A World Championship good morning to you all…..

I think the subject and thoughts that have been on the lips and minds of most South Africans since early last week, which was compounded and reached a crescendo on Saturday afternoon with ecstatic joy, as Cheslin Colbe waltzed his way past a bewildered captain Owen Farrell and 4 of his tiring team mates, sealing the fate of the English to be the also-rans against the Boks for the second time in a final…. was the Rugby World Cup final and all the possible outcomes….for all South Africans it was an optimistic (at best) chance of winning….after the demolition of the AB’s by the English, it seemed that it was going to be one way traffic, as the Boks had done nothing spectacular in the tournament thus far, or out of the ordinary to make the punters give the Boks anything but an outside chance of lifting the Webb Ellis trophy for a third time….but most of those people forgot about some of SA’s x-factors, the 12 year rule, the winners of the Southern Hemisphere Rugby Championship (tri-nations), the Free State being Currie Cup Champions for the year and the shrewd tactical genius of Rassie….

However, since the completion of the final, the subject has been expanded on, and is almost on the lips of everybody, whether they were rugby supporters or not, of the magnificent day in our history, not just sporting history, but to me a red letter day in the history of the rainbow nation….as a sport once again unites and unifies all South Africans into a positive mind set and mood…..we have had the theories, opinions and conversations of excited….no jubilant….Springbok supporters….there is no holding back of the vibrant feeling existing right at the moment…..I am sure that there are enough varying points of view, that we have all heard….but suffice it for me to say, that I was most impressed with our scrum and the scrummaging techniques that were employed and put the English completely on the back foot for most of the match….I was in our Hall with the big screen and the sound system “booming out” the National Anthems….and with the amount of “gees” that was displayed at this point was absolutely hair raising….goose flesh stuff…..and I immediately felt a rising of hope as we all belted out the Anthem at the top of our voices….standing proudly, with our hands on our hearts…as if it was us going into battle for the next 80 minutes ourselves…..and within only 2 and a half minutes of the start, that feeling started to gain root, the English were starting to look at each other with that “mayor of Hiroshima” look on their faces…..and it didn’t really get any better…the Springboks ground the English scrum into the ground….our fly-half kept on slotting the penalties that were being created from the destroyed opposition scrum….and with this superiority, the English roses, began to wilt….petal by petal…until the final 15 minutes when the Boks ran in their first ever tries in a World Cup final….and it was possibly fitting that they were run in by the vastly improved left wing Makazole Mapimmpi, who combined well with our outside centre, Lukhanyo Am, to produce a thrilling try in the left corner that had all of the supporters jumping with absolute joy….the other came from the most impressive right wing, Cheslin mentioned earlier….and if the scenes at the North were anything to go by….there were high fives and hugs….back slapping and screaming….smiles and sighs simultaneously…it was obvious that copious volumes of alcohol were going to be consumed as the celebrations carried on….and on….and on…..and on……

Will we ever come down from the current euphoric high…..only time will tell….but I as one, certainly hope not….

If anyone wasn’t at the Glow Run last week…you missed out…whilst there were plenty of contenders in the 10 and 15k races….I like to think that the true spirit of this race is shown in the 5k version….I was able to find plenty of smiles and laughter…as people of all shapes and sizes participated….mother and fathers pushing prams, grannies and grandpa’s holding hands as they completed the event, young families and friends shouting with glee as they went along their way….and all the way along there was happy chatting, the exchanging of pleasantries, giggling and an fantastic atmosphere that brings me back year after year…..and I even get a medal for competing in another epic event…well done to the Athletics section on a superb race….I will be back next year, as I am sure a lot of satisfied competitors will be….

In the only Premier League sport played over the weekend, in which one of our representative sides participated….our cricketers were humbled by Bedfordview on Sunday….showing us that they are really serious about playing this year….having  beaten Kempton last week and winning their other two matches, the boys from Bedfordview were on a high when asked to bat after losing the toss…and with a really solid 4^th wicket partnership of 126, they ended up being dismissed in the penultimate over for 243….with Stef taking 3/25 and Leonard 3/45 being our most successful bowlers…the Northerns reply started off well enough with the opening pair adding 46…..but unfortunately our highest score in our reply was Rian’s 32….we were never in the running as wickets fell to regularly and far too cheaply…eventually being dismissed for 191 to record a defeat by 52 runs…..quite a wake-up call for our boys….so we will need to get back to our basics….practice and look at our application if we are wanting to be the champions again this year….this week we take on Tembisa at Willowmoore Park…..with the first ball to be bowled at 10h00….

On Saturday we had the hockey players at the 5’s trying to bench during the matches for the RWC final….and after the final it was a even a little more difficult to get back and play…but Sunday saw a full set of fixtures…with some of the players suffering from Saturday’s over indulgence…but still being there and available for their matches…with more following this week as another full set of fixtures looms…..

This weekend we have our Sports Person of the Year awards….and this has always been a wonderful glittering event….where the achievers from each sub section will be celebrated, to eventually crown the winner at the end of the evening, in both the junior and senior categories….good luck to all the contenders…..

Rugby has started their pre season practices…so if there are any prospective rugger buggers that are ready and willing to join us in our quest to win our way back to being one of the major forces in Valke rugby, please come along on Thursday evenings and assist us in this massive goal….

Our Joker draw had an old campaigner back at the spot in front of the Joker cabinet….as Arthur Jones had his name drawn from the beeeeg black box….and his selection was down in the bottom left corner….one space up and one space right….but to his dismay….when Glenda flipped his choice over it was the seven of hearts….and amidst the groan, Arthur maintained his smile and said…”next time”….so the pot grows to R94938 for this week…as we have another great start to the weekend with entertainment, joker draw, members draw and a raffle that always brings a winner to the Main bar to collect their prize…

Our entertainment, Cedz and Tryst were at their brilliant best and it must be remembered that they will see us as the opening act to the ToyRun in three weeks time….so we will see you then Cedz…

this Friday we welcome back Eben…..he is a spectacularly talented fellow….please pop down to come and witness the wizardry of this musician….

Hope you guys are still celebrating the World Cup win….hopefully I will see you in the pub as we enjoy a tipple or two…

See you soon    Rod

Moetlo Sefoka Junior Member from BNAC competed in the Central Gauteng Athletics Champs held in Ruimsig this past weekend. He obtained a Gold Medal for 1.50m in the High Jump – u11 age group. Well done Moetlo a rising champ in the cards.