A beautiful rugby place
Sun, 07 Sep 2008 11:04
Coaching king: Alan Zondach doing what he does best
We went up into the Boland on a beautiful spring day in the Cape to a most beautiful rugby place.
We travelled up through vineyards and fields golden with lucern, past flocks of sheep and herds of milk cows, into the Swartland, through Malmesbury and on into the Riebeeck Valley, through Riebeeck Kasteel to Riebeeck West.
From the stoep of the Rugby Performance centre we looked out over valleys and farmlands to the snow-capped Brandwag Mountains near Worcester. It was a perfect day, cloudless, windless and amiably warm.
We wanted to see the Rugby Performance centre, a creation of Alan Zondagh's zeal.
It was in Cape Town till Fidentia collapsed and with it sponsorship of the Centre. Zondagh was determined to go on and then he acquired the long-defunct PPC Sports Club on a hillside in Riebeeck West.
PPC? Pretoria Portland Cement Company, founded in 1892 as De Eerste Cement Fabrieken which changed its name to Pretoria Portland Cement in 1908. In 1960 it opened an operation in the Riebeeck Valley and it had a posh sports club. Six years ago it sold the sports club to a private person. For six years it was unused till Zondagh bought it. Despite being unused for so long it was in good condition. "Not a window was broken and not a teaspoon stolen," Zondagh says. It is a symbol of the innocence of the area.
But Zondagh has reconditioned the building in the most classy way. It has a well-equipped gym where the theatre used to be, a floodlit field where the bowling green used to be, an olympic-sized swimming pool, tennis courts, a squash court, a floodlit rugby field across the road, a restaurant, a recreation centre, an airy lecture room, an entertainment area dedicated to Doc Craven and its all for rugby.
The students - there are 35 this year and an intake of 45 intended for next year - share rooms. They are players and referees who have intensive education in all aspects of rugby as it prepares its students for a possible involvement in professional rugby. Mostly they are players but there are also nine referees, including Jason Jaftha who has made great strides this year under the tutelage of Free Burger.
It is a bright and cheerful place that can also accommodate teams with special needs. Bayonne of France are heading there during the break in the Top 14. Murray Mexted intends moving some of his courses there. The UCT side intend preparing for next year's Varsity Cup there.
For those interested the Rugby Performance Centre is having an Open Day on Saturday, 20 September 2008 to give players (and parents) a chance to visit the facility. The day will include two presentations.
One hopes that it is again a glorious day with green grass and golden fields and snow on the mountains. It's easy to fall in love with such a place.
