SPORT Seagulls pass the test of time
Clubs gather to celebrate milestone
ONE of Buffalo City’s flamboyant amateur clubs has stood the test of time and proves with determination, commitment and a passionate support base you can reach great heights and achieve your goals.
Seagulls, an East London Central affiliate, are celebrating their 95th anniversary and have drawn in other clubs to celebrate their remarkable milestone.
This weekend they will be staging a 16-team senior soccer tournament at North End, their home base for much of their illustrious history.
The club with a proud legacy was established in 1919 by a group of migrant workers – such as Dows Arends, Hatha Scheepers, Peter Labans, Denver Fredericks, Jackie Williams and Medina Meyers, among so many other stalwarts – who laid the foundation for future growth.
The club can pride itself on the fact that their strength lies in the formidable, disciplined and respectable members who got it going under the banner of the Parkside Football Association, then an affiliate of the Border Coloured Football Association.
The clubs and associations were forced to play inter-racial soccer due to the government doctrine of the day and players by virtue of race classification had to join structures such as the Border Indian, Border Bantu, Border White and the Border Coloured Football Associations.
The club had a plethora of skilful talent and it came as no surprise when in 1959 Ernest Labans and Jackie Williams became the first players to be selected to represent the Border Coloured FA.
During this period Seagulls also faced clubs of the calibre of Parks, Arrows, Destroyers and Home Defenders and went on to win the prestigious Wong Chong Cup and the Belgravia League Championship trophies.
The fight against the apartheid system inevitably led to clubs on the Border throwing their weight behind the nonracial and Sacos-affiliated SA Soccer Federation under the ebullient Norman Middleton.
Middleton influenced the clubs to join the unified Border Soccer Board headed by J D “Bakkan” Poovan in the early 60s.
After much reluctance and lobbying clubs agreed to end the raciallyBorder Indian, Border Bantu and Border Coloured unions to form Border Soccer Board.
Seagulls players stepped up to the plate and Charles “Tos” Scheepers, Jackie Williams, Ernest “Zuchs” Labans, Samuel Shaw, Cecil “Pombie” Labans, Desmonds “Dez” were the first group to represent Border Soccer Board at the inter-provincial “Kajee” Cup in the late ’60s.
The push for one unified body was embraced by the four national soccer bodies and the SA Football Association was born in Johannesburg on December 8 1991.
Last season the Gulls won five major EL Central LFA trophies including the Club of the Year award.
Seagulls now face a number of top in-form teams in their anniversary tournament this weekend. It will put the icing on the cake if they clinch their own tournament before their own fans. Now that would be a fairytale story for future generations.