Sporting Life - Cricket & Golf Stories:

CRICKET:

"The bowler approached the wicket at a lope, a trot, and then a run. He suddenly exploded in a flurry of arms and legs, out of which flew a ball.”  - Douglas Adams, author Life, The Universe and Everything

"How can you tell your wife you are just popping out to play a match and then not come back for five days?" - Rafa Benitez, Spanish soccer player, trying to understand Test cricket

At one stage in the 1950s and early 1960’s, cricket played a pivotal role in the sporting and social life of the town.  The cricket field was behind the Post Office – a large open area that, in English country town terms, would have been called the “village green”.  This term evokes a grassy rural environment, a place for public gatherings.   In Port St Johns, the village green was also the site for the fresh fruit and vegetable market, held on Saturday mornings on the south-western side of the field near the Anglican Church. 

 

The First President of the Cricket Club was a Delville Wood Survivor:

“Fred Glazier had lost a leg at the Battle of Delville Wood in the First World War and was elected as first President of the Port St Johns Cricket Club, obviously not as a player, but he was very interested and played an important part in the formation of the Cricket Club.  He was a great fan of cricket, always there watching cricket matches.  I can picture him: an elderly gentleman with grey hair, wearing glasses and a little hat on his head, watching cricket matches, parked in his wheelchair under the big old Mtombe tree near the tennis court side of the cricket field.”  (Howard Daniel)

Building the wicket in PSJ:

“The Port St Johns cricketing experiences will remain with me until my dying days and I cherish them even more that those I experienced playing Currie Cup and International cricket in South Africa. In Port St Johns we had to build the soil/clay wicket with ant-hill soil which we got from Dad's farm, 'Retreat Farm' up on the western bank of the river beyond Isinuka.  Before every game we had to mow the grass with a mower attached to Dad's truck.” (Desmond Daniel)

'Snips' Thompson makes his final run:

Howard and Desmond Daniel recall the sad moment during a cricket match when 'Snips' Thompson passed away during a cricket match on the cricket field while playing cricket.  'Snips' owned and ran the trading store shop at Tombo.  He was batting with his son-in-law, John Wallis.  Howard and Desmond's memory of the incident is that 'Snips' faced a ball, hit it, ran up to the bowler’s end, turned around, fell over and unfortunately didn’t stand up again.  (Howard and Desmond Daniel)




THE GOLF CLUB:
“To find a man's true character, play golf with him.” (P.G. Wodehouse, author and humorist)


"He missed short putts because of the uproar of the butterflies in the adjoining meadows.”  (P.G. Wodehouse, author and humorist)


 “Golf is a game whose aim is to hit a very small ball into an ever smaller hole, with weapons singularly ill-designed for the purpose.” (Winston Churchill)


 As in the case of the cricket club, the golf club also played an important part in the life of the town.  Adults played their games on the golf course while the children played their games around the club house.  Groups of nannies would accompany the parents on a golf day and would be responsible for the safety of the children while the adults played.
            Golf was mainly played on Saturdays and Sundays, and there would also be quick games played on Wednesday afternoons when the shops were closed.

“I was told that the Golf Course was established in about 1903.”  (Louis Smit)

“I won only one golf trophy while I lived in Port St Johns and that was the Trophy of Light presented by Vincent Clark.  I was playing off an 11 handicap.”  (Louis Smit)

“The Golf Club House was an important party venue.” (Louis Smit)


“At the time that Capital Radio was based in Port St Johns, (the early 1980’s) the social life was amazing, the golf club was still very active.” (Kevin Mckay)

“My dad, Andy Smit, won the Club Championship 15 times and was Club Captain for 13 consecutive years.  From 1959 to 1976 he had a score of 2 (eagle) on every hole and 4 hole-in-one’s on the Port St Johns golf course.  He was green-keeper between 1963 and 1976 with Paul Becker helping out with repairs on mowers.  Andy held the course record of 58 strokes during 1959 to 1976.”  (Louis Smit)


Layout of the Golf Course:
“Green Number 5 was nicknamed “Majuba”.  It was at the top of the golf course; if you were at the club house and teed off in a westerly direction, right up to the top of the hill.  I suppose that, because it was on top of a hill, it had been named after the Boer War Battle of Majuba Hill.  The golf course was only a par 33 for the nine holes.  A normal course is 36 for nine holes.   Because of its short distance, the course was cut to a par 33.  There wasn’t a par 5, there were only three par 3’s and the rest were 4’s.  There was a short hole from number 3, across number 2 green to a hillside, where, if you were a trick golfer you could land your ball on a bank at the top of the green and get your ball to run down the green.” (Howard Daniel)


Stories from the 19^th Hole:

 

“If you drink, don’t drive.  Don’t even putt.” (Dean Martin, singer, actor and golfing fan)






“The 19^th hole Pub was at the Winston Hotel until the Golf Club Pub was opened in 1969 and Dave Banks was the first licencee of the Pub.”  (Louis Smit)





Mike Richards and the 19^th Hole:
“Mike Richards lived in a house overlooking the golf course, near the top of the course. The tee to the 6^th green was parallel to the road, and the 6^th green was very close to the 8^th green.  Between them was a deep sandbunker.

 After one session at the 19^th hole with the other members of his four-ball, namely Paul Becker, Jack Harsand and Skip Hamilton, Mike Richards decided that he had had enough of the whiskeys, or whatever he had been drinking, and that he should get home otherwise his wife, Flo, would give him hell.  He set off to walk across the golf course back to his house.  I don’t know whether he had his clubs with him, but it was dark and Mike said goodnight to the others and left the club house to stroll home.

He should have walked down from the club house, crossed up towards the green number 8, skirted around the bunker, crossed over the green number 6, and then crossed the road to his house.

            After a while, Flo Richards stormed into the club house, angry, and obviously ready to drag Mike off home.  She demanded 'Where’s Mike?  Where’s Mike?'  The rest of his four-ball said that he had gone home a while ago and she responded by saying that he wasn’t at home.  At that point, everyone started to get a bit worried, so a search party set out to look for him.  Eventually, he was found, fast asleep in the bunker!”  (Howard Daniel)