered to Bulawayo by 16 July.
"This will keep the project on course for commissioning by the end of July. It is understood that the Ministry of Public Works is rushing to meet the deadline, with their work schedule lagging behind."
In response to a call from the Matabeleland Hockey Board (MHB), approximately 60–70 people arrived at the Khumalo Hockey Stadium on Saturday, 2 July 2011. About 20 of these were labourers from Petra School, Burger & McBean and Precast Concrete Products. The other 50 were made up of hockey players, parents of hockey players, and members of general public.
The Minister of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture, David Coltart, arrived to lend his support, while both current and former national and provincial hockey players were also present. Zimbabwe performed poorly in the tournament and lost 4 out of 5 games with a draw against Morocco.
Later on, Zimbabwe hosted African Hockey Club of Championship in 2014 and won silver medal after losing to
Kenya
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by 7–0.
2015–2018
Since then, Zimbabwe are regularly organizing local competitions and events. They registered their biggest win in
2015 African Olympic Qualifier by defeating Botswana by 19–0.
Matthew Williams scored record 6 goals in the game, becoming first Zimbabwean ever to score more than 5 goals in a match. He emerged as highest scorer for Zimbabwe in the tournament by scoring 11 goals. In 2018, Zimbabwe played a 5 match test series against their arch rivals
Namibia
Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...
and lost all the games.
Tendayi Maredza, who is currently the skipper of the team is regarded as one of the finest players in the African continent. Maredza was included in the International XI side that toured
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...
in 2016
2018–19 Men's Hockey Series Open
The
2018–19 Men's Hockey Series Open
The 2018–19 Men's Hockey Series Open was an international field hockey competition, serving as the first stage of the 2018–19 edition of the Hockey Series. It was held from June to December 2018.
Salamanca
Pool
''All times are local ( U ...
was the first stage of the 2018–19 edition of the Hockey Series. It was held from June to December 2018. Zimbabwe participated and hosted the Bulawayo pool. Despite being the hosts, the Chevrons failed to qualify for the Olympic qualifiers and lost the spot to
Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...
. Tatenda Kanyangarara emerged as highest scorer for Zimbabwe.
Tournament history
Summer Olympics
*
1964
Events January
* January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved.
* January 5 - In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patriarc ...
– 12th Place
World Cup
Never Qualified
All-Africa Games
*
1987
File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, ...
–
*
1991
File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phi ...
–
*
1995
File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake str ...
– 4th Place
*
1999
File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shoot ...
– 4th Place
*
2003 – 5th Place
Hockey Africa Cup of Nations
* 1989 – 4th Place
* 1993 – 4th Place
* 1996 – 4th Place
* 2000 –
African Olympic Qualifiers
*
2007 – DNP
*
2011 – 5th Place
*
2015 – 6th Place
*
2019
File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...
– 4th Place
Current squad
Head Coach: A Five
Notable former players
*
Dave Houghton
*
Lloyd Koch
*
John McPhun
*
Robert Ullyett
*
Collin Williams
Collin Ray Williams (1 November 1961 – 24 April 2022) was a Zimbabwean cricketer. He played for Matabeleland in five first-class matches and one List A match. He was also the coach of Zimbabwe field hockey team.
Personal life
Collin W ...
*
Michael McKillop
Michael Gerard McKillop (born 27 January 1990 in Ballymena, Northern Ireland) is an Irish middle distance runner. He competes in the T37 disability sport classification, as he has a mild form of cerebral palsy.
He won the 800m title at th ...
*
Matthew Williams
* Louis Mnyama
*
Donald Mutupo
See also
*
Zimbabwe women's national field hockey team
*
Rhodesian field hockey players
References
External links
Hockey Association of Zimbabwe
{{National sports teams of Zimbabwe
Field hockey
Field hockey is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with ten outfield players and a goalkeeper. Teams must drive a round hockey ball by hitting it with a hockey stick towards the rival team's shooting ...
National team
A national sports team (commonly known as a national team or a national side) is a team that represents a nation, rather than a particular club or region, in an international sport.
The term is most commonly associated with team sports, for exa ...
African men's national field hockey teams