The Greatest Sportsman of Us All

As I have already indicated, at school we were very busy.  You will, no doubt, be surprised to hear that our afternoons were equally busy, but once again I must warn you that our business in the afternoons had absolutely nothing to do with school work or home work.  Unlike today, there was no organised sport and we made our own arrangements.  We were never coached along conventional lines to play any particular game, but in our own way we "picked things up".

One such picking up place was the home of my friend, Bremer van Velden.  His home could well have been dubbed "The Van Velden Rugby, Cricket, Tennis, "Bok-bok", you name it, we play it, Club".

You see, Bremer had cousins by the name of Hofmeyer, who attended the Boys' High School, Pretoria, where the youngsters were coached in these various games. The upshot was that Bremer learnt the techniques and niceties of cricket, etc., from his cousins and in due course we "picked it up" from Bremer.  This improved our vocabulary. Terms such as "glides" and "late cuts" were bandied about freely. The same applied to rugby and tennis and we had many a test match in his "yard".

 We did nothing in moderation and it was quite on the cards that we would pitch up at Bremer's place before two o'clock and stay well after six. There was always something on the go.  Bremer came from what could best be described as a well-ordered home. This was in sharp contrast to the sort of home , shall I say, that the Taylors and the Wulfsohns originated from.  Bremer's mother was a dear lady and became known as one of the grand old ladies of Rustenburg.

She must have indicated to Bremer in a very tactful way that sport was all very well, but we had to pass exams. One fine day, in a very diplomatic way, Bremer said to me: "Well, you know, we should really start playing games at half past three and not so early in the afternoon."

This came as a great blow and for a while that was the order of things - half past three. However, it was not long before we reverted to two o'clock sharp.

Among the stalwarts of the Van Velden Club were Witte Gritten, Liony Wulfsohn, Rooi (Red) Dawid van der Merwe, Bremer's younger brother Wim, and Willy Grimes.

I recall that Willy Grimes' full name was William Spencer Grimes. He was always treated with a great deal of respect by the rest of the youngsters, and I was never quite certain whether this respect sprang  from the fact of his prowess at games or that his father was the local undertaker.

Bremer's elder brother was Julie van Velden.  He was an invalid confined to a wheelchair.  He was a fine boy and certainly one of the keenest members of the Club, although his role was that of a spectator.

When tennis, cricket or rugby matches were played, Julie would always be seen there in his wheelchair. He was in fact playing with us; if not physically, then certainly in spirit. His enthusiasm was infectious. Several of the Club's members distinguished themselves in later years as sportsmen, and I believe that this was in part due to his encouragement and enthusiasm and in the Great Design we find that a Boy who never scored a run, never served an  ace or scored a try, was the Greatest Sportsman of us all.