chester williams RIP

Made such an impact. Always hated South African sporting teams. Couldn't help begrudging respect to that team. FP, Chester even James Small who I wanted to hate but wished he could be on my team! oh and of course Joost who is already up there waiting for him. Hope he can meet up with Chester for a beer and remember how great they were!

He was a very fine winger back in the day.

Sad day for sport as the great Pakistan spinner Abdul Qadir passed away as well..

there was something about that world cup, probably the hope it offered and seeing a new country come together. rip.

I went to SA a few years before that jolly and the optimism was infectious, sadly destroyed by corrupt politicians.

Wow.  RIP Sir

Sorry that should have said a few years after that. RIP.

yes foxy, a couple of decades later and to say it hasnt gone too well since is something of an understatement.

Yes, it's a depressingly familiar tale of a countrys change of 'rulers' happening too quickly, the quick and the greedy fill the void, making impossible promises they have no intention of of even trying to honour.

jollyswagman 06 Sep 19 21:27 
there was something about that world cup, probably the hope it offered and seeing a new country come together. rip.

For a beautifully uplifting evocation of those days, may I recommend `Invictus` to those that might not have seen it? Matt Damon as Pienaar and and Morgan Freeman as Mandela, show just how hugely important the rugby situation was to the politics, how incredibly interwoven they were. You don`t have to like rugby, you don`t have to like politics, this is just an excellent little feelgood movie.

Great film tim also my favourite poem.

Invictus
BY WILLIAM ERNEST HENLEY

Out of the night that covers me,
      Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
      For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
      I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
      My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
      Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
      Finds and shall find me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
      How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate,
      I am the captain of my soul.

The poem was written while Henley was in the hospital being treated for tuberculosis of the bone,

Two 50yo Springbok wingers gone. Unbelievable. If I was 50,a winger,and had played for the Boks back in  the day,maybe even just a Province,I'd be getting the ticker checked out!!

The fourth member of that World Cup squad to have passed away.

The 4 deaths are easily linkable to PEDs which were abused massively in the 90s without the best guidance in alot of cases,the searches are easy to see the links 1 Brain Cancer,1 Motor Neurone disease,1 Ischaemic heart disease and the latest heart related.
People should be asking what are the chances of such (supposedly) fit and healthy elite athletes from the same small group of players dieing of such illnesses when you've drug addicts and alcoholics abusing themselves for 30/40 years and are still alive.
When you take a good look around with an inquisitive view the PED users are easy to find and the post abuse affect rear their heads in people where they really shouldn't like Michael Johnson and his Ischaemic heart issues people will cotton on eventually.

Bloody Hell Denzil!

Good post!

Not saying any of the deceased took PED's but you make an excellent post. The NFL would be a great case study!

plus jonah lomu from that final.