Winter sports tournament week gets under way on Monday, with Southern teams scattered throughout the country and Dunedin playing host to two competitions.
The South Island ice hockey tournament will be held at the Dunedin Ice Stadium, including teams from King’s, John McGlashan, a combined Dunedin side and two from Dunstan and two from Wakatipu.
The city will also host the Linwood football tournament, involving some strong Southern competition from King’s 2nds, Cromwell, Logan Park, Southland Boys’, Dunstan, Trinity, Mount Aspiring, St Kevin’s, South Otago and Waitaki Boys’.
King’s will fly the flag for Dunedin at the premier national football tournament in Christchurch. They beat Otago Boys’ 1-0 in the Otago final this week to secure their spot and first title since 2019.
Invercargill will play host to the South Island netball tournament, one of the largest tournaments of the week, featuring 74 teams — including 25 from the south — across three grades.
Among the top southern schools are Columba, ranked third, and St Hilda’s (4th) in A grade.
Columba won the Otago secondary school title earlier this year against St Hilda’s and have looked strong, losing the Dunedin club final 40-36 — despite being up by nine goals at the half — to University Albion last week.
Southland Girls’ (6th) and Otago Girls’ (8th) will also be fierce competition in the A grade top 10 heading into the tournament.
St Hilda’s and Columba will also be tough competition in the hockey tournaments in the Federation Cup and Marie Fry Trophy being held in Christchurch.
Otago Boys’ and John McGlashan XI will head to Wellington for the Rankin Cup and India Shield hockey tournaments.
