Hockey’s Cassiem brothers set to rock Commonwealth Games

Early July will see iconic rock band Dire Straits play a concert in Birmingham, England, and bound to be high on the playlist is the band’s huge hit, Brothers in Arms.

Late July, Birmingham gets to see SA’s own hockey brothers, Dayaan and Mustapha Cassiem, looking to rock the Commonwealth Games as part of Team SA.

The two brothers, boasting 50 and 20 international outdoor caps, respectively, are an integral part of the national set-up, with the more experienced and creative Dayaan and muscular on-the-move Mustapha the cutting edge of the forward line.

The brothers — Mitchells Plain-raised, Bishops College-educated — are the latest in a rich history of talented siblings in SA hockey. They follow in the footsteps of Wayne and Lloyd Madsen, Grant and Craig Fulton, Brandon and Clinton Panther, Ian and Steve Evans and Craig and Ian Haley.

Dayaan is no stranger to the Commonwealth Games, having represented SA in Gold Coast, Australia, four years ago.

“Our goal at Birmingham now is to get a medal. Hey, it’s been a long [time] since an SA team has targeted a medal and actually getting onto the podium. Now we must just compete every game, being well prepared, taking one game at a time, and play for something bigger than ourselves and for the country and people around us to make sure we get onto that podium,” says the 23-year-old.

“The last Com Games [Commonwealth Games] was my first major tournament. Olympics was a step up as obviously the Com Games have teams that were previously colonised and not every top nation in the world.”

Dayaan went on to be part of the Tokyo Olympics. “It’s still tough to digest every moment ... and just being among the best athletes on the planet, although it was amazing to see the world’s best athletes from so many sports all focused on being the best they could.”

Younger brother Mustapha says goodbye to his teenage years this weekend and the birthday boy has his eyes firmly set on Birmingham.

“Obviously, I’ve only watched the Com Games. I’m looking forward to another exciting opportunity. There’s been a lot of chat that we can do well, but [the] first step is winning our first game, which will set us up nicely. But there’s no need to play with fear anymore ... we don’t have to be scared to play the best nations in the world anymore, we’ve got that experience now over the last 18 months and we must just focus on winning that first game, and then hopefully make the play-off games.”

The two follow in the footsteps of their role model father, Abdullah “Casa” Cassiem, who played for Central Hockey Club in Athlone and also shone in many other sporting codes.

But they’re each carving out separate physicalities and personalities. Says Dayaan: “My dad was a footballer before hockey. For me, if it wasn’t hockey I would have chosen football and had many opportunities before playing hockey.”

Physically they’re also chalk and cheese; Dayaan at 64kg has a wiry frame while the younger and the more muscular Mustapha boasts a 12kg weight advantage.

“Definitely, for me, if it wasn’t hockey it would be probably be rugby. Rugby was a big part of me at school, playing from the age of 13, and I really just enjoyed the team aspect in rugby, it was just a game that was different.”

Off the field and with parents back home in Mitchells Plain, Dayaan says it’s a harmonic environment: “We’re quite different in some ways, although we’re both hardworking. I like to be around people and I’d say my brother likes his own space more. It’s lovely living with my parents, though. And having a sibling who plays hockey is a great bonus. When there’s ‘down time’ in either of our lives, it’s nice to know that he can understand from a sporting point of view.”

Garreth Ewing has been a long-time head coach at St John’s College in Johannesburg and juggles between school, national coaching and being a husband and father. Like most of the players, he has to hold down more than one occupation to make ends meet.

He’s been in charge of the national set-up since 2019 and says the Cassiem brothers bring a nice balance to the team.

“They’re a pleasure to work with and their well of talent makes it easy for me as a coach. They’re very different — while Dayaan is more of a touch player with a great subtlety to his game Mustapha is a bit more of a physical and abrasive player, although he also has wonderful skills to his game.”

Like in most sports, though, talent is spotted quickly. “They’ve both been noticed by their opponents and are finding it harder to excel as they did in Tokyo so it’s going to be interesting to see how they respond to this and grow their personal game plans.”

Ewing says the brothers bring their own unique input to the team set-up. “Dayaan brings some great ideas and his own leadership to team discussions and with just over 50 Test caps he’s pretty experienced.

“On the other hand Mustapha has that youthful energy and is starting to challenge me in terms of where and how he wants to play, which is great and I look forward to his role changing over the next few months.

“One thing’s for sure ... there’s a different mood at training and games when the brothers are around.”

So, the future for the brothers: Cassiem is looking good and more good news is that there’s a little sister waiting in the tramlines.

Teenager Quddoosiyah goes into high school next year and is starting to follow in her brothers’ footsteps. “Hopefully she starts playing hockey soon. There’s been a bit of a taste for hockey in the past few weeks, picking up a stick and playing around at home and speaking about how she wants to play, so that’s exciting,” says Mustapha.

For now, focus falls on the male members of the household and Birmingham is a stage-in-waiting for SA’s own Brothers in Astro.