The early days
an you find it possible to believe that South Africa has been a member of the IIHF since 1937? I know I couldn't, but there it is on the IIHF website — SA joined the then LIHG in 1937, just after the Netherlands and Norway (both 1935) and before Lithuania (1938) and Yugoslavia (1939).
We were the unofficial African Champions (unopposed and undefeated in Africa) until Namibia, our neighbors to the west, joined the IIHF in 1998. The Namibians do not currently have an ice rink in their country but do compete on an annual basis with South Africa at Inline Hockey. South Africa beat Namibia in two qualification games in December 2002 and competed in their first IIHF Inline Championships in Germany later that year.
Continued...
Please sign in to read the rest of this article:
