2015-11-03Staff Report 2 Windhoek It’s always a head scratching affair to compare eras, but alas, lots of honest souls would always secretly want to roll back the years and bring back the good old days. The spacious Ramblers sports grounds in Pionierpsark will be a hive of activity on Saturday when Ramblers Sports Club celebrates 70-years of excellence with a host of mouth-watering sporting activities on the menu. It was exactly 70 years ago to be precise in 1945 that a courageous group of young men in the employment of Standard Bank would not budge being bullied into chasing the oval shaped ball (rugby) against their wishes. The defiant young fellows resolved to call a football team into life, which they christened Ramblers Football Club, a leisure source of belonging that would become an institution in the intervening years. The club played its first competitive match against the Okahandja Manschaft in the Garden Town and undertook the 40 miles gravel road journey in an old Chevrolet pick up that almost took tow hours to reach their destination. Soon afterwards, the club adopted the coat of arms with the simple word “Aequitas” as its motto, which stood intact up to this day. In simple terms, Aequitas means fair play, a culture that has always been adhered to when representing Rammies on and off the pitch. The club grew in stature and in 1949 added the men’s hockey section to its membership with the ladies hockey section following suit in 1967. As time wore on, Ramblers welcomed other sporting disciplines under wing such as softball, cricket, water-polo, swimming, volleyball and Bassmaster angling. However, the abovementioned codes have in the meantime gone the way of all flesh though archery and fistball were added. The beautiful game of football was always part and parcel of the Ramblers Club and throughout the years the blue and white strip outfit was very successful in the first 45 years until the infant years of Namibia’s Independence in 1990. In the early 70’s, a significant chunk of Rammies players formed the back-bone of the first semi-professional team in the then South West Africa (SWA) Windhoek City. City competed for two solid seasons in the highly competitive South African second tier football league. Rammies added another chapter to its already impressive resume in 1977. They were the first white team to play against their black counterparts in two highly contested cup finals. Rammies had to play second fiddle to African Stars finishing runner up in both the National League title and Mainstay Cup In 1981, Ramblers fell foul of the authorities crime sheet when the club opened its membership to all races. As it stands, two of the oldest trophies of this country’s football history have found their final resting place in the club’s trophy cabinet. The St. George’s Cup was played the first time in 1920 and was won the last time by Ramblers in 1972, while the Tueckmantel Cup has been existence since 1922. Ramblers were crowned the country’s league champions in 1992 under the shrewd stewardship of wily mentor Gary Sales while astute local businessman Cedric Martin played a significant role in steering the team to another level having signed almost all the finest footballers on offer. Subsequently, Rammies participated in the CAF Club Champion League where they faced Mozambican giants Costa da Sol over two legs. The club won the NFA Cup in 2005 and two years later the FNB Cup, conquerors of Katutura giants Black Africa on both occasions. 2015-11-03Staff Report 2
