for quality writing

Ken Borland



Sharks win in the end … after letting the air out of their own tyres 0

Posted on December 05, 2022 by Ken

The Sharks found themselves on the winning side in the end, by the narrowest of margins, but for the vast majority of their United Rugby Championship match against the Dragons in Newport, they huffed and puffed, generally without accuracy, before a handling error or turnover would let the air out of their tyres.

The Sharks snuck home 20-19 thanks to a 75th-minute try by wing Thaakir Abrahams, who was sent to the line by replacement back Marnus Potgieter, after substitute flank Sikhumbuzo Notshe had broken the line to create the space. Flyhalf Boeta Chamberlain then slotted an excellent conversion to give the visitors the lead for the first time since the 11th minute.

Apart from their tendency to lose possession on attack, the Sharks were also not helped by a wayward lineout and the fact that the Dragons beat them in the kicking game. They were also outworked at the breakdown, although unlucky at times that referee Ben Blain did not seem to enjoy their efforts there, or in the scrums, where they won a few penalties but were also on the wrong side of a couple of momentum-breaking decisions.

The first scrum allowed the Sharks to land the first blow with a Chamberlain penalty, but their problems at the ruck, lineout and then, in the second quarter, at scrum time, began to hurt them as Dragons flyhalf Will Reed kicked four penalties.

Chamberlain was able to kick one more scrum penalty, but the Sharks would have been relieved that they went into the break 12-6 down, the Dragons opting for their fourth penalty after the hooter instead of pushing for the try that would have made that lead even more formidable.

But the Dragons went 19-6 up early in the second half when hooker Elliot Dee scored from a rolling maul, the Sharks having been deep on attack inside the 22 after a Rohan Janse van Rensburg charge was wasted by a pass going astray.

It’s a long way back from there away from home at an intimate, boisterous venue like Rodney Parade, but it’s to the Sharks’ credit that they did not panic and kept soldiering on.

An intercept try by scrumhalf Grant Williams was a massive blow for the Dragons, but the Sharks, on the ropes for so long, finally landed a knockout blow with just five minutes remaining, thanks to the strike-running of Notshe and sheer pace of Abrahams.

It’s surprising that the Sharks were so outplayed at ruck time given that their loose trio contained two flanks who play to the ball in James Venter and Dylan Richardson. Then again, Notshe is in the same mould as eighthman Phepsi Buthelezi, one of their few successes on a difficult evening.

It’s becoming apparent that the big-spending Sharks need less flash and more players willing to put in the big hits and do the dirty work around the rucks.

Scorers

Dragons: Try – Elliot Dee. Conversion – Will Reed. Penalties – Reed (4).

Sharks: Tries – Grant Williams, Thaakir Abrahams. Conversions – Boeta Chamberlain (2). Penalties – Chamberlain (2).

Most of the overseas field missing, but winning SA Open still won’t be easy 0

Posted on January 04, 2022 by Ken

This week’s South African Open at Sun City may be missing the vast majority of the overseas contingent, but claiming the title of the second-oldest national open in golf is still not going to be easy with four golfers ranked inside the world’s top-100 leading the field at the Gary Player Country Club from Thursday.

Defending champion Christiaan Bezuidenhout is the highest ranked of those at No.48, but Garrick Higgo will be breathing down his neck, as he is on the rankings in 57th place, as the duo battle for the unofficial crown of being South Africa’s hottest young golfer.

Current form will probably count for more than the rankings though and the other two top-100 players in the field – Dean Burmester and Shaun Norris – are both in fine form and should pose a serious challenge.

Norris, who finished tied for third in last weekend’s Joburg Open, has been wonderfully consistent over the last few months. In 11 events on the Japanese Tour, he won the Japan Open, had three other top-10 finishes and five in the top-20. Norris has enjoyed considerable success in Asia through the years, but will want to show just how good he is on home turf in the SA Open.

Burmester finished in the top-10 at both the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship and season-ending DP World Tour Championship in Dubai, finishing in a career-best 18th place on the European tour’s order of merit. He is another who is a better golfer than many may think.

Another contender to look out for is world number 111 Dylan Frittelli, who plays alongside Bezuidenhout and Higgo on the U.S. PGA Tour and will be angry with his second and final round in the Joburg Open, when he shot one-over-par and dropped out of contention after his first-round 67 in the event that was reduced to 36 holes by the weather and Covid travel restrictions.

Those travel bans from South Africa have decimated the field in terms of overseas competitors, but there are still a few who will be teeing it up at Sun City.

Welshman Rhys Enoch is a regular Sunshine Tour competitor and he won the Cape Town Open in 2018 and the KitKat Group Pro-Am in March this year.

Scotsman David Drysdale and Brazil’s Adilson da Silva are also seasoned Sunshine Tour campaigners, Johannes Veerman is an American who won the Czech Masters on the European Tour this year and played in both the U.S. Open and the Open Championship.

There are even still a couple of Englishmen in the field in Steve Surry and Chris Cannon.

Former Vaal greats tapping into the reservoir of footballing talent in Sedibeng 0

Posted on July 29, 2016 by Ken

 

There is a vast, largely untapped reservoir of footballing talent lurking out of sight and out of mind near Johannesburg. The gritty industrial area known as the Vaal south of Jozi is a region that lives in the shadow of the great city and its famous stepchild, Soweto.

More than one million people live in the Sedibeng region that includes historic locations like Sharpeville, Sebokeng and Evaton. The Vaal is also the gravitational heart for the northern Free State dorps of Heilbron, Parys, Kroonstad, Sasolburg and also Heidelberg.

Rich in political history, this area has a lesser known heroic soccer past too, with a local team being the first to represent then newly-democratic South Africa in African competition.

While the locals complain about the roads that are rapidly becoming potholes surrounded by islands of tar and wonder how the massive ArcelorMittal factory in Vanderbijlpark benefits the community, there is a group of residents who are laying the foundations for not only the development of all that football talent in the region, but also a long-desired return of professional soccer to the Vaal Triangle.

Vaal Professionals were based in the Sedibeng region and used to be one of the most feared teams in the old national soccer league, winning the BobSave SuperBowl (now the Nedbank Cup) in 1994, becoming the first South African team to play in the Mandela Cup – the African Cup Winners’ cup – and being a founder member of the PSL in 1996.

But football politics and the depressed economic situation of the region reared their ugly heads and Vaal Professionals disappeared around the turn of the century. Their coach at that time was the former Kaizer Chiefs legend Simon “Bull” Lehoko and he is behind the efforts to resurrect the club where his fabulous career started.

“Back in 1970, the NPSL was formed and we were one of the founder members. I played for Vaal Professionals for seven years, but in my eighth year I went to Kaizer Chiefs and Vaal Professionals were relegated to the second division,” said Lehoko.

“I spent eight years at Kaizer Chiefs before I retired in 1985 because of my knee. Kaizer Motaung refused to let me go, but I came back home to work with young guys and rebuild the Vaal Professionals team with Johannes “Man” Direro and 10 other players from Real X20, my father’s team.

“Then the split came, when the NSL was formed in 1985 and they took all the best teams and sponsors. But the NPSL president was our own George Thabe, a local man, so it made it tough for us to choose who to follow.”

He said, “But the George Thabe Stadium was still full when we played the top teams and it became a stronghold of the NPSL, even though the NSL was favoured in places like Boipatong and Sebokeng. But there was no prize money in the NPSL for three or four years and the players called a meeting with the supporters. Players were starting to go for nothing and we were aware that we could lose the whole team.

“So we decided to leave the NPSL but the NSL gave us a second-division place in 1988 even though they had promised us a first division place because we were very strong, winning the NPSL from 1986 to 1988. We chased promotion until 1991, but there was a lot of bribery in those days and points were taken away from us.

“We would lead for the whole year but then it would fall apart at the end with referees giving us red cards and other things. An example was what happened to us when we were leading 3-0 at Potgietersrus. The referee gave penalties against us until it was 3-4 and then the red cards came.

“Teams fielded ineligible players against us and we won those cases despite the arbitrator being the same guy who heard the original case. We were also offered R150 000 to only take promotion the following year,” Lehoko remembered.

Promotion eventually came and Vaal Professionals were a tough side to beat, especially at their home venues of George Thabe and Zamdela stadiums.

“We were doing well and teams like Chiefs and Pirates used to jump the fences here to avoid the muti they thought was outside the change rooms …

“But by 1997/98, everybody was after us. We were offered R8-million to disappear but this club serves the community! They won’t go to Orlando Stadium or go watch Kaizer Chiefs, we even had a supporters’ club in Soweto.

“So they tried to relegate us using the referees. But one referee actually gave his money back, saying Vaal Professionals were too powerful. The only way they could beat us was by underhand means,” he said.

While Lehoko and several of his former Vaal Professionals colleagues have their hearts set on top-level football returning to the area, they are also squarely behind efforts at grassroots level to develop not only the football skills of youth in the area but also their life skills and ability to handle the tremendous social challenges they face.

The idea of drawing on the experience of these former professional footballers was Richard “Bricks” Mokolo’s. A former Vaal Professionals player, Mokolo is a paralegal for the Centre for Human Rights and the Orange Farm Human Rights Advice Centre, and is also involved in campaigns against racism and xenophobia.

He formed the Soccer Legends in 2007 and the impressive initiative benefits both the former players, who often don’t know what to do with themselves once their careers have ended, and the youth who need guidance and inspiration.

“For most former players, it’s a dramatic life change when you retire and it can become very stressful. They feel they’ve lost control of their lives; you’re no more Bull the Man. That kind of prestige is addictive and they lose their dignity along with the fame and respect. Now you’re on your own plus you have to provide for your family and you’re unemployed,” said Mokolo.

“But we’ve opened the door with this programme for the legends to get recognition and their space back. Before, a lot of these former players were unemployed and they would just drink during the day. Man Direro was a teacher and this gives him a chance to do something, to share his experience with learners and assist with life skills as well as being a soccer coach. There are about 40 former professional footballers in the Soccer Legends and they can also assist current players to plan and prepare for the future.”

This means half the benefit goes to the former players doing the teaching and the other half to their students. But they are not just being given football tips by the pros but also being taught life skills.

“It’s not just about soccer but also about social challenges. We’re not just teaching them skills because they come from poor families and we can’t forget about their backgrounds. We teach the Soccer Legends to deal with these issues. We’ve conducted research into the challenges facing both current and future players, and substance abuse is the main problem.

“We also offer counselling for those who’ve suffered domestic violence and we can mediate as alternative role models in the community. We encourage the children to use libraries and we support reading and writing projects.

“The kids may not have seen the Soccer Legends play, but when they’re introduced it motivates children through sports,” Mokolo points out.

A prime example of the success of the Soccer Legends project comes in the form of the Jet Nteo and Mohloli secondary schools, who have excelled in the Motsepe Cup, a top-class national schools competition that this year offers R1-million to the winning team.

A year after introducing the Soccer Legends programme to the Boipatong school, Jet Nteo won the Motsepe Cup and Mohloli, from Sharpeville, also have a fine record in the competition.

Lehoko said: “Bricks is a professor of life skills and he organised courses for us at the Sports Science Institute, the department of sports and recreation and Theta. But to do these courses you rely on sponsorships.”

The Soccer Legends is a pilot project and Mokolo says a lack of funding is all that is holding it back from making an even bigger impact in the Sedibeng area.

“We’ve started a pilot project and we’re seeing the results. The problem is we have no sponsors. Most times we’re in the schools it’s because we’ve volunteered and we can’t keep the children for more than three hours without food. The municipality says they have no money to help us.”

Among the dozens of complaints heard in one day chatting to the Soccer Legends were that local politicians are more interested in petty power plays than actually supporting efforts to benefit the community, that promises made before the 2010 World Cup have never come to fruition and that professional teams don’t belong to the communities they are based in.

People inside the municipality want to control the football projects, but they know nothing about football and they don’t want to bring these opportunities to the Soccer Legends. They’re not actually implementing anything,” Aggripa “Malombo” Tsoari complained.

“Most people here are saying the Soccer Legends are the last hope,” according to Mokolo.

“By 2008 we were strong and preparing for the World Cup. They were told after the World Cup that their lives would change … We were given hope that life will change, and things have changed, but only to make us poorer.”

Not coincidentally, the hundreds of protesters who gathered in Zamdela in early April were venting their anger at the alleged corruption in mayor Brutus Mahlaku’s office.

As Mokolo pointed out, footballers have also been at the forefront of local politics in this country. “We used to say we were victims of apartheid and we couldn’t take our talent to the outside world. At Vaal Professionals, one of our officials was a security policeman. He would take our training in the morning and then arrest us at night for being protesters!

“It was a milestone when football liberation was achieved and we were integrated 19 years before Nelson Mandela was released. But now we’re football victims but no one called us to the TRC.”

So instead Mokolo, the sort of proactive, hands-on administrator that gets things going and makes ideas work, has set up the Bull Lehoko Fund to “capacitate” the Soccer Legends. “There’s no chance of politicians doing anything, so we need to come up with strategies to survive, like the Bull Lehoko Fund which links football to social challenges like nutrition, food and education. As a group, we want to arm ourselves with different skills,” said Mokolo.

How exciting would it be to see not only the return of Vaal Professionals but also the grassroots growth of the game in that area being put under the control of professionals like the Soccer Legends?

http://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2013-07-30-soccer-the-forgotten-talents-of-the-vaal-professionals/#.V583c_l97IU

Marievale Bird Sanctuary 2

Posted on October 15, 2014 by Ken

Hottentot Teal cruising around Marievale Bird Sanctuary

Hottentot Teal cruising around Marievale Bird Sanctuary

The Marievale Bird Sanctuary is a Ramsar-site whose vast reedbeds and multitude of open pools are home to thousands of waterbirds.

Perhaps the most regal of its denizens is the African Marsh Harrier, an uncommon raptor that spends most of the day gliding over the pools and reedbeds on the hunt for rodents and other tidbits.

The African Marsh Harrier spends half of its day in the air and it likes to get an early start, so there it was as the sun was rising on Human Rights Day setting off on the breakfast run as it quartered low over the reedbeds.

My wife and I had a fine view of this long-winged beauty as we sat with our morning tea on the balcony of our little chalet overlooking the wetland. Blackcrowned Night Heron, Grey Heron, Greyheaded Gull, Redknobbed Coot, Cape Shoveler, Whitewinged Tern, Whitebreasted Cormorant, Cattle Egret, Spurwinged Goose, Greater Flamingo and Glossy Ibis were all easily spotted from our chalet on the edge of the water.

Soon we were on our way, heading for the causeway over the Blesbokspruit. This tarred section is a wonderful spot because there are pools of water close-by on both sides of the road, as well as vegetation right up to the causeway.

On the way there, Redshouldered and Longtailed Widows were busy in the grasslands, Southern Masked Weavers were almost ubiquitous and the sexually dimorphic Amur Falcons were dotted along the power and telephone lines along the road.

A lone Swainson’s Francolin was out and about in the brisk morning air – 15° was the temperature for most of the day – and popping into the Hadeda Hide en route produced Little Egret and Reed Cormorant.

Both Yellow and Blackthroated Canary were enjoying the seeds of the many Docks (Rumex spp) along the road, before we turned west on to the causeway and the waterbirds came thick and fast.

Common Moorhen in one of Marievale's open pools

Common Moorhen in one of Marievale’s open pools

Common Moorhen were swimming around the pools, Pied Kingfisher were hovering and diving for breakfast, Cape Reed Warblers were singing merrily as they worked their way through the reeds, African Jacana were standing stately on the lilypads and Whitethroated Swallow, along with Brownthroated Martin, were zooming about.

Purple Gallinule and Malachite Kingfisher were also around and, as we exited the car and walked towards the Otter Hide, a sleek, sinuous dark head rose from the water – it could have been considered reptilian except it had whiskers, and a little black nose and eyes – a Spottednecked Otter just where it should be!

Spottednecked Otter rising from the waters at Otter Hide

Spottednecked Otter rising from the waters at Otter Hide

A handsome Hottentot Teal was also swimming around and Black Crake and African Darter were spotted too.

The open waters between the causeway and the picnic site also produced Redbilled Teal and Dabchick.

The northern section of Marievale takes you through productive wetlands on your left and open grassland on your right. Here Blackshouldered Kite and Hadeda Ibis were on one side of the car, while Squacco Heron, Little Bittern and Whiskered Tern flew around on the other.

Great Crested Grebe were swimming on the large expanse of water in front of the Duiker Hide, while the Flamingo Hide, back by the picnic site, also has a wide vista of open water and reedbeds in front of it. Large flocks of European Swallow are found here, but there were also Blackwinged Stilt and a rather tame African Reed Warbler, who was at much closer quarters.

Popping into the Hadeda Hide again on our way back to our chalet yielded the archetypal wetland Cisticola, the Levaillant’s. From regal raptors to skulking little LBJs, Marievale Bird Sanctuary has it all.

Sightings list

Grey Heron

Greyheaded Gull

Redknobbed Coot

Cape Shoveler

Whitewinged Tern

Whitebreasted Cormorant

Cattle Egret

Spurwinged Goose

Greater Flamingo

Glossy Ibis

Blackcrowned Night Heron

Egyptian Goose

Blacksmith Plover

Sacred Ibis

African Marsh Harrier

Redshouldered Widow

Longtailed Widow

Little Egret

Reed Cormorant

Laughing Dove

Rock Pigeon

Southern Masked Weaver

Yellowbilled Duck

Swainson’s Francolin

Stonechat

Cape Turtle Dove

Amur Falcon

Fiscal Shrike

Yellow Canary

Blackthroated Canary

Common Moorhen

Pied Kingfisher

Cape Reed Warbler

African Jacana

Whitethroated Swallow

Purple Gallinule

Cape Wagtail

Brownthroated Martin

Malachite Kingfisher

Spottednecked Otter

Hottentot Teal

Black Crake

African Darter

Greater Striped Swallow

Dabchick

Redbilled Teal

Blackshouldered Kite

Hadeda Ibis

Squacco Heron

Redeyed Dove

Redfaced Mousebird

House Rat

Little Bittern

Whiskered Tern

European Swallow

Great Crested Grebe

Blackwinged Stilt

African Reed Warbler

Southern Greyheaded Sparrow

Levaillant’s Cisticola

 

  • Recent Posts

  • Archives

  • Thought of the Day

    1 John 2:5 – “But if anyone obeys his word, God’s love is truly made complete in him.”

    James 2:14 – “What good is it if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds?”.

    Love without action is useless.

    If you love God unreservedly, you will offer your best to him and be willing to serve him wherever he wishes to use you.

    Love has to manifest itself practically.

    “Love requires uplifting and inspirational deeds.

    “How genuine can your love for God truly be if you are aware of a serious need and do nothing to alleviate it?”- Solly Ozrovech, A Shelter From The Storm



↑ Top