Sports
All About Sports
Sports in City Of Edgemead
One of the first organisations to be formed in our suburb was the Edgemead Sports Association and, in 1974, a survey was carried out to find out which sports were most popular with residents. The rather contradictory result was that playing fields were highly rated but that the most favoured sports were badminton, table tennis and squash, and that a recreation hall was therefore the number one priority, closely followed by tennis courts.
Garden Cities prepared basic layout plans for an extensive sport and social complex to be developed over a period of years and asked the Sports Association to raise R6,000. One of the first fund-raising projects was the raffle of a colour TV set – an enthusiastically supported venture as TV was just beginning in South Africa.
It was a few years later that Edgemead Bowling Club was started, and the first grass was planted on the greens in 1982. Then followed a fourth tennis court, a third football field and, at last, the founding of the Cricket Club.
Many of the clubs worked very hard at fund-raising to provide the necessary facilities and to contribute towards the building of their own clubhouses, and they received overwhelming encouragement and financial support from the community of Edgemead.
In a very short time, all our clubs were producing sportsmen and women of extremely high calibre, and they have gone from strength to strength over the years. Thanks must go to the members of the first Sports Association Committee, led by Chairman Terry Healy, whose efforts in those early years have led to sports facilities of which the Edgemead community can be justly proud.
As it happened, the first sports facilities to be completed by Garden Cities were two tennis courts, on which the first games were played by Tennis Club members early in 1976; and two playing fields were ready for use by the end of that year, prompting the formation of the soccer club and attempts to start a cricket club.
The eagerly-awaited hall was completed in 1977 at a cost of R32,500 – R12,000 from Garden Cities, R7,500 from Goodwood Municipality, and R8,000 from the Sports Association, plus a R5,000 interest-free loan from Garden Cities, repayable by the Sports Association.
By then, a tennis clubhouse had also been built and an additional court; the Soccer Club was very active; Edgemead Karate-Do had begun; and both Badminton and Table Tennis clubs were formed, though the latter was unfortunately rather short-lived.
