The Team Leader says:
- In October 2023, all heads of participating teams had a meeting with the LOC. They were promised events to test the readiness of the hockey facilities. That never happened.
- Because of the risks involved in the sport, any international field to be used in a tournament must, by order from FIH (the body in charge of World hockey), be tested months in advance. Personal note: as we know, the Accra Pitch was only laid last week, so testing would not have been possible.
- South Africa wanted to use Accra 2023 as a pre-tournament camping for their men's and women's preparation for the Olympics, so they flew into the country early. Only for the hockey tournament to be postponed three different times.
- Team SA wanted to be sure the Accra pitch was certified by any of the global field certification bodies around the world before playing, but they could not get any assurance from organisers.
- In the end, they sent pictures of the pitches laid last week to independent experts, who advised them not to play because of the risk involved in doing so.
