Our youth do have positive role models from our communities in greater Athlone and surrounds, and I don’t see the point of lionising drug lords or gang bosses who drive around in flashy cars in our communities.
When you enter Athlone Stadium from Klipfontein Road into Cross Road you are met with a giant mural depicting three sport stars, Bryce Moon from Pietermaritzburg, former Ajax Cape Town and Bafana Bafana footballer, Diane Carelse, sprinter from Alexander Sinton High in Crawford, and Tania Hess, high jumper from Marian High School in Clarke Estate.”
So said Arnold Cupido from Strandroos Close, Kewtown. He and neighbour Michael Lakay had very definite sentiments about the prominent mural visible from all parts of their street.
Said Lakay: “About a year ago all the flats in Athlone received a facelift, with murals part of their beautification, but we asked specifically that the sports stars be featured on our mural to inspire our kids in Strandroos Close. The athletes are memories from many moons ago, in the ’80s when sport was segregated, especially athletics. They not only represented their schools on the athletics track at Vygieskraal, but also Western Province at interprovincial level, good memories.”
Cupido shared his memories of the three depicted in the mural. “Moon was key for Ajax when Cape Town was represented in the PSL (Premier Soccer League) by Ajax and Santos in the golden era of soccer here. Everyone flocked to Athlone Stadium to watch him and others such as Nathan Paulse, also from Athlone, Terror Fanteni and Brett Evans outplaying Kaizer Chiefs and Mamelodi Sundowns in the stadium. Moon was the favourite of young and old for his commitment on the pitch and assisting Fanteni or Paulse to score. His nickname was Snege and he could move through the field of defenders like a knife through butter. Soccer lovers flocked to the stadium to watch the rivalry between Ajax and Santos.”
Both were adamant that the three inspired them when they were young and when asked about the mural by the youth of today, they can give a little bit of history of them.
“If you look closely at the background of the mural you can see this was the start of the upgrading of Athlone Stadium in preparation for the 2010 Soccer World Cup in South Africa,” Cupido said. “As we said earlier, the athletes are from the apartheid era when they were on everyone’s lips for their performances on the athletics track. They not only put Athlone and their schools on the map, but were ambassadors of our communities. The mural should inspire today’s youth as a symbol of what can be achieved through sport. We are all familiar with Madiba’s take on what sport can do to unite a nation; imagine what sport could have done for our youth who made the wrong choices.”
In the past many local football games were played in the stadium, but now they are few and far-between, with international rugby matches for women and men occasionally hosted there.
They hoped more sporting greats of the past would be honoured in future as murals on other flats. Through the years soccer fans were entertained by great players from the local clubs as well as those teams that played in the different leagues.
Players who graced the field at Athlone Stadium included stars from the original Cape Town Spurs, Glendene United, Battswood and so on, who were all familiar with this pitch and the weather conditions.
Names that spring to mind are Farouk Abrahams, Bernard Hartze, Taswald Human, Donnie Ronnie, Edries Burton, Reggie Jantjies, Adeeb Abrahams, Vincent Barnes; their scores were settled on the field, and after the match all players would enjoy a cold beer, something they felt was not the case nowadays.
Carelse and Hess in the mural were celebrated athletes, particularly in the ’80s before the different athletics bodies united. Carelse represented Alexander Sinton High in the 100 m, 200 m and long jump. She was a WP Amateur Athletics Club record holder in the 100 m with a time of 12,4 sec, representing WP Senior Schools, WP Amateur Athletics Union and, unfortunately in her time, there was no SA Schools Sport Association (Sassa).
Hess was a protegée, a young athlete who held a senior ladies’ record of 1,71 m, a club record, and held all the high-jump records of the WP Senior Schools’ age groups, u-14, u-15 and u-17, with no u-16 age group in her time, and she matriculated from Marian High in Clarke Estate, Elsies River. Both were Spartans Athletic Club members, with Hess later joining Olympiads Athletics Club in Mitchells Plain in 1987. She received Sassa and Sacos colours.
Moon played for Pirates in Pietermaritzburg and joined the School of Excellence, Gauteng before starting his career at Ajax CT in 2005. He also played for overseas clubs such as Coleraine in Northern Ireland (2004), and Panathinaikos and Paok in Greece, before joining SA clubs Golden Arrows, Supersport United, Bidvest Wits, Mamelodi Sundowns, Platinum Stars, Black Aces and Maritzburg United. His debut for Bafana Bafana was in 2007 against Botswana and went on to play 17 games, and he took part in the 2008 Africa Cup of Nations and 2009 Fifa Confederations Cup.
You must be logged in to post a comment.