Blast from the past: Boks get off to slow start at 2019 World Cup

Today in SA sport history: September 21

20 September 2023 - 21:08

1979 — Star runner Matthews “Loop en Val” Motshwarateu gets a helping hand from two white South African colleagues to take up a scholarship at the University of Texas in El Paso. Short of the airfare to get to the US, athletes Bernard Rose and Johnny Halberstadt dipped into their own pockets to assist him. At that stage, athletics was still strictly amateur in South Africa, meaning Motshwarateu — named Loop en Val for his awkward running style — was unable to earn money from the sport...

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