There are some colonial legacies that do survive

01 March 2017 - 10:28 By Archie Henderson
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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 UCT Rugby Club has accommodated conflicting characters.

The communist Bram Fischer and the arch-conservative Andries Treurnicht were, in different eras, intervarsity participants.

The greatest contrast, however, is between the rivals. Stellenbosch is a rugby behemoth, a Springbok production line. With UCT you are never sure what is going to happen. Last year they conceded 100 points against Pukke, a team they had beaten in Potchefstroom only a few years before to secure the Varsity Cup.

Ikeys are always underdogs, which make their matches against Maties "a privilege", says former UCT coach John Dobson, who engineered a rare win three years ago in the bosom of the beast at the Craven Stadium. It was the first time in 43 years that UCT had won an intervarsity at Stellenbosch.

"To have your derby against a team so good or a club so strong. you are always measuring [yourself against] and trying to beat the best," says Dobson.

It's not that Maties don't take their games against UCT seriously. Boland Coetzee, as much a Matie icon as the Doc himself, recalled Craven inspiring his team ahead of an intervarsity by reading to them from Louis L'Amour.

But, as in any good Western, sometimes the little guy prevails. Rare UCT victories at intervarsity are passed down like legends of old. Ikeys triumphed at Coetzenburg in 1952, again in 1956 at the same venue, and in an epic 1961 match when the team was led by the great Basil Bey.

UCT remain the perennial underdogs but, judging by those hanging out of the windows and balconies of Smuts Hall on Monday night, there are at least two colonial relics at UCT that remain: both because their foundations are solid.

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