Brighter prospects for rugby club as floodlights repaired

The future looks bright for Ethekwini Refractories Amanzimtoti Rugby Club after two of their failing light poles were successfully repaired and the original lights on those poles replaced with LEDs.

“The original light poles were installed in about 1996 and through the years, the joints and bolts have been allowed to deteriorate to such a degree that they were a safety hazard to our players and spectators alike,” said Amanzimtoti Rugby Club chairman, Cliff Uppink.

“The current committee and coaches have been planning and talking about the repairs for the past four years but finances were always the stumbling block. The club needed to build up an account balance to undertake such a large project.

“Thanks to mainly Jason Wesson of Ethekwini Refractories, who has been a great friend, our dreams became a reality where his continued title sponsorship of the club allowed us to save enough money to undertake the repairs. Having said this, the many smaller sponsors which have also stuck with us over the years added to this bank balance and allowed for the project to go ahead,” said Uppink.

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In the planning stages, Cass Els of Mega Pile, who is also one of the club coaches, managed to secure prices for the metal and lights in line with the club’s budget.

The work to be undertaken required industrial equipment to remove and replace the poles. The club received sponsorships from the following: Mega Pile (Pty) Ltd: John Oliver (director) for the crane truck; Easy Access: Wayne Oosthuizen (sales manager) for the cherry picker and Stephan Roets (manager) for operating the cherry picker; CMA Manufacturing: M Cyril Koenig (owner) for manufacturing the poles; and Sew’s Truck and Payloader Hire CC: Sunash Mungaroo (owner) for transporting the poles to the club.

“We also need to thank Amanzimtoti Sports Centre chairman, Craig Chamier for their contribution towards the costs,” said Uppink.

On Saturday, 19 May the club’s committee members, coaches and players came together as only good teams and clubs do to take on the two-full day project and successfully installed the poles and lights.

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“For something as big as this to happen, one needs to thank many other people for their efforts. One of our big lifesavers was our own Pieter Harmse, who ensured the poles were lifted correctly and put into place under very difficult circumstances, and Dian ‘boerseun’ van Rooyen for the electrical work.”

The two days of hard work ended with some well-earned refreshments and a braai and the club thanks Willem Swanepoel of Flower of Scotland for rolls, Jason Wesson for refreshments and Braai and Lawaai for the discounted meat.

“I am so proud to be part of the club and to have such a great committee, coaches and players. We truly lived up to our motto of ‘One for all, all for one’,” said Uppink.