The Blue Room at the University of the Western (UWC) Cape Stadium was lit with remembrance and celebration on Saturday, 21 September, as sports alumni reunited after decades.

This event was part of a series of reunion events over the weekend, with the intention being strengthening relationships among sports alumni and raising awareness about existing sporting and fundraising initiatives at UWC.

The event was well attended by stakeholders of sporting organisations locally and internationally, including the South African Rugby Union (SARU), the South African Football Association (SAFA), the delegates from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Commonwealth Secretariat, United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Global Platform for Sports and Development, and the Olympic Committee and Paralympic Committee of Norway.

A line-up of guest speakers included Dr Lyndon Bouah, the Chief Director of the Sport & Recreation Department of Cultural Affairs & Sport; Ilhaam Groenewald, Maties Sport's Chief Director; and, Prof Marion Keim, the UNESCO Chair for Sport, Development & Peace and Olympic Education.

Prof Tyrone Pretorius, UWC Rector and Vice-Chancellor of UWC, who has a long history in sports and academia at UWC, addressed the guests. Raymond Martin, a UWC alumnus, thanked Prof Pretorius for the support he received as a student.

With fond memories of sporting achievements and student gatherings that were inspired by sports and politics of the time, the event was a success and resulted in positive engagement from the audience when the speakers took to the stage. 

Ilhaam Groenewald placed the spotlight on women in sports in light of successful collaboration by committed individuals over the years. She mentioned the contributions to women’s football by Jerry Laka, then Banyana Banyana Head Coach, and the growth of women’s rugby thanks to contributors such as Faiek Hendricks and Mandisi Tshonti.

Groenewald also acknowledged Genevieve Lentz, an international table tennis referee who served at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics; Kayla Richards, a physiotherapist who formed part of the team in Paris; and, sportswomen such as Thembi Kgatlana, Amo Motau, Kaylin Swart, Leandra Smeda, and Simangele Gamede, who have represented Banyana Banyana since 2010.

Groenewald highlighted UWC’s promotion to the Varsity Cup in 2019, spearheaded by Peter de Villers, Deon Davids, the late Chester Williams, and now Paul Treu This achievement represented a shared dream between herself and the late Prof Brian O’Connell.

She emphasised the value and presence of academic leadership in sporting organisations, and acknowledged the role played by Prof Pretorius, who served as president of University Sports South Africa. “The impact of a Vice-Chancellor taking the reins and ensuring that those at the top of higher education leadership are a part of steering university sport must never be underestimated,” said Groenewald.

Dr Bouah's recollection of his first trip to the Philippines to play chess and the 1976 uprising in South Africa - as mentioned in Cornelius C. Thomas’s book Wakker wakker en aan die brand - evoked a warm response from the audience. 

There are strong intersections between academia and sport, as Prof Keim explained when she highlighted UWC’s Sport & Development Master’s programme, which is the only one of its kind both locally and internationally.

Prof Keim also shared moments from the 2024 Paris Olympics, with a video presentation that shed light on UWC’s contribution to co-hosting and chairing the Paris 2024 International Olympics Education, Sport and Peace Conference, and collaborative partnerships with the Olympic World Library for research, teaching, and community engagement in the field of sport.

Prof Matete Madiba, UWC Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Student Development and Support, announced the establishment of a Sport Policy and Sport for Development Mapping Research Programme. The programme is a joint initiative between UWC and the International Olympic Committee (IOC), in collaboration with the African Union Sports Council, and the UNESCO Chair for Sport, Development and Peace. It is supported by UWC’s Olympic Studies and Research Action Group (OSRAG). Its aim is to develop a comprehensive sports policy and the sport-for-development mapping of 22 African states during the first two years, in order to understand the status, progress and gaps in sports-for-development policy.

The programme contributes to the IOC's Olympism365 strategy, which aims to strengthen the role of sport as an important enabler of the UN SDGs, in direct response to the IOC's Olympic Agenda 2020+5.

Prof Pretorius drew the event to a close with a fitting comment in light of Heritage Month and UWC’s intergenerational sustainability: “The grand challenges of our time - poverty and global warming - cannot be addressed by a single institution, but by a cohort of countries and universities. Nurturing our international standing with these global partnerships is how we will allow for further generations to thrive at our university.”