Body donates beds to injured rugby players
TWO Eastern Cape rugby players have been given new hospital beds by a rugby legends association in ongoing support for players of the game.
The South African Rugby Legends Association (Sarla) donated the two beds to Johnny Slabbert (55) living in Ramaphosa Village, near Patensie in the Eastern Cape and Able Maqashalala (17), who is being moved to his grandmother’s home in Komga.
He is suspected to have suffered a cardiac event which resulted in brain damage from a loss of oxygen in January.
Sarla’s participation in various matches, development and charity work assist with the care of those who can no longer play the game.
Maqashalala, a first-team member of renowned rugby school, Selborne College in East London, requires fulltime, 24-hour care.
Slabbert was injured at the age of 38 on the field, while playing for Patensie Rugby Club in August 2001. He is a C6 quadriplegic and totally wheelchair reliant. He has spent the past months in special care in recovery. The Sarla team secured the new hospital beds which will provide comfort and assistance to both the injured players and their caregivers.
Sarla chief executive and former Springbok and Sharks winger Stefan Terblanche said: “A generous act such as this proves that long after leaving the field, a team spirit is still present in the hearts and minds of all of our legends and supporters.”
He said a situation arose when it was realised that the transportation and delivery of this equipment was proving both enormously challenging and extremely expensive.
Sarla called on the assistance of one of their sponsors – DSV Global Transport and Logistics collected and safely delivered the beds.
“On behalf of Sarla I would like to thank the entire team who made this dream come true, altering two lives for the better, especially Desmond Roddan (operations manager, DSV), Gordon Wyatt (regional director Air and Sea Africa), the amazing DSV drivers and Tori Gardner and Gail Baerecke from the Chris Burger Petro Jackson Players’ Fund,” said Terblanche.