Soccer enthusiasts have the opportunity to not only honour seven living legends from the first professional soccer club Ramblers, but also the u.10 youth team that won the Dubai Super Cup in 2018.
Four of the living legends are in Cape Town, two in Australia and one in Canada.
The four legends from Cape Town that will be honoured on Saturday 30 November at the Country Manor Schaapkraal are: Conrad “Coenie” Stuurman, Robert “Bobby” Proctor, Basil “Puzzy” Jansen and Vincent “Vince” Belgians.
“The Legends is a voluntary organisation chaired by ex-soccer player Edries Burton and was established to assist all soccer players, but especially the older ones who did not earn much money in their time and often do not have any funds when a crisis arises. The four octogenarians/septuagenarians we are honouring are the oldest members of the organisation and the only remaining members of what was known as Ramblers FC back in the days,” says Naadir Hodgson, manager of the Mini Soccer Academy, as part of Tramways Football Club.
On Saturday 2 November, a benefit tournament was played for the legends and on Tuesday 5 November they were entertained by the South African Football Association (Safa) with a lunch.
“The youngsters we are honouring are the boys who won the u.10 Dubai Super Cup in April 2018, won the Clyde-Pinelands u.12 tournament in November 2018 and won the Blackpool u.11 Schools tournament earlier this year. They were an integral part of the Tramway FC u.12 team that won the Tygerberg District knockout cup a month ago and recently won the Lucky Star/FC KAPSTADT u.11 Cup competition. They will be travelling to Portugal in April 2020 to participate in the Cascais Iber Cup competition,” Hodgson says.
The fundraiser is themed “honouring the legends” and starts at 19:30 for 20:00. The price is R250 per person and a four course meal will be served.
“At the function we will be honouring the Dubai team players, but also the four real legends who were recently also honoured by Safa for their contribution to football in the pre-apartheid era.
“Our guest speaker will be Nasief Morris, ex-Bafana Bafana and international player.
The tickets include entertainment and an auction besides the meal and we encourage all (old) football supporters to buy one and join us in celebrating the careers of these retired football pioneers,” Hodgson says.