Hockey socials have always been, dare I say “risky” events and with the departure of godfather Cheese, the baton of welcoming the new members to the club and warning the older members to behave was passed onto the next generation of apprentice godfathers, under the watchful eye of the sole remaining godfather, godfather Ratzy. I managed to catch-up with the remaining godfather, his feedback and thoughts on the evening were “Era buono, le signore, è sembrato piacevole” (It was good, the ladies, they looked nice).

The evening was enjoyed by all, despite murmurs from certain sections of the crowd regarding the Afrikaans music and lack thereof - after all, this is Pretoria and what would a social in Pretoria be without a bit of good old ‘sokkie’. All in all, it was a very successful start to the hockey clubs social calendar.

Friday night lights! Free State University had tackled the arduous trip from Bloemfontein to the country’s capital to test themselves against the Tuks men’s and ladies first teams, but which saw them simply exchange the tackling of the long hard road for a long hard 70mins of tackling on the hockey pitch.

The ladies under new management, leadership and sporting a couple of new (and subjectively speaking – pretty) young faces, ripped into the Kovsies girls with the energy and enthusiasm of players who have waited months to get back onto the field. The new comers to first team hockey were afforded the perfect opportunity by coach, Emile Smith, to prove their worth at this level, particularly as the players would all have been eager to cement their spot in the final squad for the much anticipated derby match against UJ in a couple of weeks.

Despite the Tukkies girls struggling to capitalise on their superiority early on, they eventually ended deserved 4-2 winners, with an inspired captain, Sanani ‘Snax’ Mangisa keeping the opposition strikers at bay and Simone Dreyer putting her law studies aside for the evening to score a stunning goal to underline the class of this talented Tukkies ladies side.

The men braced themselves for a characteristically physical encounter against the Freestaters. The Tuks boys showed great control and composure in the early exchanges and the possession and territory stats would have been lob sided in favour of Tuks. The first half ended 2-0, courtesy of two godfather Ratzy goals, giving Tuks the early advantage.

The second half was more closely contested, as a combination of a couple early season mistakes and the failure to convert opportunities (Nic Gonsalves), resulted in a stale second half which ended with the Tuks men securing a comfortable 3-1 victory to start off their season.

There were encouraging performances from first year Matt Guisse-Brown and old stalwart Nic ‘Skipper’ Gonsalves, to suggest that the Tukkies men will be looking forward to the UJ intervarsity with much excitement.

Season 2010 has already had plenty of highlights, with the success of the trials, a great ‘kenmekaar’ and victories first up for the first mens and ladies teams and although the mens and ladies first teams might feel that they are owed a braai, the Tuks hockey club can be happy with the foundations it has laid for season 2010 and I trust the management and players will look to build on these foundations in order to make 2010 truly AYOBA!