Phiko Mbuqe shares strategic vision as SA Hockey CEO

Mbuqe was appointed at the beginning of last month and has spent the time finding his feet and assessing where his priorities will lie for the immediate future of the men's and women's game.

The seasoned sports administrator has shared exclusively with SABC Sport where he would like to see the association and its teams by the time he leaves his position at some point in the future.

"I think for me, the goal is to have stability, in the sense of improved stability in our teams and in terms of SA hockey. I don't want to be bold and say I want us to be in the top five, but we are on a trajectory of building right now.

"Ideally, I'd love for our men to be in the top ten and competing consistently against the best countries, our females to start climbing up the rankings, to have the indoor teams improve and climb the rankings, and there is also opportunity for growth in the hockey 5's."

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The job will not come without its challenges, and Mbuqe is under no illusion of the task at hand as he looks to bring SAHA into a brighter space in the national sporting landscape.

"All sporting codes have their own challenges, and different ways on how to deal with them. I think in SA hockey, you find a community of people who are really into hockey, but we are obviously not in the top four in terms of funding and play.

One of the immediate opportunities is to source funding and sponsorship to assist the various teams going to compete at international events, and Mbuqe says the prospect of hosting is also already being discussed.

The FIH Junior Men's and Women's World Cups are scheduled for India next month, and the former SA Gymnastics operations manager confirmed that some funding has already been secured from the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture.

With the men's and women's outdoor teams having just, last week, been crowned African Cup of Nations champions and qualified for the 2026 FIH World Cup, Mbuqe believes the winning culture is key to their growth.