Veteran Shelley Jones feels more international exposure key to SA’s hockey medal hopes

Former South African hockey stalwart Shelley Jones believes consistent exposure to top international competition is the only way the country’s national teams can become genuine medal contenders, with the FIH Hockey World Cup looming later this year.

Now 38, Jones represented South Africa at four World Cups, two Olympic Games and two Commonwealth Games during a distinguished international career spanning more than a decade. 

Drawing on her experience at the highest level, Jones insists there is no substitute for regular competition against elite opposition. 

“I must say probably the closest we've come in my national career to actually sort of competing in the top 10 was when coach Giles Bonnet had us on a hectic programme,” she said.

“We were playing so many internationals, and he actually had us based in the Netherlands for two months, which I know is not really realistic, but he made it happen.

“He encouraged a lot of us to play for clubs overseas to get that experience, and then sort of got the national team to come and join in. He just got us playing so many matches and just built up that experience.

“That’s how I would say we'd have to do it, but it's so much harder and so much more complicated than that, because obviously funding is a massive issue.”

South Africa’s men recently hosted series against India and World Cup co-hosts the Netherlands, providing valuable exposure on home soil. The women faced visting Canada in a similar series. However, Jones believes isolated series are not enough to close the gap on the sport’s traditional powerhouses.

Having spent several seasons playing in Europe’s professional leagues, she argues that South Africa needs a stronger domestic structure – or, failing that, a deliberate strategy to place its top players abroad.

“I think that's massive, playing that top international sort of club competition every weekend. If I was a coach now, I would be encouraging South Africans to go and play the European seasons, and I'd plan my programmes on getting the team together in the off-seasons, because it's honestly a game-changer,” she said.

“It was a game-changer for me, and definitely the players I was playing with at the same time. It definitely took us to a different level and it has the potential to do that for our current national team players as well.”

While structural and financial realities remain significant hurdles, Jones is adamant that experience – not simply talent – is what ultimately separates mid-tier nations from the world’s best.

Jones earned a Masters World Cup gold medal in 2024, helping South Africa’s over-35 side to victory in Cape Town, and will line up for KZN Ingwes at this weekend’s Masters Interprovincial Tournament (IPT) in Durban.

Scores of masters and grand masters players from across the country will gather from Thursday to Sunday for a festival of high-quality hockey and camaraderie – proof, in Jones’s case, that the competitive fire still burns strongly.

But her message for the next generation is clear: if South Africa want to stand on major podiums, they must first test themselves – repeatedly – against the very best.