Men’s Inter-res netball adventure

By Matthew Theijssen

Netball is a game perceived as an art, where women show their grace around a court, whilst at the same time maintaining a high level of ferocity and determination to win. This is the view of most ordinary individuals, yet to the students of Rhodes University, 25 May brought a refreshed meaning to the game. Men from all corners of campus arrived to show off their skill and talent as they traded in their rugby and soccer boots for a pair of court ‘takkies’ to go head-to-head in an all out battle for victory.

Ravishing Performance from Rhodes Hockey Teams

By staff reporter

The Hockey club, which received the “Most Improved Club of the Year Award” in 2008 Rhodes sports annual awards, are showing more and more improvement this year. The expectations were high as the Rhodes Men’s and ladies 1^st sides departed for the annual USSA 2009 hockey tournament. The tournament took place from 28 June to 3 July in Bloemfontein, which is not the warmest place in the country especially during this time of the year. Both the sides started the tour off with double headers. The men pulled off two good victories with a 7-1 win over University of Limpopo and 3-1 victory over Cape Peninsula University of Technology. On the other side, the ladies had a good win over Central University of Technology by 4-0, and narrowly losing 3-2 to the hosts, University of Free State (Kovsies).

Internal League basketball dribbles to success

By Lauren vd Vyver

Pic by: Sean William Messham

High-flying players and out-of-range three-pointers were features at the internal-league basketball. Alec Mullins was host to the first round of internal basketball games on Friday, 15 May, 2009.

Rhodes’ Club of the Year for 2008 celebrates centenary

By Tshilidzi Mutavhatsindi

Pic by: Desiree Schirlinger

The Rhodes Athletics Club is one of the most successful clubs at Rhodes University. Last year, they won the Club of the Year award at the Rhodes annual sports awards ceremony, which took place at the Monument.

Off the mark

By Ollie Field

The end of May has the potential to be heartbreaking for sports fans all over the world, as many of the sporting extravaganzas which have captured our imagination will come to end.

Let’s start with the Super 14. The Chiefs take on the Bulls this Saturday which will wrap up one of the most fascinating Super 14’s ever. Never before has the tournament had so many ups and downs for each of the teams, with even the Cheetahs providing an upset or two.

Make Your Point

Do you think South African soccer is dominated by black players?

I think this is very true. One major reason I suggest this is due to the absence of soccer at both the formerly white government schools as well as private schools. So white boys (and girls) are not exposed to the sport and certainly not given an opportunity to play the game seriously, that is, in a competitive manner. This obviously translates into a lack of players from the white community at the higher levels of the game. Another reason is the strong resistance on the part of school authorities to making the sport available because of the perceived threat that rugby will be displaced by soccer.

Tony Fluxman (BA Political & International Studies)

Bulls secure home final

By Fleur Rollason

Pic by: Desiree Schirlinger

The Vodacom Blue Bulls kept South Africa’s hopes of a Super 14 final alive on Saturday, 23 May by beating the Crusaders 36-23. The Bulls will play the Chiefs at Loftus Versveld in the final on Saturday, 30 May. It was a thrilling game with the Crusaders putting points on the board first, leaving the scores level just before half time – before the Bulls literally ran away with the game.

Marks Park FITA Championships

By Ettione Ferreira

The Marks Park FITA Championships, in Marks Park Johannesburg, were held on the weekend of 16 May this year. Two archers from Rhodes University, Lance Ho and Rozan Gillbert, took part in the event.”
The competition was tough, with archers from all around the country, as well as some of the world’s top world archers, competing in the event. There were a lot of archers competing in the event with some of their personal bests shot at the FITA.
Lance Ho, shooting for Recurve Men, came in 9th position with a 1040, shooting against South African Olympic archer, Calvin Hartley, three top Scottish archers and other top South African archers.

Rhodes soccer ‘freedom’ celebration

By Tshilidzi Mutavhatsindi
Some South African soccer players at Rhodes celebrated their annual freedom day playing a friendly match against some Zimbabwean Rhodes students on the night of Monday 27 April. The match was held at the Rhodes Kingsfield. This soccer event takes place every year in celebration of freedom day in South Africa. The South African side, made of players from various Rhodes internal league teams, walked over the Zimbabwean side for which the road to freedom looked long and difficult as far as the match was concerned.

RESULTS and FIXTURES

RESULTS

Soccer

Soccer Internal LeaguePool BAllen Webb 0-4 BlackgoldTeam Oppie 3-0 Cullen BowlesJan Smuts 3-2 GoldfieldsPool ARaw Materials 7-2 LinguisticsPiet Retief 1-5 Cory/MatthewsRovers FC 1-2 AK47

F11 0-0 MSA

This year, It’s bigger and better

By Tshilidzi Mutavhatsindi

After last year’s chaotic Internal Soccer League where the Oakdene players attacked the referee in the finals, this year’s Rhodes Internal League definitely showed new promise, displaying excitement and extreme competitiveness. The Rhodes Internal Soccer League is currently run by the Sports Administration, after last year’s sponsor, Rhodes Music Radio (RMR) pulled out. “RMR pulled out as sponsor due to lack of manpower and resources to focus on the Internal League,” said RMR station manager, Gugulethu Mhlungu.

Is South African soccer too black?

By Darren Anderson

South African sport can be categorised into the Big Three: cricket, rugby and soccer. In cricket and rugby, there has been a large increase in black players. Many argue that this is because of the introduction of the quota system, which ensures previously disadvantaged black players the same opportunities as white players. The quota system has had a fair share of success in introducing diversity to many sports within the country.

Off the Mark

By Ollie Field

The Indian Premier League. A festival of cricket that has W.G Grace turning in his grave and makes every member of the MCC at Lords cringe in disapproval. Cheerleaders, mass sponsorship deals, strategic time-outs and big pay-outs to players in US Dollars makes it sound more like American Football than the gentleman’s game of cricket, and yet it has a mass following around the world.

Rhodents meet UCT on home turf

By Lauren vd Vyver

Pic by: Desiree Schirlinger

A friendly clash of hockey sticks ensued when the University of Cape Town (UCT) visited the ABSA Rhodes Hockey Club on 1 May. The long weekend was alive with Rhodent support and talent on the turf. The Rhodes teams came out on top by overcoming UCT’s social hockey teams. A close encounter between the Rhodes and UCT social ladies teams ended in a 3-2 win for the hosts.

K7 wonders win Wafa-wafa tournament

Off The Mark

By Ollie Field

The English Premier League has been dubbed as the best football league in the world for the past six years or so, but what makes it one of the most followed sporting events around the world? Well, a quick look at the UEFA Champions League’s last 16 results should give you a clue.Liverpool and Manchester United cruised through against two of the best teams in the world at the moment, Real Madrid and Inter Milan. The Reds’ performance at Anfield confirms Rafael Benitez’s status as a European competition genius. United were never really troubled by Inter, since they didn’t concede a goal in the two legs. Chelsea, and particularly Arsenal, were made to work to make it to the quarter-finals, but they both showed great temperament to continue the English dominance in the Champions League.

Sex and sports: is the playing field level?

By Tshilidzi Mutavhatsindi

There is a saying that states that soccer is a gentlemen’s game played by ruffians. Rugby is a ruffian’s game played by gentlemen. The rugby league is a ruffian’s game played by ruffians. At this point in time, women’s exposure to male sports has radically increased, and visa versa. Around the world, men play netball, females play soccer, rugby and other masculine sports and dispute continues as to whether women should play men’s sports. All this mainly due to sex determination differences. It was once said that reknown tennis player, Serena Williams, was dumped by her ex-boyfriend because he felt that she has become more like him, while saying that some sports are not designed for women. On 28 October 2007, Rugby referee Robert Tustin dropped his shorts during a ladies’ rugby match between Peterborough and Thetford, exposing his backside. After the incident, Tustin’s excuse for his behaviour was that he was making a statement and that “females shouldn’t be playing rugby in the first place, because it’s a male sport.” The dispute continues. Is sport really gender specific?

‘09 season warm ups for Rhodes teams

By staff reporter

After suffering a 2 – 1 defeat on Wednesday, 11 March to local team, the City Pirates, the Rhodes first team faced Team Oppie on Friday, 13 March at Kings Field. The match turned out to be a test of fitness for both teams. The Rhodes first team opened their score sheet after striker, Gerald Mangwana’s long-range free kick in the first five minutes of the match.

Brumbies Trash Rhodes

By staff reporters

Pic: Sean William Messham

The Rhodes University Rugby club began their season last Saturday, 28 February, against local Grahamstown club The Brumbies. Despite a gutsy performance by all, our three purple teams left the Great Field without a win while a stronger and more prepared Brumbies team left as champions.

Pros and Heroes Ready to Ride

By Lauren vd Vyver

The Absa Cape Epic, the world’s biggest mountain bike stage race, will journey through Cape Town from 21 – 28 March 2009. A 743km stretch of unspoiled nature and climbing over 16 000m will test 1200 cyclists during the challenging week. Considered to be one of the most mentally and physically draining biking events in the world, the Absa Cape Epic possesses different kinds of terrain – from dual and single track to mountain passes. The event is host to legendary cyclists from over 40 countries. Local South African cyclists Kevin Evans and David George grabbed third place in 2008 and hope to clutch an overall win this year. This year, hosts of South Africa’s most celebrated sporting heroes are shaving their legs and tightening their helmets for the epic journey. Former Springboks Breyton Paulse and Marius Hurter, former professional cyclist and 5fm DJ Owen Hannie, as well as Bafana Bafana legend Mark Fish will be cycling for Big Tree and The Jag Foundation. The Jag foundation, established in 2007, is a sports and education foundation that seeks to give youngsters the opportunity of sport education, skills and development. Mark Fish, usually celebrated on the soccer pitch, is excited about the survival aspect of the race, “While I might not be a born cyclist, I’ve always been passionate about sport, whether on the soccer pitch or on a bicycle.” Cyclists have been training hard and taken on smaller cycling events in preparation. No matter how primed and fit the cyclists are, the journey around the Cape Ovenberg will always be a test of the ages.