Nomads Hockey Look-back

Pretoria Boys High School proudly reflects on the resounding success of the 2026 Nomads Hockey Festival, a standout highlight in the school’s 125-year celebrations and a tournament that captured national attention across multiple media platforms.

While the festival remains a flagship Nomads hockey initiative, Pretoria Boys High was honoured to host the 2026 edition on The Hill Astro, delivering an event experience that elevated the festival to new heights in both scale and execution.

Hosted from 28–30 March 2026, the festival once again affirmed its place as one of South Africa’s premier schoolboy hockey events, bringing together the country’s leading hockey schools for three days of high-intensity competition, sportsmanship and community spirit.

Mr Greg Hassenkamp, Headmaster of Pretoria Boys High School, said:
“It was a privilege for Pretoria Boys High to host this year’s Under 19 Nomads Hockey Festival in this, the school’s 125-year anniversary celebration. To have these eleven quality hockey-playing schools join us for this occasion, and to witness the standard of hockey on display, was truly inspiring. It was also a privilege for the school to enhance the experience for both participating teams and supporters. With the addition of the hospitality areas, food stalls, activation zones and player recovery facilities, this was a hockey experience that few festivals have been able to offer in the past.”

A Gathering of the Country’s Best

The 2026 edition featured an exceptional line-up of schools, including Affies, Grey College, Grey High School, Hilton College, Jeppe, Kearsney, KES, Maritzburg College, Selborne, St John’s and Wynberg Boys’ High, alongside the hosts, Pretoria Boys High.

This concentration of top-tier hockey ensured a level of competition that drew widespread interest and reaffirmed the festival’s role as a key fixture in the national school hockey landscape.

Across the opening two days, the festival delivered the kind of intensity and unpredictability that drew national attention, with several tightly contested fixtures and notable results setting the tone for the season ahead.

A particularly special moment came at the conclusion of day one, when two Pretoria Boys High Old Boys teams faced off. The fixture added a strong sense of tradition to the festival, highlighting the enduring connection Old Boys have with the school and reinforcing that The Hill remains a place they continue to call home.

Beyond the astro, media coverage also highlighted the festival’s vibrant atmosphere, with food stalls, sponsor activations, and hospitality areas creating an inclusive experience for families, Old Boys, and supporters.

Through careful planning and delivery, Pretoria Boys High ensured that The Hill Astro became more than just a venue, but a fully immersive festival environment where tradition, community and high-performance sport came together. Adding to the energy of the weekend, festival MC Mthunzi Mabeta captured the spirit of the occasion perfectly, describing the event as “the festival of all hockey festivals”, a sentiment echoed by players, coaches and spectators alike.

A particularly meaningful addition to the festival was the presence of the University of Pretoria’s high-performance first team hockey players, who spent time informally meeting with Pretoria Boys High players. This added an aspirational element to the weekend and gave players a glimpse into the next level of the game.

Mr Colin Fielding, Director of Hockey at Pretoria Boys High School, added:
“We are incredibly proud to have hosted a festival of this standard and to celebrate the school’s 125-year anniversary in this way. A key focus for us was striking the right balance between high-quality hockey and the overall experience, and I believe we achieved that. It was important to create an environment where the boys could compete at a high level, while still enjoying the occasion and building friendships, which is what makes schoolboy hockey special.”

Central to the festival’s identity, and echoed in media narratives, is the belief that school sport extends far beyond results. The Nomads Hockey Festival continues to emphasise respect, sportsmanship and the development of young athletes, ensuring that the experience is as meaningful off the field as it is competitive on it.

A defining feature of the 2026 Nomads Hockey Festival, and one noted across media coverage, was the vibrant festival environment created through a range of sponsor activations and hospitality experiences that extended well beyond the field of play.

Pretoria Boys High worked closely with Nomads and its partners to deliver an enhanced sponsorship experience that added real value to both players and spectators.

At the centre of this experience were headline partners FNB and Visa, who delivered one of the most impactful activations of the weekend through a fully equipped player recovery centre. Designed with athlete performance in mind, the space offered physio support, ice baths and refreshments, providing players with a professional-level recovery environment rarely seen at schoolboy level.

Platinum partners, the University of Pretoria and Masslift Africa, added energy and visibility across the event through highly engaging activations. Their Tuks and Masslift mascots became crowd favourites, bringing a sense of fun and connection to the festival environment.

Among the most talked-about activations was Curaprox’s daily push-up challenge, which drew strong participation throughout the festival. Built around the idea of 32 push-ups representing the 32 adult teeth, participants competed to complete the challenge in the fastest time.

The competition evolved across the weekend to encourage broader participation across different categories.

Top performances included:

• Senior: Gerhard Pieterse – 21 seconds
• Women’s: Jaime Gillies – 54.78 seconds
• Junior: Keyston Anokam – 14.86 seconds
• Primary School: Jesseh – 20.59 seconds

In addition, daily prize draws saw Carli-Mare Griffioen (Saturday) and Fatima Reis (Sunday) each win a Curaprox Hydrosonic Pro Toothbrush, adding further excitement to the activation.

Nashua enhanced the spectator experience by providing free WiFi access across the festival grounds, enabling real-time sharing and engagement throughout the weekend.

Supporting this was a broader network of partners across Gold and Silver tiers, including OMO, MSC Cruises, Energade and others, all contributing to the seamless delivery and elevated festival atmosphere.

As Pretoria Boys High marked 125 years of excellence, hosting the 2026 Nomads Hockey Festival provided an opportunity to showcase both the school’s heritage and its ability to deliver events of the highest standard. Through its role as host, Boys High helped elevate an already prestigious festival into an exceptional experience for players, supporters and partners alike.

The school extends its sincere thanks to Nomads, all participating teams, coaches, officials, sponsors, Old Boys, parents, staff and supporters who contributed to making this year’s festival such a memorable and successful occasion.

A special word of appreciation is extended to the Estate Office and ground staff, the Finance Department, the school’s laundry, Empact in the dining hall, and the staff of the three boarding houses, all of whom played a vital role behind the scenes in ensuring the festival ran smoothly.

With the standard set on The Hill Astro, Pretoria Boys High now looks ahead with great anticipation to the 2026 hockey season.

On The Hill Astro, the legacy continues.

View a short video highlight of Nomads Hockey Festival 2026