The Scimitar 19 Jun 2018

20th June 201820th June 2018
by Glenda Todd

BNSC NEWSLETTER

Warmest greeting to you all

As we in South Africa fast approach the shortest day of the year, on the other side of the earth, summer gets into full swing (all three days in England) and the sporting calendar begins to really get busy…the Soccer World Cup is currently underway….we fervently await the top showpiece of tennis (admittedly arguably) at Wimbledon, the Tour de France fever is about to hit us too….the best Golfers in the world will be teeing off in the Open….our Cricketers travel to Sri Lanka…and I’m sure there will be a feast of English cricket on the telly too… whilst back at home, our Rugby players will continue their quest in the Battle with the Roses and then move onto the end of the Super Rugby season, followed by the Rugby Championship (between the premier Southern Hemisphere nations)… so sports lovers are in for a veritable feast of sport over the next six to eight weeks..

The Soccer world Cup has already had its fair share of tricks and spoils, with the current World Champions ending up on the wrong side of a 1-0 score line in their opening match….but the match of the Tournament must go to the Battle of the Iberian Peninsula…which produced a deadlock…after 6 goals, the teams were tied at 3 goals each…..the first being scored within four minutes of the start…the last in the closing moments of the match…and in between a tussle of frenetic action, intrigue and guile (and of course the all questionable antics and histrionics to flavour it up a little more)….but what a match!! If that is the standard of the Football going to be displayed by the top teams…we are definitely going to be having a fantastic show case to behold…I am holding my breath…I am sure we are going to treated to some more crackerjack ball games…..

Back on the home front….our Mighty Springboks took the wind out of the sails of the Roses of England…with a really solid 23-12 victory…after starting in a similar fashion to the previous week…the English being 12-0 ahead before our Boks actually realised that the match had started….but the boys clawed their way out of the hole that they had dug for themselves and eventually won going away 23-12…well done to Rassie and the new look Bok side…all the best for Cape Town this weekend…remember that all quarts are on sale at R25 for the duration of the match…so come and support the Boks at the North….

And now home to the North for all our sporting activities…the soccer boys returned to winning ways with a solid win against Boksburg…hopefully a change of fortunes…long may it continue…the second side have also maintained their position atop the log with an 8-3 win…this weekend the boys host Sporting at home with the seconds starting at 13h45 and the firsts starting straight after they finish…

Our Colts soccer side has had a most impressive start to the season…after winning the local U20’s league last year, the ‘A’ team were invited to play in the “cross-border” super league…(this includes teams from Central, Northern, Western and the Vaal Triangle)…which should prove to be a great test of abilities of these young men…under the tutelage of Enrique Juanas-Uriol, this team definitely has hit the ground running on from the successes of last year….to date our side has played 9 games, impressively winning 8 of the matches and drawing the remaining match…this weekend, they are playing at home, so please come down on Sunday and watch that the future of our Soccer Club is in good hands with these fine dedicated young men…

The rugger buggers suffered another disappointing loss this last weekend, but it was an improved performance against a very solid Nigel unit…the seconds suffered a narrow loss…being on the opponents line in the closing stages, poised to score and take the win….but a bit of ill-discipline allowed a penalty and allowed the opposition to turn the defence into attack and scored their own 7 pointer to make the score line look quite impressive at 25-17… Both sides have a bye this weekend…but they will be hard at work to improve handling skills and improving their other disciplines to come out on top in the next game….

Both the Baseball Majors sides had byes this weekend, but both of the other senior sides had very good wins…so well done to the reserves and the minors on their wins…well done…

Most of (if not all) our Champions from the Comrades are back, some already out on the streets already…after their impressive showing on the down run from just over a week ago….it looks like a unanimous “yes” was the answer of “did you enjoy the Comrades”…this goes for their individual performances and all round for the organisers from both the Marathon and our home-boys…so a resounding vote of thanks to the entire Athletics “machine” on a job well done….with some varied events coming up shortly which will include half Iron Man competitions…some trail events…with even some walking competitions coming up soon…it looks like the Athletes will still be as busy as ever…good luck to you all…may it be piles and piles of fun…

With Youth Day holiday celebrations last weekend there was a bit of a lull in the Ladies hockey matches…but the Men came out in force…with catch up games on Saturday and a full set of fixtures on Sunday allowed us to have a constant stream of hockey players relaying their stories of winning or woe’s….always lovely to see a full house in the beer garden over the weekend…after the soccer and rugby boys had home matches on Saturday…while the Junior and Colts soccer supporters on Sunday supplemented all the ever present “Hockiers”….so it was definitely a festive weekend.

Friday night saw Buddy David’s name being drawn from the beeeg black box in the Joker Jackpot draw….and his choice turned out to be the Jack of Spades!! So we have another carry over…and the Jackpot now climbs to R53459 for this Friday night…Ryno and Freedom Unfound are here to entertain us with some great tunes, covers and also some home grown songs too… I have ordered in plenty of Old Brown and firewood…to ensure that we can warm the cockles of your heart and allow us to have a great start to the weekend…please join us…

After last weeks epic novel of information, I have been to create a Readers Digest Condensed version of this…the “real thing!”… JJ…so suffice it to say…keep warm, keep busy…and I’ll see you through the week…take care my friends

Cheers Rod

And just for Manny…as an afterthought…here it is rod.scheepers@gmail.com I’m sure you all know what to do if you need to chat to me…..