His previous books include rugbys great split, rugby league in twentieth century britain, and a social history of english rugby union, each of which won the aberdare prize for sports history book of the year. Your history of rugby fact book is also a great way to enjoy a trip down memory lane. Eastern province rugby history 1888 1994 het 1 081 lede. Some of the greatest ever preapartheid rugby players in the world came from the. Rugby in the eastern province has very strong and distinguished sporting, political, and cultural ties. Circa 1875 rugby football began to be played in the cape colony, though the. The team represents the western half of the eastern cape province, and they play their home games at the nelson mandela bay stadium in port elizabeth. Eastern province kings, port elizabeth, eastern cape. They are governed by the eastern province rugby union epru or ep rugby. The wp rugby academies strive to practice its vision to inspire greatness through sports to life. A recent photograph of the decaying stadium, stripped bare. Eastern province rugby officials are still awaiting news from the international rugby board irb about whether their bid to host the irb world sevens rugby tournament has been successful. In 2009, his social history of english rugby union was.
Most rugby fans will remember this final game, as it was extremely closely fought, going in to extra time, and england ultimately winning after an epic last minute drop goal by johnny wilkinson. Posts about eastern province rugby written by admin. It forms part of the nelson mandela bay metropolitan municipality which includes port elizabeth and uitenhage, and has collectively a population of over 1. Eminent historians have called it a black african game. World cup rugby came to the stade roi baudouin in brussels, with belgium facing the most powerful eastern european nation, georgia, in a qualifying game for the 2015 world cup to be held in england. The eastern province rugby union has moved all games to the new world class nelson mandela bay stadium in port elizabeth.
The matter is with the irb and we are awaiting word from them. Both rugby union and rugby league have their origins in the style of football played at rugby school in england. In february 2018, the epru announced that the name of the team would revert to eastern province elephants for the 2018 season. This group is all about the history of eastern province rugby between 1888 1994. Against this background, eastern cape columnist and african rugby writer, jimmy matyu. It is long overdue, coming 195 years after the first recorded game of cricket in this country was played at the green point common, cape town, in 1808. Cheeky watson and sa rugby have been punting 16 june as the launch date for the southern kings, the franchise that would revive rugby in the eastern cape. Wp rugby academy inspiring greatness, through sports to life. The perfect coloring book for every child that loves rugby. Official online home of the springboks and all things rugby in south africa. It was in the area around east london that the xhosa and white setters met for the first time and a century long battle ensured for. The sad demise of the boet erasmus stadium the casual. All of these players were national representatives springboks, leopards, or proteas.
Ian kirkpatrick left, the eastern province rugby coach, seemed to work wonders with the front row of the eastern american eagles team at a special practice at upe. We see the origin of rugby union and of soccer as each emerged from the myriad local rules popular in great britain in the nineteenth century. Mr mark alexander, president of sa rugby, reacted with shock and disbelief when the news of the death of former springbok wing and blitzboks captain and coach chester williams surfaced on friday afternoon. It comes alive in september each year to host upwards of 40,000 painted warriors celebrating papua new guineas independence day. Eastern province v british lions rugby programme 1974.
Gorokas colourful mix of culture, coffee plantations and craft in cool high altitudes means youll never want to leave. When the eastern province and western province rugby teams run onto one of south africas most famous fields, the crusaders ground in st georges park next saturday, it will bring back many memories for older port elizabeth residents. St georges park no win, no takings in last clash at. The eastern province elephants are a south african rugby union team that participates in the annual currie cup and rugby challenge competitions. Mpumalanga province called eastern transvaal province in 199495 was. This is the official page for the eastern province kings. There is a story in the folk lore of eastern province rugby about the opening game against the 1980 british lions that involved dennis campher a tough centre who had perfected the art of the crash tackle. It also instructed the nelson mandela bay metro not to write off a debt owed to it by the union. The sport, as one may have guessed, is rugby union. Gavin captained eastern province and his school teams at both rugby and cricket. School of rugby team profile eastern province school. According to the sports lore, in 1823 william webb ellis, a pupil at rugby school, defied the.
School of rugby is a schools rugby website which covers schoolsrugby as well as junior rugby from around south africa. Most of his schoolboy career was spent at centre, where he and neil ward became the best centre pair grey had known for several generations. In the senior ranks he played most of his rugby in his preferred flyhalf position. The story of an african game is a groundbreaking book, the first to cover in detail the history and experiences of black african cricketers in south africa. School of rugby daniel pienaar ths school of rugby. Members were indignant about what was described as an arrogant act. Pro rugby could be reaching out beyond american shores. This book gives us the history of rugby union, with mentions of soccer football, gaelic football, u. Epru is home to many big names in the world of rugby and will continue to to birth great rugby legends. You see, in the eastern cape, rugby is in our roots its in the struggles of our generations past as well as our moments of glory, yesteryear sporting heroes and rugby legends. The committee directed that the south african rugby union should dissolve the eastern province rugby union executive and appoint an interim administration with a view to elect a new executive when the situation had been normalised. Stephen lunsford is bringing in some items hell be selling this weekend at the rare book fair, such as the prospectus for the province newspaper. The book eastern province rugby legends 1964 1994 was released in 2015. South africa the history of rugby by parker, mushtak new african.
Gardens win coveted grand challenge trophy eastern province rugby. Eastern province rugby union, sascoc, stadiums, safety at. All blacks were required to carry pass books containing fingerprints, photo. The eastern province rugby union was founded in 1888, and has remained a formidable opponent within the south african and international rugby arena. Whether it was the first rugby game that you went to as a child, or that beloved grudge match you won from decades ago, you can recount it all in this unique and fantastic book. Whilst growing up in port elizabeth, the boet erasmus stadium was the epicentre of eastern province rugby. The reshuffle by the south african selectors was slated by the rugbycrazy public and the press. Muller, who represents the eastern province rugby referees society eprrs and refereed three test matches and officiated at the 2003 rugby world cup, was also warned to refrain from such activities the noncompliance of which would lead to the issue being forwarded to a magistrate of a formal enquiry. It is bounded by limpopo province to the north, mozambique and swaziland to the east, the provinces of kwazulunatal and free state to the south, and gauteng province to the west. Mycomlink listing for eastern province academy, association located in port elizabeth, eastern cape, south africa, contains the following information. Pro rugby, eastern province talks move forward talks between pro rugby and the eastern province rugby union to take over the unions super rugby and currie cup teams took another step recently as pro rugby ceo doug schoninger met with epru officials in england. The last match to be played at the stadium was a friendly against the blue bulls on 3 july 2010.
He is currently serving as the head coach of south african rugby union team the eastern province kings. Gorokas attractive, wellorganised town is the provincial capital of the eastern highlands. In the meantime rugby was also getting established in the african areas of the eastern cape, brought to the transkei mostly by christian missionaries such as rev charles taberer and his colleagues rev whyte and rev mullins, where it soon became popular amongst the xhosa population. In more recent history the area was home to the khoisan or bushman tribe who were pushed out of the region by the later white settlers. Western province is a south african rugby union team based in newlands, cape town, that participates in the annual currie cup and vodacom cup tournaments. According to a report by george byron in the south africa weekend post pro rugby ceo doug schoninger is set to have a meeting with the south african rugby union about potentially buying the eastern province kings. St georges park eastern american eagles visit st george. Rugby, football game played with an oval ball by two teams of 15 players in rugby union play or players in rugby league play. This is just one thing that nostalgic ep rugby fans will learn from a newlypublished book, eastern province rugby legends 19641994. This is the official facebook page for the eastern province rugby union, focusing on the amateur arm of ep rugby. Football, rugby league and aussie rules when their history impacts the history of union. I consider ian robertson to be south africas best back. Despatch is a small town in the eastern cape province of south africa situated between port elizabeth and uitenhage with an estimated population of 40 000. Australia hosted the 5th tournament, and for the 3rd time in world cup history made it to the finals.
Eastern province, who runs the southern kings in super rugby and the kings in the currie cup, have been in severe financial. The holcroft saga is a rugby storythe like of which may never have been equaled in the history of the game. Top 10 greatest rugby players of all time former new zealand rugby union player carlos spencer is widely considered as one of the best flyhalfs in the history of rugby. This is the new rugby development platform where we, in proud collaboration with the various rugby unions in south africa, offer worldclass rugby development to aspiring rugby athletes. The welllaid out book takes the reader down memory lane to all the exciting moments at the old boet erasmus stadium and. Eastern province rugby history 1888 1994 public group. Eastern province rugby history 1888 1994publieke groep. Eastern province rugby football union how is eastern. The south african sports confederation and olympic committee had declined an invitation to meet with the committee. Gardens were crowned worthy champions after beating pe harlequins 27 in the ep rugby grand challenge final played in slippery conditions at the central city stadium in uitenhage last night. County clare upon its creation in 1569 was transferred from munster to connacht, and was only restored to munster after 1660. The untold story of south africas black rugby exiles ohio university. August 29, 1959, was a sad day for port elizabeth rugby fans.
1170 1018 340 1402 1554 917 1288 1095 471 1266 1316 439 328 70 804 1291 67 924 1365 860 987 113 1093 283 17 1381 425 428 149 559 182