The oldest sports club in South Africa

South Africa’s oldest sports club is Hamilton’s Rugby Club (Hammies) in Green Point, Cape Town, which celebrated its 150th anniversary earlier this year.

Established in 1875, the club initially played neither association football nor rugby, as the formal rules of these games had not yet been introduced to the Cape.

Instead, players at the club played a variation of football known as Winchester College football, called “Winkies,” which was introduced to the area by Canon G. Ogilvie, the principal of Bishops at the time, in 1861.

This was two years before the British Football Association was founded and 17 years before the Rugby Football Union was established.

According to Hammies, several goal-related games were played in British public schools that were often tailored to suit the area in which they were played.

However, the club states that describing what was played as an amalgamation of football and rugby would be incorrect.

It describes the game as “a slow-moving game and would probably have suited sumo wrestlers more than the athletic rugby players of today.”

“It was all manly stuff – chest to chest, hacking forward towards the goal, never backing off. Passing and so on were engaged in.”

The first “Winkies” game in Cape Town was played on the Green Point racecourse, then located next to Somerset Hospital, between the officers of the 11th Regiment and the Civil Service.

The Cape Times reported that the event attracted an “immense crowd of onlookers.” However, it also noted that “we have never seen so plucky a game played for one hour and three quarters and no goal gained by either side.”

The game was eventually postponed after the wind shifted in favour of the Civil Service’s goal, and the officers decided they had an unfair advantage.

The formation of clubs

After the discovery of diamonds in 1867, the city began to grow in population, necessitating the establishment of sports clubs.

Thus, a football club was proposed in Cape Town, and Hamilton’s Football Club was formed in 1875, with Willie Philip becoming its first captain and president at the age of 24. The other founding members of the club were also players.

One of Hamilton’s first matches was played against Villager Rugby Club from Claremont, which was formally established the following year, in 1876.

It was only two years later that Hamilton’s adopted Rugby Rules after two Englishmen, Joey Milton and Billy Simkins, tried to convince footballers in the Cape to play the game.

After the sport began to grow in and around Cape Town, the Western Province Rugby Football Union was formed in 1883, which instituted the Grand Challenge that same year. Hamilton’s was the first winner of the knockout tournament.

Loftus Versfeld, who was 21 at the time, was part of Hamilton’s team and became the only player to win a Grand Challenge Cup in three separate provinces.

His brother, Oupa, who also played for the club, said that “during his time,” players would train every night and climb Table Mountain once a week.

Despite playing rugby from 1878, its name only changed from “Football Club” in 1910 when it merged with Sea Point Club.

Its new name became “Hamilton Sea Point Rugby Football Club” to represent the brand of football being played.

In 1921, Hamilton’s and Green Point Cricket Club joined forces to negotiate a deal with the Cape Town City Council to use The Track, later used for major international rugby fixtures.

It later acquired land next to The Track and built a clubhouse, which was renovated after World War II. The clubhouse was used for meetings from 1949, after the organisation purchased 12 tables and 48 chairs.

Since its Grand Challenge victory in 1883, Hamilton’s went on to win the tournament another 14 times.

Other notable club honours include winning the SAA National Club Championships and winning the 120th edition of the Melrose Sevens tournament in Scotland.

Hamilton’s was also selected to represent South Africa in an international amateur club tournament in France, which it went on to win, beating Chile’s Cobs and Cogs in the final.