BNSC NEWSLETTER 

A wet and wonderful good morning to you all

I am going to give away my age and mention that there was a group by the name of Gentle People in the 70’s who sang a song “Rain, Rain, Rain” and that aptly describes the Easter weekend for me… in my wisdom I decided that I would complete my epic house move on the Easter weekend…a decision that I now rue…as I was a drowned rat by the end of the weekend..but it seems like we have only caught a light edge of the major storms…with portions of Southern Natal being completely ravaged….my thoughts and prayers go out to all on the tragic loss of life and property that has been experienced….but to end off my weekend…I landed up with a flat wheel in the pouring rain on a busy road in rush hour traffic on Tuesday morning….so that pretty well summed up my weekend of fun…

Our sport at the Club was limited to the hockey from the St Dunstans festival…which was great to see and have some really good hockey…and surprisingly, a little average and below standards displayed at times too….but at the end of the day…the participants and spectators appeared to have a fantastic weekend of fun….

Other than the hockey and the festival and beer tent around the corner at the school…sport was limited to television and one other event that attracted a fair number of our Members…which was shrouded by a late route change to accommodate possible security concerns regarding possible disruptions to the race….that said, I don’t think that any of these circumstances would have changed our Members mass movement to the Cape for the OMTOM….which this year celebrated its 50^th running….and by all accounts that I have read and seen…it was a fantastic day…even with the rain, wind, route change and any of the other factors and circumstances that surrounded the race….and with plenty of our Members participating…all my local social media was filled with happy pictures of finishing and piles of celebratory drinks amber liquid and the consequent antics that always follow….well done to all of our runners down there….I was very chuffed to see the Northerns colours so proudly displayed….super event…

For the runners at home…there was also a weekend of frantic and fierce activity…in expectation of the Comarades in about six weeks time…and there were also plenty of smiles after the completion of their 90km of training over the weekend….I think there were tired legs for all of our runners…hopefully this will prepare you really well for the big one….

Our official Friday night…was moved to Thursday night to accommodate the long weekend….we had Ryno and his rearranged band entertaining us…and I enjoyed another great evening at the North….thank you to Freedom Unfound for keeping me thoroughly entertained throughout….

In the Main Bar at 7.30…tensions were climbing…ten cards left…over R170k in the pot…and with the crowd being a little smaller than usual because of the long weekend…the chances of being drawn were obviously improved…so there was a fair bit of excitement being generated by the time arrived for the name to be drawn from the beeeg black box….and for the second week in a row….a Joker first timer….Gino Pinto was announced as the name selected…and wended his way from outside….with most of the crowd shouting “redraw” they didn’t notice that Gino had snuck his way forward beneath the interests of the attentive eyes…. and was already standing next to Glenda and myself….I could see in his face that he definitely didn’t expect to be drawn…as standing now in front of the Joker cabinet, was a lot more of daunting task than it appeared to seeing it from the distance of the other side of the bar…..suddenly those 10 cards were not as few as they looked as first glance…and he eventually settled on a choice…tentatively pointing at his selection (just below centre and slightly to the left)…and he joined the waiting crowd….in holding his breath….Glenda definitely made the poor man sweat a little more as she seemed to delay the turning over of the card….eventually, after what seemed like a lifetime wait…the ten of clubs was revealed…amid instantaneous applause…cheering and jeering….and then the inevitable singing from the soccer boys of “cheerio, cheerio, cheerio” to the unlucky participant….so we now go into week 45 of the current draw….9 cards remain and R179 021 is available to the winner this week….

SO this could be your week…please come and celebrate the Robor Marathon weekend with us…we have Cedz and Tryst to rock us into the weekend…another of the bands that has joined the Northerns “please come again” list….they really play some magic music…..and with the joker jackpot close to R180k (if the weather plays the game) we should expect a bumper crowd….

As I said a little earlier..it is the Robor Marathon at the club this Sunday…so expect to see plenty of runners in the area of the Club with throngs of motor vehicles, marshalls, traffic police and spectators….if you are planning to drive around on the day…please remember to plan your trip and possibly expect some delays….

There is a return for all of our teams to sport this weekend…

Soccer – playing Sporting away

Rugby – playing VUT at home on Saturday afternoon on the rugby fields (JB Hall side)

Hockey – Ladies (Saturday) and Men (Sunday) are playing but no matches scheduled for the Astro at Northerns

Baseball – all playing in Boksburg in a huge tournament where a whole bunch of our Northerns talent will be on show over the weekend.. (this should really be worth a visit if you are a baseball fan)

Good luck to all our teams and Members playing…best of luck in your endeavours…

To all of our runners who’s running talent is to be firmly hidden away this Sunday….under the clothing disguises of Marshalls, officials, drivers, flag wavers and traffic controllers…all the best…have a great relaxing day…watching all the other masses of runners enjoying your race….(don’t drink too much!! I know I said it last year and it didn’t help either!!)

For a weekend of very little activity on the sporting front ….I was able to “babble” quite a bit (which is what one of my mates describes this weekly effort as)…but maybe he is correct….I talk too much…or is it write too much…..okay okay…I’ll stop now…

Have a great week….see you all soon… cheers Rod

rod.scheepers@gmail.com for any feedback…negative or positive…thank you

     

Gino Pinto (Guest) drew the Ten of Clubs- Joker Draw a turnover at R179 021.00 for Friday 26th April. Be present to win it!! 

     

Cedz Tryst will be entertaining us on Friday 26th April from 18h30

At a planning meeting, attended by all Sub Club Chairmen plus invited additional Sub Club Committee Members, held in 2018, it was agreed that we hold a R100 a ticket fund-raising drive to raise funds for fields and building maintenance.  This initiative is being driven by Mark Hardman and your Sub Club Chairmen were all issued with books of tickets in 2018.  We are currently faced with a repair bill of R45,000 for the big ride-on mower and a lessor amount of R15,000 for the smaller, older one that we use. Without these two machines, we will be unable to keep the grounds in the superb condition that they are currently in. Needless to say, we are receiving less and less support from Ekurhuleni and we can only assume that this will reduce further. Some of the other sporting facilities in Ekurhuleni bear testimony to this.  Your urgent support in this venture is therefore requested.  Your sub club chairman has the tickets – please ask him/her for them as we are planning to hold the first of 5 draws in May this year.  Your support is and will be appreciated.  Kindest regards,  Laurence (Lockey) Brown – Benoni Northern Sports Club Chairman

 

BNBC Senior Players that have proved there worth and have been selected to represent South Africa in the Continental African Championships and the African Olympic Qualifiers:Tyler Croft, Rowan Ebersohn and Damon King. 
The BNBC Juniors have been selected to play for South Africa in Taiwan in July/August: Luke Emmett, Connor Steyn and Liam Pieterse.⚾️
Congratulations to all those selected, we will be behind you every step of the way. Remember, hit hard, run hard and turn left. 
Yours in Baseball – Shaun Deyzel, Benoni Northerns Indians Ball Club

Take note of affected roads for the Robor Scaffolding Marathon routes this Sunday