Oorspronklike voetbal aan die Kaap en die ontstaan van die Stellenbosch Rugbyvoetbalklub : nuwe feite

Abstract

This research brought two new aspects of (rugby) football history in South Africa to the fore. Firstly, the original game mainly played in the Cape seems to have been a creation of Canon Ogilvie of the Diocesan College and not the traditional Winchester Game as commonly believed. The number of players a-side, the size of the field and the duration differed from the Winchester Game, all of which imply that it was a game peculiar to the Cape. In May 1873 representatives of the Civilians, Civil Service, Diocesan College and South African College also established their own rules for playing football. Secondly, that the Stellenbosch Rugby Football Club was founded in 1875 and not in 1880 as formerly believed, thus becoming the second oldest club in the country and in the Southern Hemisphere. This fact came to light with a report discovered in the Cape Town Daily News of 21 August 1875 in which the "Stellenbosch Foot-ball Club", as a "new club", was praised for "their pluck, by challenging, in their infancy, a Club of so long standing as the Civil Service Club".


(S. African J. for Research in Sport, Physical Ed. and Recreation: 2001 23 (1): 85-94)