The Border Icons in Sport (BIS), formed by past sports personalities in the region, is set to host a gala event on Saturday, October 29.
The aim is to recognise and honour the legendary sport and community administrators in the East London, Qonce (King William’s Town) and Komani (Queenstown) areas, who were affiliated with the anti-apartheid sports movements.
Along with a sports history-writing objective, the event is one of the non-profit organisation’s (NPO) many activities aimed at encouraging a spirit of community and school sports in disadvantaged communities.
This is according BIS spokesperson, Garth van Heerden.
The event will be held at the Summit Lifestyle Centre in East London, starting at 4 pm.
It will kick off with a memorial ceremony to commemorate not only sports and community leaders who have passed on, but also family and friends, and those who died during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Some of the sports giants who passed on include Ronnie Vengadajellum, Jimmy Mohammed, Dicky Naidoo, Billy Goodford, Fabian Gregory and many others.
The nominees to be honoured are from the apartheid and post-1994 eras.
The criteria for nomination included obtaining national colours.
As many nominees as possible will be honoured from various codes.
The event is set to be held over three consecutive years, with those who are not nominated this year, to be recognised over the next two years.
Some legends will be posthumously honoured and will be represented by family members.
An effort was also made to get current SA players from local communities to be present at this year’s function.
Unfortunately, the SA rugby players and Banyana players such as Robyn Moodley, from East London, will not be available due to their national commitments.
Two players who will be present though are Le-Neal Jackson from Komani and Bianca Woods from East London.
Both represented SA at the recent Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England.
Other SA players will also be in attendance.
The event, with attendees from as far afield as Cape Town and Gauteng, will be live-streamed.
It is hoped that this function will inspire administrators and schools to become more actively involved in sport and with the support of BIS members live out the theme of the evening, which is to “Revive the Spirit of Sport” as it was in the past.
Communities are asked to donate their sports memorabilia and photographs for historical purposes.
The event will be preceded by two colloquiums (seminars) facilitated by guest speaker John O’Connor, on how to manage community sports as well as entrepreneurial ways to fundraise.
For more information, clubs and schools can contact BIS administrator Deon Muller at 079-608-9192 or Garth van Heerden at 082-373-6482.
