It’s been more than a year since Ruiter Wrestling Club were forced to dismantle their 50-year-old headquarters in Durban Deep.
This occurred after a property development company bought the mining land to build low cost houses. They were given notice to move and after searching for a suitable venue, they found one at Hoërskool Roodepoort.
“We had to break down the structure of the club. We managed to salvage the steel pillars and put them into storage. We had a single weekend to make sure the building was gone,” said Club secretary Sylvia van Zyl.
Although it was sad to leave their history behind, Sylvia said moving their club was a blessing in disguise.
“We had problems such as cable theft, break-in incidents and occasional service delivery protests which resulted in burnt tyres near the club. The area was not safe especially at night. Parents were not so keen to drive their children to the area,” she said.
With national and international athletes such as Dean van Zyl, Danie Voges and Patricia Theledi, the membership of the club did not decrease. Instead it increased to the current number of 80 members.
“Now that we have moved to a safer area, more children started signing up and learning more about the club,” said Sylvia.
The club has been working with children from disadvantaged backgrounds from areas such as Claremont and De La Rey.
Children from St Laurence’s Children’s Haven have been part of the club for more than four years.
“We help sponsor the club fees and participation fees of the children who cannot afford it. We have also been working with the St Laurence’s haven for the last four years or so,” said Sylvia.
Ruiter Wrestling Club has been hard at work raising funds to build their new club.
They have targeted Roodekrans as their future base of operations.
“We want to build a safe club for the children to be proud of. The community are welcome to offer a hand to help us if possible,” said Sylvia.
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