Morning from a wonderfully wet and green Benoni Northerns….

Some most welcome rain has fallen over the last few days, giving a new look and feel to our surroundings…..all the plants that we have been diligently watering over the last three or so months….now look like completely different plants complete….it is amazing how the plants react to natures blessing, rain, which is of course filled with nitrates and nutrients….and suddenly there are new leaves…..shoots that have suddenly appeared..and of course the dreaded weeds have also already raised their heads…..I have a patch of ground that has been earmarked for a veggie patch…but now looks like a sown flower bed….which of course I know have been none of my doing….so the weekend has a new task entered on my “TO DO LIST” and weeding the veggie patch has been added…

In the interim, the William Webb Ellis trophy has done its rounds throughout South Africa with some of the selfish residents of some areas demanding more preferential treatment than others….while some were entertained to Faf’s extraordinary “speedo”…I honestly think that Faf is the new “super hero” of the Boks….and it really has very little to do with his playing prowess….but more to do with his multi colored costume rather that has caused quite a furore….. I think the pics that summed up the euphoria of the World Cup for me were two….and both of Faf……one shaking Prince Harry’s hand….the the other supping form the Golden Chalice…… and him wearing the South African flag cozzie…that I am sure will now be in massive demand….as girl friends, wives and partners clamor in a frenzy to emulate our superb little blonde fox terrier…..the hubbub around the World Cup has slowed down a little…but most conversations still include a smattering of RWC mentions and smiles…. I was viewing the CCTV footage of the Club on the RWC final day….and what a heart warming vision it was, to watch the crowd watching the final in the final 15 minutes as the Boks scored their two tries….I think it will make for some classic memories in the years to come…..

The cricket boys had a busy weekend…with the playoffs for the T20 competition being held on Saturday….but we did not have our best of days as we went to down to the eventual winners Kempton Park in the morning semi final….so it was left to the boys to redeem themselves on Sunday in their Premier League match against Tembisa….and with quite a bit of rain around on Saturday…..the overhead and now damp underfoot conditions were going to be difficult….and it was back to winning ways as Kurt conveniently lost the toss and we were inserted to bat….and scoring at around 5 to the over landed up with 244/9 in our allotted overs….our star performer came in at number 7….Kundai Matigimu scored 60 at almost 100% strike rate, his knock being off 66 balls…there were some contributions by half our batters…..one in the 40’s, two in the 30’s and a couple of others that got into double figures but were unable to kick on and make it into a sizeable contribution….Tembisa started off pretty well….with one of their openers scoring 75……and reached 106/2….but then quickly lost their way….as Lance 4/29 and Leonard 3/22 maintained the pressure…..eventually squeezing the opposition out for 165 in the 43^rd over…..this week we meet a difficult opposition Alberton, at home….this should be a cracker of a match…so please come down to watch this clash….it should be a very tense day……

Saturday was the showcase of Benoni Northern’s talent…as we hosted the Sports Person of the Year (SPOTY) dinner….where special Members are rewarded with prestigious awards and where all our top achievers in the sub sections vie for the accolade as being selected as Benoni Northern’s top achiever and be presented with the coveted SPOTY trophy…first one up was Shawn Schwartz, who was awarded life Membership to the Club in recognition of his contributions more specifically to the baseball section…

next was Mark Hardman who was named a Clubman of the Year….and despite the calls from the gallery that it was for maintaining Northern’s bars healthy “liquidity”…his award was actually in recognition of the massive contribution to the Club that Mark has made over the last 44 years that he has been a Member, in varying roles and responsibilities that he was sometimes elected into, sometimes volunteered….and many times accepted, as no-one else would put up their hand to get the job done …

and then back to the sporting contest on the night….competition as always was extremely fierce in both the Junior and senior categories…and this year was no exception…..

and from a very talented bunch of talented sports people the following emerged as the winners….in the junior category, Nicholas de Ascensao, who hails from a baseball background..and has represented Gauteng and South Africa in the U15 age group….the highlight whilst playing for SA, was to participate in his age group World Cup in Panama….

in the senior category, the honors went to Jasper (Jazz) van Rensburg….who has excelled at 10km, duathlon and triathlon disciplines….and it is in the duathlon SA champs that Jazz really made his name known, as he swept to win not only the SA title but also the African Championship…..

we are truly honored to have them as Northern’s Members and these two gentlemen are worthy winners of our prestigious title of Sports Person of the Year title…..well done to all the winners on the night….and of course to Glenda for the tireless effort she always puts in to make this evening the resounding success that it always is….

With our Fridays now starting to heat up in the search for the Jester, we had another newbie out the beeeeeg black box as Naomi Wagenaar had her ticket drawn, and after a quick glimpse, she made her selection in the middle of the top row….. She definitely held her breath as Glenda took her time in flipping over the card…..to show us all the Jack of Diamonds!! And with that we are at the half way stage….we have 26 cards face up and 27 face down…..whilst after this week those numbers will swap around….Half way means that more interest is being shown as the numbers start to climb….and we are just short of a magical six figure Jackpot……the value available this week for a winner this is R97740….so wear your lucky shoes and pants and pop in to see if you can be our next big winner….

Last week we had the wonderful sounds of Eben to sit and enjoy…this week…Ryno will be back to blast his way back into the club…please join us as Alan sings and dances when Lighting Crashes….should be another epic evening at the North…..

That is all from me for this week….and I leave you with one request…..I have seen that more and more dogs are being brought onto the premises….could I please request that all Members please do NOT bring their pets to the Club…..it is prohibited by the Ekurhuleni bye-laws and in addition we have feral cats that are resident at the Club…and could result in the animals getting Parvo Virus, which is really nasty for any dog to survive….one final time….you would not take your animals to the Wanderers or Ellis Park….please leave your animals at home….thank you..

Have a great week … Rod