ARCHIE HENDERSON: UCT v Stellenbosch: The most enduring derby in South African rugby
'The communist Bram Fischer and the arch-conservative Andries Treurnicht were, in different eras, intervarsity participants'
SOME colonial legacies survive at the University of Cape Town. Smuts Hall shows no sign of falling and the imperialists’ game of rugby, over which Smuts Hall presides like an ancient VIP suite, still thrives despite yet another defeat by old rivals Stellenbosch on Monday. UCT is a South African contradiction: established by probably ill-gotten imperial gains, it became a beacon of liberalism and opposition to apartheid. Smuts Hall, one of its original men’s residences, is named after a Matie who fought a war against Rhodes and British imperialism. If Jan Smuts’s ghost were among those leaning out of the windows of the hall on Monday night, he would have been shouting for the Maties below.Ever since UCT and Maties began their rivalry — the longest and most enduring in our rugby — Ikeys have been the guerrillas and Maties the imperialists, conquering all comers. Dr Danie Craven, the Matie godfather, might not have liked the comparison, but Smuts would have appreciated the irony. The U...
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