Well well well….Good morning from a freezing and frosty North…

The wind on the 1^st of the month indicated the start of official winter….from Sunday to Monday night must have had a differential of 10 or more degrees….from having a fairly relaxed and comfortable winter to two pairs of socks….and having all our winter woollies hauled out…beanies and balaclavas….gloves and mittens….scarves and buffs…..jackets and jerseys….I think every bit of warm clothing available clothing that we have available is now out…and worn all at the same time if possible….all sorts of combustible materials have been sought out….gas, paraffin, wood coal and anthracite were hastily procured as the winter chill extended her icy fingers around Gauteng….and I heard that another cold front is approaching the Cape…so we may have to batten down the hatches for a while, before we are able to venture our tootsies out to “test the water” again….so to both of our readers (my wife and Archie who is actually far away in Perth, so he won’t need to listen anyway)…keep warm!!

Our rugby players are still on a bit of a vacation (I think the reason on the fixtures was stated as SASSA week)…..so with the Craven and Varsity weeks busy, means that our players are afforded some time off…only next weekend do they continue with their matches…another opportunity to hone the skills and work on the tactics…before the last push toward the final matches of the league and then the prospect of play-offs….which are always a daunting prospect…as the underdog stands the chance of an upset in those matches…..

The soccer boys went on the road to the South and took on Robertsham…which is always a difficult prospect at their home enclave…..and the Reserves found out how hard the going is…as they had to overcome the tough opposition…and the officials too as we clawed back from one down at half time…to only concede what appeared to be a blatantly off-side goal with only 10 minutes remaining…to their credit, our boys got themselves off the canvas and rallied to score with only a few minutes to go and return home with a share of the spoils…..the first side were clearly the better side on the day and deservedly went into the break 1 goal to the good….this was a most physical encounter, with the officials appearing to allow the home side to get away with some really dangerous, rough and illegal tackles…despite a non-existent hand ball, Robertsham were awarded a penalty which they calmly slotted and everything was level again….. we were also awarded a spot kick for a horrible tackle on one of our strikers, which their goalkeeper was unfortunately able to save….and in proving that football is a cruel game….their forwards pounced on their only available opportunity shortly thereafter and emerged as 2-1 victors….this week our boys have a break in league activities…as we contest  in the Super League play offs…….good luck to the boys….hopefully we will emerge as winners of this mini tournament, which will make us as semi finalists in September to qualify for entry into the prestigious  and competitive Castle League….I, along with all of our Members, wish Jannie and his charges the best of luck in their quest to elevate the standard of soccer at the Club and in the region….

Our Joker draw had a “newbie” selected from the beeeg black box this week…as Jim Nielsen (who’s wife has been called a couple of times before) was the lucky fella this week to stand next to the Joker cabinet and have the big guess…but he was quite confident that his selection was solid as he pointed to the bottom right hand area….. yellow drawing pin!! He exclaimed…a good selection for the expectant crowd….but not Jim, as the nine of Diamonds was revealed…another carry over for the crowd this week…and almost R60000 up for grabs….after the money was counted, it revealed that the jackpot had escalated to R59798…. our band last week was the ever popular 5 piece band Omega…who kept the crowd well entertained with their cover of hits old and new…another super week….I am awaiting confirmation of the band for this week…as our original artist has asked to be excused due to an urgent fund raiser…. keep up with our Facebook page as any changes and new alterations will be advertised there first…..

We also celebrated the conclusion of our 100 club draw…and all 5 winners of the R5000 prize money must have been most chuffed….two of the winners only purchasing tickets on the night…whilst the other tickets were split between one hockey and two bridge members…well done to all the winners…who had their winnings transferred to their respective bank accounts on Monday….we have learned a few lessons from this draw, which we will put to good use in forthcoming draws that are similar…

One of our hockey stalwarts, Colin Merrifield…celebrated his 300^th match for the first side….congratulations Colin…that is an amazing achievement and you are only the second player with this achievement, after Dale Griffiths went past this milestone late last year……Colin began his hockey at the North when hewas just 6….33 years later, he is still pulling the beloved red, white and gold over his head on a regular basis….a tribute to our “mini-hockey” programme and proving that hockey players don’t get old….their balls just get a little “dimpled”….

The Cricket World Cup has been relegated to my last thoughts of the day…as we are simply an “also ran”…a similar title earned by our national Ladies soccer team in their World Cup….Bafana however have surprised and astounded me (and I am sure a few others too) by qualifying for the knock out stages of AFCON 2019….our opponents look like they will be Egypt (who are the hosts) so I think a really difficult match to plan for….particularly as I watched the Morocco match and think our coach was looking for a draw…as he “parked the bus” and defended heroically….(I don’t seem to remember a single shot at the opposition goal)….I truly hope that some different tactics will be employed in the next match… good luck to them…

I am sure that everyone has caught a glimpse of the advanced stage of the renovations for the Pizza shop…and the arrival of the Mobile bar caravan…. don’t forget the naming competition for both of these…details are contained elsewhere in this newsletter…both of these will officially be launched soon….

That’s all for this week… keep warm…. take care and hopefully I will catch up with you all soon..

Take Care…Rod

Benoni Northerns Naming Competition!

Something exciting and new is happening at Northerns and we want your help! Beady eyed members may have noticed a wee bit of construction going on in the Beer Garden lately, and come 01 July 2019, we will have a new pizza and coffee cafe up and running to serve our members as well as a new mobile drinks bar in the form of the caravan to alleviate some of the bar traffic.   We are running a competition to choose the names of both the pizza/ coffee cafe and the mobile drinks bar. Submit your entries by clicking the link! The winners will each be awarded a R250 Benoni Northerns voucher! You can enter as many times as you like! Winning names will be chosen by the committee and will be contacted directly!

ENTER HERE

Jim Neilsen (Social) drew the Nine of Diamonds – Joker Draw a turnover at R59 798.00 for Friday 05th July. Be present to win!!

Live Music every Friday from 18h30

A massive congratulations to BNAC’s Jazz van Rensburg who was crowned South African Champion at the weekend’s Duathlon Championships in Cape Town! A massive achievement!

We wish our Benoni Northerns 1st Football team the best of luck for this weekend’s SAFA Ekurhuleni Super League Playoffs 2018 / 2019. Our team was selected as this Year’s Eastern Local Football Association Representatives in the Playoffs. Should our Team make the final, our Club will be awarded SAB status and qualify for the most prestigious & competitive Castle League 2019/2020. A grand totalof 14 teams (mostly respective LFA winners) are taking part in the playoffs. Let’s keep our fingers crossed for this weekend’s Group Fixtures to be played at the Kwathema Stadium.

Date – Saturday 6th July 2019
Venue – Kwathema Stadium.
Opponents – Golden Boys FC. Kickoff Time – 11:00am.

Date – Sunday 7th July 2019
Venue – Kwathema Stadium. Opponents – Pule FC.
Kickoff Time – 11:00am.

Should we win our Group, we will play the Semis and Final on Saturday the 13 September at Tsakane Stadium.

Colin Merifield became the 2nd Benoni Northerns’ Hockey player to achieve 300 caps for the 1st team last Sunday. Colin has been playing Hockey for Benoni Northerns since he was 6 years old and 33 years later is still putting on the red, white and gold jersey for the Benoni Northerns’ 1st team. He has been an outstanding asset with incredible commitment and determination and has scored 19 goals in his 19 years playing in the 1st team as a defender. We would like to congratulate Colin on achieving the phenomenal milestone

The start of the Benoni Northern Rugby Club’s Junior League games are around the corner. There is still time to register your children to join East Rand’s strongest Sports Club. U6 to U13 kick off on the 13 July and U14 to U18 kick off on the 24th August. – contact Jaco Havenga – havenga_j@yahoo.com