Age is just a number: 78-Year-Old hockey legend Basil Evans still shines at Masters IPT

At an age when many of his peers are perfecting their garden swings, 78-year-old Basil Evans is still perfecting his penalty corners.

This weekend in Durban, the evergreen KZN stalwart once again laced up for the Masters Interprovincial Tournament (IPT) alongside hundreds of hockey players from across South Africa – just the latest chapter in a story that began more than five decades ago.

“I started playing for Tech in about 1972, when the club ran from Hoy Park, opposite the old ice rink in Durban. I just progressed from there,” he said.

A few years – and an overseas trip – later, life took the entrepreneur to Empangeni on the KZN North Coast in 1976, where he joined a local club. It became a 25-year stay, with Evans representing SA Country Districts while building his reputation as a dependable team man.

In 2000, he relocated to Kloof and a new phase of his hockey journey began. It wasn’t long before he found his way into the masters ranks and, eventually, helped form the SA grand masters structure that would put South Africa firmly on the global vintage-hockey map.

In 2010, at the Masters World Cup in Cape Town, the SA Grand Masters committee was established. Evans has served on that committee ever since.

“It’s been quite a journey from 2010,” he said. “We’ve been one of the only countries represented at every World Cup since then.”

As part of the grand masters set-up, he has featured in several World Cups, held every two years. 

His most vivid memory? Cape Town 2024 – the first time South Africa fielded a 75-plus side at a World Cup. Evans was there, proudly wearing the green and gold.

“We were in the second tier behind some of the big nations like the Netherlands, Germany and England,” he said. “We played for bronze and came fourth.”

Not bad for a debut 75-plus team mixing it with traditional powerhouses.

There have been other highlights too. While he did not travel to Japan when that World Cup was postponed from 2020 to 2022, the SA over-70 side returned home with silver – further proof that the country’s “older buggers”, as Evans affectionately calls them, can still compete with the best.

Back home, he turns out for Kearsney’s Pastors side in the local social league, blending masters and grand masters players – and occasionally a few “kids” to make up numbers.

“There aren’t enough old buggers to make teams,” he said, laughing.

So what keeps him going at 78 – the oldest member of the KZN grand masters team, which boasts six players over 70?

“It’s just the love of hockey,” he said simply. “And the guys you meet, the friendships you make.”

That camaraderie runs deep. The current KZN 65-plus group has been together since the early 2000s – a close-knit band who compete fiercely, especially against traditional IPT rivals Western Province and Southern Gauteng, before sharing a drink afterwards.

The weekend began with a loss to a “skilful, substantially younger Province side” before they fought back to beat Southern Gauteng.

With another World Cup looming in the Netherlands and Belgium in August, Evans is not ready to hang up his stick just yet. His passion for hockey is matched only by his enthusiasm for vintage and unusual cars – he boasts an impressive collection of 12.

“As long as I’m competitive, can get around, and I’m not a burden to the others, I’ll keep playing,” he said.

For Basil Evans, hockey is not about age. It is about joy, friendship – and never missing a needle match.