1980 — IL Lindi becomes the first black man to referee a high-level rugby match, handling the Sport Pienaar clash between South Western Districts and the Western Province Federation in Mossel Bay. The Sport Pienaar was a provincial competition below the Currie Cup, which had two sections at that time.
1981 — Reigning world champion Jon Ekerold wins the 350cc race at the Italian motorcycle grand prix in Monza. It turned out to be the final victory of his career. He missed the final three rounds of the GP season because of injury and ended second on the rankings. He moved up to the 500cc class, but never enjoyed the same level of success.
1982 — The Rand Daily Mail reports that a cross-country race between six schools from Johannesburg is cancelled because one of the teams, from St Martins, incorporated two black pupils. The other schools involved were Hoërskool Alberton, Varing, President, Fakkel and Marais Viljoen. One principal said the Transvaal education department had directed that parents must first give approval before their children could play sport against black pupils. The parents at his school had objected to their children competing in the event because of the two black runners.
1983 — Sailing the oldest yacht in the 17-strong fleet that set out from Newport on August 28 the previous year, “Biltong” Bertie Reed finishes second in the BOC Challenge single-handed about-the-world race. Reed completed the 27,000-mile (43,452km) stage epic that went from Newport to Cape Town to Sydney to Rio de Janeiro and back to Newport in 170 days 16 hours 51 minutes and 21 seconds, well behind French winner Philippe Jeantot’s world record 159 days, seven hours and 26 minutes and one second. Reed was widely hailed for his yachtsmanship, steering the 16-year-old Voortrekker that was used in international competition in 1968. It had been modified from a ketch into a sloop, but it was considered a dinosaur in comparison to the newly built vessels it raced against. It wasn’t all plain sailing for Reed, whose 50-foot (15-metre) boat overturned in the roaring forties in mid-December. He was able to right it quickly, but described that as the most terrifying experience of his career. He tipped over a second time, losing a lot of fresh water which forced him to ration himself until reaching supplies at Deceit Island specially left for him by a Chilean fishing patrol ship. But he enjoyed some good experiences too — at one point the captain of a passing Argentinian ship sent over a dinghy with a bottle of wine and note wishing him luck.
1986 — Uli Schmidt, Jannie Breedt and Wahl Bartmann are among six debutants in the Springbok team that takes on the rebel New Zealand Cavaliers at Newlands in the first of four matches. Left wing Carel du Plessis scores his team’s only try as they win 21-15 at Newlands, with two drop goals by flyhalf Naas Botha proving the difference.
1994 — The South African football team, buoyed by the arrival of Nelson Mandela, beat Zambia 2-1 at Ellis Park. Madiba, who was inaugurated as South Africa’s first black president earlier in the day, made a rousing appearance on the pitch at halftime, when both teams were still goalless. Within minutes of the restart Brendan Augustine and Doctor Khumalo netted — in the 46th and 47th minutes — to give the hosts, captained by Steve Komphela, a 2-0 lead. The visitors scored in the 67th minute through Linos Makwaza.
2009 — Bridgitte Hartley sets a world best in the women’s K1 5,000m as she claims her third medal of the ICF Canoe Sprint World Cup I regatta in Racice, Czech Republic. She clocked 20 min 10.1 sec to edge Maryna Paltaran of Belarus by 0.1 sec for the gold in the distance race, having earlier in the day picked up bronze in the K1 500m. The day before Hartley had claimed bronze in the women’s K1 1,000m. Her 5,000m world best still stands.
2010 — The Proteas are eliminated from the World T20 competition when they lose to Pakistan by 11 runs in Gros Islet. Charl Langeveldt took 4/19 as Pakistan reached 148/7, but SA fell short in the chase on 137/7. AB de Villiers top-scored with 53 from 41 balls.
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