Rugby has always been his life
He supports other sporting codes but rugby remains his first love.
The current chairperson of the Boksburg Rugby Club, Rinus van der Linden, started playing rugby at eight years old at Laerskool Van Dyk Primary School.
Van der Linden explained that he participated in other sporting codes but rugby remained his first love.
“My parents moved around a lot with me, so I attended Concordia Primary School later on in life. I played for the U9 until the U11 teams at that school.
“We then moved to Heidelberg with my parents where I attended Laerskool AG Visser for a short spell. I also played for the rugby team of the school. After staying in Heidelberg we moved to Springs and I then attended Springs Technical High School,” said van der Linden.
He added that he wasn’t a star player throughout his rugby career because of his small body frame, but he still enjoyed it.
“I only played for three to four games for the A team of Springs Technical High School. During that time I was also playing in the domestic league with the Nigel Rugby Club U20 team. I matriculated in 1998 and I went to the Vaal Triangle Technikon.
“I played in the club rugby on weekends with the Vaal Rugby team and at the factory rugby league, which was with the AECI Company on Wednesdays. I moved on to play domestic rugby with the Eastern Transvaal Platteland U21 team. I played five matches with the team and I suffered a rib injury.
“My rugby playing career ended there because I couldn’t recover from the injury. I took a break from rugby for one year and during that time I met my wife Tania. After my marriage, I returned to the rugby fraternity as a referee. I joined the Valke Rugby Referees Society.
“It took me about four years to referee a match in the Rugby Super League. I believe that my journey as a referee shaped me to be the leader I’m today. I became the chairperson of the Valke Rugby Referees Society.”
He explained that he left his chairperson position at the Valke Rugby Referees Society after learning a lot from it.
“I left the position to be a coach at the Boksburg Rugby Club. I started coaching at the Boksburg Rugby Club in 2014 as a second-team coach. I was nominated to be the chairperson of the Boksburg Rugby Club in 2021.
“Rugby is part of my life. I met a lot of friends through it. I met the late coach of our senior first team Lukas van der Schyff in the rugby fraternity. His death has affected us enormously,” said van der Linden.
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