The Wanderers Club

The club has served me a lot, especially on trips to Australia and UK.

Although I have yet to visit a second time , I say also Thank You Wanderers, and South Africa for your welcome to me .

(Member wishes to remain as anonymous)

Memories of the Old Wanderers – 75 years ago

Author : Stanley Smollan – elected as a member 19 July 1935

It is with great pleasure that I would like to relate some memories of the Old Club in the ‘30s.

The Wanderers Club was established two years after gold was discovered and Johannesburg was founded. It was quite a large area bounded by Noord Street in the north, Wanderers Street in the east, Loveday Street in the west and Smit Street in the south. It had facilities as follows: A very beautiful Victorian clubhouse with a ballroom and a gymnasium, I seem to recall, a main cricket stadium which was brought to turf in 1935 because before that date they used to play cricket on matting. In fact, in test matches in that era, Buster Nupen was a Springbok Captain of the side playing at the Wanderers and did not play in test matches at other venues which were on grass. There were two other cricket areas on the west side, one of which was occupied by the Pirates Club and the other was used for minor provincial matches, etc. Soccer was also played on the grounds of the main stadium and they could accommodate fairly large crowds. I think round about that time they introduced greyhound racing and this entailed the erection of probably a 60ft high electric tote, the work of which today could have probably been done on a Blackberry.

My main thoughts about this great Club are that then, as it is now, it was essentially a sportsman’s club and has been carried on in the same tradition to this date. There were a great number of social events in the main ballroom including Saturday night dances. The event that remains mostly imprinted on my mind was the test match between Australia and South Africa in 1935 which occasion was marked by the opening of a magnificent double-decker grandstand.

I remember some of the names and possibly all the names could be obtained from the Cricket Union. Dudley Nourse captained the Springboks and Victor Richardson captained the Australians. Although the great Donald Bradman did not come out, he was still playing cricket and continued for quite a few years afterwards, so sadly we were denied that privilege. Dudley Nourse made a score of 231 not out in that test match. Stan McCabe replied with a double century, slightly less I seem to recall and I am trying to recall some of the other players. In the Australian side there was the legendary Clarrie Grimmett, a spin bowler of note and he really played havoc with some of our batsmen. Other players on the South African side were the late Dooley Briscoe whose name appears on the honours board, and Chud Langton. The other Australian after Clarrie Grimmett was a great fast bowler Bill O’Reilly and the opening batsmen were Fingleton and
Brown.

In those days the only means of communication for the cricket scores in Australia was the newspaper. The Rand Daily Mail used to publish a special issue and we used to go up by bicycle from our home in Saxonwold to get the day’s play and results. There was a café which sold the papers and was owned by the Lahana family who are related to our very noted bowler, Cyril Lahana.

In those days Oxford Road from Jellicoe Avenue to Corlett Drive was named Higham Road and going south from Jellicoe quite a big part of the road was an open donga come river.

When I watch cricket I remember the then secretary, Algernon (Algie) Frames. I met him at the time that I decided to join the Club in 1935 and it was rather a compulsory thing for me and my two late brothers and some cousins to join as junior members for the reason that we had a Springbok rugby player in the family who was Fred Smollan and these years were most enjoyable. Other junior members I remember were Paul Winslow and his brother.

Another facility was the bowling section which was housed alongside Smit Street and I believe they had four greens.

The Wanderers was an integral part of the City of Johannesburg and in fact on the southern end of the ground there was a railway station and the railway lines running from Krugersdorp to Springs were like a river running through the city, it was the great divide. At that time the government and the city started talking about and with the Wanderers Club about expropriation and this led eventually to the acquisition of Kent Park, the Golf Club and the Cricket Stadium which is now owned by the Council and the Golf Club by the members. This started taking place after the War. In fact, the stand on the south side when demolition started was re-erected at one of the cricket ovals in Kent Park.

Johannesburg itself was a growing city but the extent of it was nowhere near what exists in these times. There used to be a tram service going northwards to the Zoo Lake, another southwards to Newlands and Yeoville and Berea and Orange Grove were served by another line. It was a calm sedate city and a very good life was held by all.

So here we are entering the 21st century and the Wanderers is run by committee and committee members in the same way as it was envisioned in the early years of its establishment and it is in healthy and good hands which I heartily compliment. It is strange that in 1935 they thought of expropriating the Wanderers because we had a railway station, now we have two very near to us.

The Club today is still run with a high accent on its members’ sportsmen-like behaviour and it is a wonderful place.


Stanley Smollan – Honorary Member
December 2010

I joined Wanderers in about 1956/7. In those days the entrance fee was twenty-five pounds.

This was a large sum for any young man just out of college.

However Wanderers had a scheme for young people under the age of twenty-five years.

One could gain membership by paying five pounds per year for five years.

I will always be grateful to have gained membership in this way to our wonderful club.

Frank Richardson.