The Wanderers Club

Looooooong Bar- 1988 Century Festivities- By Rod Pearson (Member since 1971)

1988 marked the centenary of The Wanderers Club.
Festivities were many but the interest of some of us centred round those in the Looooooong Bar -
In those days it had justifiably earned it’s name as a GENUINE long bar that seemed to stretch all the way back to the old Wanderers in town!
It reached to where the current patio is
The evening of Tuesday 4 October 1988 was billed as ‘Beer at 100 Year Ago Prices’!
We resolved to attend. Could we miss it!?
Entrance was barred by a doorman (as was customary in those days).
Only those able to show membership cards could enter. And gents had a collar & tie - & jacket!
The bar was packed. And noisy! And jolly!
With good reason. Beers were 5 cents each! You walked up to the bar with R1.
And came back with 20 – twenty – beers! In cans that were specially printed by S A Breweries - “100 – Wanderers Century – 1888-1988”.
SAB saw the marketing gap & donated the beers, I understand - & we were thankful!
And when you finished those, back you went for more! And more! It’s amazing how quickly one could drink them when they were so cheap!
Eventually the stagger back from the bar counter took a lot longer than the walk there!
An unheard of thing in those days was that ladies were allowed in the bar for the evening – a first. One lady asked the now overworked doorman
“When will this happen again?” “Not for another 100 years” he said.
How wrong he was! Ladies are now allowed in! Without ties!

The Wanderers Club at Kruger’s Park is dead;
Long live the Wanderers Club at Kent Park!

(Article extracted from the "Wanderers Club Centenary Magazine September 1988")

It was one of the most significant days in the history of the Wanderers Club;
Sunday October 27 1946.

After a long and bitter legal struggle, the railway administration’s expropriation of the club’s city centre premises had become a hard fact and the Wanderers Club had to face up to the ineluctable prospect of moving its home to the sparse tract of undeveloped land it had acquired ten years before in the northern outskirts if Johannesburg.

A farewell was staged on the old ground. It took the form of a series of exhibitions and games in which many notable old-stagers participated, all of them reflecting the character and spirit of the old club.
The proceedings were hilarious in part, but through them all there was an unmistakable undertone of sadness.

And then at noon, while the pipers of the Transvaal Scottish band played a lament, Victor Kent, the chairman of the club, slowly lowered the tattered old Wanderers flag which was flying in the gentle breeze on the ground in front of the well-filled grandstand, calling out in a voice charged with emotion: "The Wanderers Club at Kruger’s Park is dead; long live the Wanderers Club at Kent Park!"
Except for city noises in the distance, not another sound could be heard in the ground as the plaintive, reedy notes of the pipes drifted across the concourse, where misty eyes told of the sadness everyone felt as the passing of an old friend. Then all joined in singing Auld Lang Syne with lumps in throats and melancholy fervour.

At the same moment a new flag in the club’s colours was raised at Kent Park, ten kilometres away, on what is now the No.1 Oval by Charlie Frank, a famous Wanderers cricketer of the ‘20s and a member of the parent committee, in the presence of a few members of the Wanderers and Jeppe Old Boys cricket teams, who were engaged in a league match.

The photographs below depict the poignant moments. Among those behind Victor Kent at the flag pole on the old ground are Sir Llewellyn Anderson, the first secretary of the club (1888- 1895) and members of the parent committee and staff.
In the Kent Park picture the four people nearest the flag pole are (from left) Alec Hastie, then the assistant groundsman, Duggie Meintjies, the assistant secretary, Charlie Frank and Felix Oliver, both members of the parent committee.








Venture into the Illovo wilderness
In the mid-‘30s the Wanderers Club committee, under the astute chairmanship of Victor Kent, made a momentous decision to acquire some 200 acres of land in the faraway suburb of Illovo on the northern outskirts of Johannesburg for the sum of £47 704.

The property was originally intended as an overflow for the congested grounds in the centre of the city and as a future home for the old club on the expiry of its lease in 1989. The railway expropriation in 1946 caused a big deviation in these notions of the club’s future.

This aerial photograph shows the empty tract of farmland which was to become the Wanderers Club’s only property a decade later.



Club Chairman from 1920-1952. The Illovo Club grounds are named after him





Member of the parent committee in the late ‘30s and was chiefly responsible for the layout of the clubs grounds and golf course.

The re-established home.
An aerial view of the Wanderers Club in the early ‘50s.



Gouging the Fairways.
Excavations on three fairways of the golf during 1955 marked the beginnings of the Wanderers stadium, now one of the most notable cricket venues in the world.

There is also an article courtesy of Jill Sinclair on Springbok rugby player Des Sinclair.



Desmond John Sinclair was born on 14 July 1927. In 1944 he matriculated at Jeppe Boys High, where he was an outstanding sportsman and achieved colours for athletics, rugby, diving and swimming. He represented Transvaal in diving and later became one of the Zoolake Fairies together with Denis Hellman. The Zoolake Fairies were a bunch of dare devil divers who performed stunts at big galas.

As a youngster he was part of a band and played the drums. He was a jazz fanatic all his life and played good jazz on the Hammond Organ. In his matric year he obtained his pilot’s licence and he played golf off a 2 handicap whilst at school.

After leaving school Des played rugby for Wits University and then went on to play for the Wanderers. During his rugby career at the Wanderers he played with the likes of ‘Chick’ Henderson, Mickey Gerber, Joe Kaminer, Ronnie Howell and Jackie Rahn. In 1950 he was selected to play for Transvaal and in 1951 achieved Springbok colours. In addition he played premier league hockey for Jeppe Quondom with the Rowan brothers amongst others.

In 1951/52 Des toured the United Kingdom and France in the Springbok side led by Basil Kenyon. In all he played 17 matches in a Springbok jersey including 4 tests against the 1955 British Lions. Had he not gone to America to study, he probably would have played in more test matches. After returning from America he played rugby again until the mid 60’s.

Des was a very successful chiropractor and treated many of South Africa’s top sportsmen. After he had retired from playing rugby he became very involved in training and coaching rugby players from the Wanderers as well as provincial players. For many years he travelled with the Transvaal team as their in-house chiropractor, a role he also performed for the Barbarians.

In 1989 Danie Craven had a book published on who he thought were “The Legends of Springbok Rugby 1889 – 1989”. Des was included in Danie’s line-up together with Syd Nomis and Ray Mordt and I am sure many more Wanderers Springbok’s.

Des was a fun loving personality and a devoted father who got up to all sorts of pranks, he was a great entertainer at a party. In his early years he slid down the banisters of the Wanderers club stark naked. He was highly intelligent, had a quick wit and a sharp sense of humour. He enjoyed dressing up and during the 1951/52 tour he and Dennis Fry dressed up as a bull and a bull-fighter when the Springboks were invited to a New Year’s Eve party with all the lords and ladies in attendance. How the people enjoyed their floor show says Danie Craven. In Danie’s book he writes “On the field of play, too, Des was adventurous and full of life. During the 1955 Lions tour we should have lost the series, but thanks to good tactics and players like Des Sinclair, we managed to share the series 2-2”.

He also became a rugby commentator with ‘Chick’ Henderson and Hugh Bladen for many years.

Des became the Chairman of the prestigious Johannesburg Sportsman’s Club making it into the hugely successful club that it is today and they continue having all their luncheons at The Wanderers Club.

In 1969 Des married Jill Abraham who through his hard training helped her become a Springbok hockey player. They had 2 children, a son Jaye who is now 40, Jaye became the MD a company owning 20 restaurants. He sold this company 3 years ago to a Dubai company and today remains the MD of the Dubai owned company, their daughter Jo-Dee 38 has both a B PhysEd and a B ScPhysiotherapy degree from Wits. Jo-Dee has her own very successful Physio practice. Both Jaye and Jo-Dee are married and Jo-Dee has 2 little boys aged 6 and 4. Jill remains a special member of The Wanderers Club and plays bowls at Bryanston Sports. Unfortunately Des did not witness his children’s success, he died in 1996, he would have been so proud of them - but he did, with great pride, witness the greatest World Cup ever in 1995.

I am pleased to share with everyone my fond memories of Wanderers:

My ex-husband and I played squash there for many years and my son played tennis. We frequented the wonderful Sunday lunches either on the balcony or in the Ball Room for the set menu. The food was out of this world and more particularly we booked a table for the entire family for Christmas lunch in the Ball Room every year until we moved to Malawi to live for a number of years.

The Christmas lunch was memorable, with each table being allocated 1 waiter per every 4 patrons. The lunch consisted of every possible traditional food from the nuts through to coffee, cheese and biscuits. All I can say is WOW! We even had the choice of fillet steak or other ala carte meals. The cost in those days, the Seventies, was in the region of R19.00 per head. What more can I say.

For the years I worked at the Argus Printing & Publishing Company (The Star) we had a number of our annual balls in the Ball Room. This also holds many fond memories. We dressed up to the nines for these occasions. Any of the function room for weddings or other special occasions called for an excuse to dress very glamorously.

We were also members of Kent Park Taverners and so attended many wonderful cricket matches, after which we strolled over to the Club for dinner in one of the best restaurants in Johannesburg on the upper floor. My boss at the Argus, would send me by chauffeur to watch the test cricket in the press box – yet another privilege.

The shock and horror of the burning down of the Club was immense and it is so rewarding to note how this famous, historical and beautiful building was rebuilt to its present state.

The atmosphere has not changed and I always, now a widow by my second husband, thoroughly enjoy this.

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.

My mother was very strict on manners, and I have found that it now comes quite naturally to me. So let me be polite and start by introducing myself. I am a cat. My name is Garfield and my home address is The Wanderers Club, North Street, Johannesburg. My mother’s name was Gogo and I always believed that my father’s name was Tim. I never knew my father, but my mother spoke very lovingly of him. I was quite a few years old before I realised that what my mother was really calling him was TM. On questioning her about this strange acronym, she somewhat reluctantly told me that the letters stood for Travelling Man. She, even more reluctantly, told me that he had been travelling through the Club grounds on his way home when they met, very briefly, took a shine to each other and a little while later I was born. Enough said. My mother was a gentle lady, but a very good improviser, and she settled us into an adequate home in a little-used storeroom near the tennis courts. Fortunately the shrubbery provided us with an abundant supply of rats, mice and lizards, and there was a dripping tap nearby for water. So our basic needs were taken care of.

I have no idea what is involved in the game of tennis, but I must say that the people who came to play were very friendly, and I soon learned that I had nothing to fear from them; in fact quite the reverse. When I became brave enough to rub myself, very carefully, against their legs they responded with exclamations of delight, stroking my back, patting my sides and even lifting me up and holding me. When my gentle mother ventured nearer, she too was treated with this friendliness. And then I heard someone say: ‘’I wonder if Brenda knows about these two? I’ll have a word with her.’’ My mother and I looked at each other and I knew she was thinking the same as I was ‘’who is this Brenda? And what can we expect now?’’ But we need not have worried. Brenda came to see us the next day and explained that she had been feeding the cats at The Wanderers Club for many years, but had not known about my mother and me. She then went on to say: ‘’so we’re going to be friends from now on. You know my name, but I don’t know yours. Let’s start by saying that you, big fellow, are going to be called Garfield, and you, little old lady, are going to be called Gogo. In case you didn’t know it, Gogo is the Zulu word for grandmother. Okay?’’ She was quite a bossy woman, this Brenda, but I must say she made some jolly good arrangements for us. Two empty apple boxes were placed in the storeroom, with soft towels in them, brand new food and water bowls were placed alongside them, the door was permanently wedged ajar with a chunk of concrete, and, most importantly, she filled these bowls with food and water every single day. It took a little getting used to food that came out of a tin, but it certainly was a lot better than what we had been eating previously. I still hunted rates and mice, just to keep my hand in, but I let them go when I had had enough of the fun.

This situation continued for a long time. I heard Brenda telling someone that it was eight years since she had started caring for us, but time meant little to me. We had our ups and downs in that time, like the occasion when I slipped off the change room roof and Brenda rushed me off to the vet to get my damaged paw attended to, and the other time when she took me to the vet, without telling me why, and he had put me to sleep while he did something to me. I found this strange, but being a polite chap, I asked no questions. And then came the awful day when my mother took ill. She had not been quite herself for some time, and I know Brenda was worried because I heard her coaxing my mother to eat. But on this particular day she was too sick to get out of her box, and when Brenda came to feed us, she stroked and petted my mother before lifting her carefully into a basket and taking her away. I never saw my mother again and when Brenda came to feed me the following day she took me onto her lap and told me that my mother had died. The tears were running down Brenda’s cheeks as she spoke and when I tried to lick them away, she cried even more. I think she must have really loved my mother, as I did too.

Perhaps I was getting middle-aged and a little irritable about this time, because I suddenly found that the shrieking from the tennis courts, particularly from the children being coached each afternoon, was beginning to get on my nerves. I knew my way around the Club grounds pretty well, so I did a bit of a recce up towards the bowling greens. Bowlers don’t shriek- I think they’re a bit old for that sort of thing. I watched from a distance for a while and then I saw Brenda playing, so I wandered over towards her. ‘’Garfield, what on earth are doing up here?’’ she asked, picking me up and kissing me. I had got used to this cuddling and kissing stuff by this time, and I found I actually quite liked it. ‘’Looks, folks, this is gorgeous Garfield that I’ve told you about. Isn’t he lovely?’’ I was quite embarrassed by the attention I got, but I responded suitably.

For about a fortnight I continued to eat and sleep down at the tennis courts, but I spent most of my daylight hours in the area around the bowling greens. Then Brenda told me that she was going to move my quarters up to the bowling greens. ‘’I’ve got an asbestos cement kennel for you,’’ she explained, ‘’and we’ll put some nice soft blankets in it, and tuck it away here behind the summer house. You’re going to be very happy here with us.’’

Well, that was three years ago, and Brenda could not have been more correct. I’ve never been happier in my life. I have a host of new friends. They’re kind to me, they spoil me with nibbles and treats in addition to my regular food, they talk to me, and I think I can go so far as to say that some of them even love me. I know one thing for certain, and that is that I have never been happier in my life.

Author: Mr Alfred (Sonny) Kahn (87 years old), Wanderers Club Member since January 1937


I read with much interest the article from George Cohen which you published and although I cannot compete with him in relation to the tenure of our membership at Wanderers we are both very long standing active members and old personal friends. It is interesting to record that my maternal grandparents who arrived from England in the 1880’s and George’s parents were life-long friends.

Before and subsequent to my election to the Wanderers Club as a junior member I used to watch my grandfather playing bowls at the Old Wanderers Club adjacent to Park Station. In those days the bowling greens were on the northern extremity of the Club premises bordering on Wolmarans Street.

With hardly an exception I was a spectator on Sunday afternoons to watch baseball and in particular to be intrigued by the witticism and sportsmanship of Bertie Price. I think that Bertie was more personally instrumental in drawing spectators to the baseball than the team for which he played.

In the latter part of Bertie’s life he became an ardent bowler (as a member of the Houghton Bowling Club) and if my memory serves me correctly, he was selected to play for Southern Transvaal in an Inter-District tournament.

In any event I had very many pleasant experiences with Bertie when we played bowls together at the Houghton Club and in the same way in which he was entertaining as a baseballer so much more so was he unique in his bowls activity specifically in a sporting environment. But his contribution to the overall camaraderie of his wonderful competitive game was unforgettable.

Before the War started in 1939, my father who until then was a Wanderers member but also a golfer at Houghton (where he was a foundation proprietary member) joined my grandfather as a bowler at the Old Wanderers Club and my dad was considered a good player. In those days he was associated with some of the nationally renowned Wanderers bowlers such as the Lawson’s, Van Oordt’s, the Lobban’s and Bob Coats. Again I believe I am correct in proudly recalling that my father won the Wanderers Single Championship on four occasions, the first of which was before the Club move from town to where it is presently situated which at that stage was known as “Kent Park” and somewhat adversely criticised by the Wanderers members as being out in the country side.

An abiding personal memory was when as a youngster at the age of twelve I was invited by my cousin, whose name was Elias Hart, at that stage in his early 20’s, to join him as a spectator at the Wanderers Club to watch the test match against Australia which was a four day game played from the 24th to 28th December 1935. Amongst the famous Australian team cricketers was Vic Richardson (captain) and fellows like Jack Fingleton, Bill Brown, Stan McCabe, Bert Oldfield (behind the stumps) and two of the all time great Australian spinners, Clarrie Grimmett and Bill (Tiger) O’Reilly. In the South African side I clearly recall Bruce Mitchell, Eric Rowan, Dudley Nourse, Dooley Briscoe, Herbie Wade (captain) and Bob Crisp our opening seam bowler.

Incidentally on the other side of the Wanderers ”A” ground situated behind the clubhouse was another large sports ground but peculiarly it wasn’t part of the Wanderers Club but it was then the Pirates Club which incidentally still exists near Greenside in the northern suburbs of Johannesburg. It was on that ground where we as school boys from K.E.S. attended net practice every Sunday morning and our coach was none other than the famous Eric Rowan albeit that he himself was a Jeppe High School old boy.

Within the confines of the Main Wanderers Clubhouse was a magnificent gymnasium which I attended as a junior Wanderers member and the gym instructor was a man who served the Wanderers Club for many years Mr Viera. I wonder how many of the present Wanderers members remember him and in particular his gymnastic expertise.

The Wanderers Main Clubhouse in which the members and their guests were accommodated was situated on the west side of the ground and therefore broadside onto the wicket.

From my point of view the greatest moment was during the lunch interval when all the players and members and their guests partook of lunch in the same dining room. This was an awesome opportunity to meet the contestants and for me as a youngster to obtain all their autographs.

During South Africa’s second innings, Dudley Nourse scored 231 runs, but it was an hilarious drunk sitting under the main scoreboard on the east side of the ground who shouted in a voice which could be heard all over the ground “You will never get him out” after every single ball bowled to Dudley Nourse. Nourse was at the wicket for the best part of two days and this inebriated voice boomed across the ground throughout the entire innings. It was extremely humorous and he had the spectators in fits of laughter. For many years thereafter it became a “war cry” whenever a South African batsman was performing in a test match.

We thought that South Africa would win that test but to their credit in Australia’s second innings Stan McCabe scored 180 runs not out and participated with Jack Fingleton and Len Darling in forcing a draw.

I think it will be of great interest to your readers to examine the complete details of that match which I have extracted from the internet and is enclosed herewith.

Incidentally my cousin Elias Hart was killed in the tank-core in Italy in 1943 and his name is commemorated with others who gave their lives in both World Wars on the magnificent war memorial which the Club has erected on the west-side of the Clubhouse facing the car park.

My own primary sporting activity was golf which I played at Houghton Golf Club followed by some 30 odd years of competitive and administrative bowls there. I am a life member of Houghton Golf Club as indeed I am also an honorary life member of the Wanderers.

I became an official bowls umpire and coach and it is of interest that George Cohen and I jointly pursued the concept of inaugurating bowls as a sport at schoolboy and schoolgirl level. We were of the opinion that the future of this great game of bowls could be assured by introducing participants to the game at grassroots level. We also realised that in most schools more than 60% of the pupils do not participate in any sport whatsoever either because they are not up to standard technically or they are not happy to play contact sport. The two of us assisted by Donny Piketh a springbok player addressed the school bots at two of the Johannesburg northern suburbs high schools during their break and by permission of their respective head masters we encouraged many of them to indicate in writing that they would be interested in pursuing bowls as a sport which could be contested in team categories at each school and which would also create subsequent opportunities of becoming inter-district and international competitors.

Initially we had a fairly large number of youngsters who turned out at the Wanderers on a Sunday afternoon where we introduced them to the technique of bowls but more importantly got them playing without much delay in singles and pairs. We felt that we would prefer to exclude trips and fours because we were afraid that this would not give youngsters sufficient activity.

Our Sunday endeavours had per force to be moved out to Northcliff where we continued for some weeks coaching and encouraging the youngsters amongst whom we found great enthusiasm and enjoyment. There were however technical difficulties in carrying on with the Sunday afternoon school boys and girls bowling programme, but having proved its viability the concept was introduced in general to the Executive of the South African Bowling Association. We tried to encourage that body to inaugurate school competitive bowls on a provincial and national basis but unfortunately the task was apparently too extensive for them to undertake. We are still of the opinion that the game of bowls would have thrived throughout the country both from a short and long term prospective had the South African Bowling Association pursued our recommendation and at this stage the game would have been thriving. Unfortunately we are now witnessing an overall decline in bowling activity to the extent to which it has become a sport which has been relegated to an increasingly inferior category – much to be regretted!

By JOHN O'CONNOR

According to the Wanderers Centenary Souvenir Handbook, Arthur Ruben was responsible for uplifting the club emblem from an Olympic medal, which he saw at the 1908 Games. He suggested the adoption as a crest for the Wanderers badge. After a competition, in which there were thirty-one entries. Arthur Ruben’s design of a Roman chariot was accepted.

This may well be the case, but I believe that the emblem came from the reverse of a Stater struck by Philip II of Macedon and was known as Philippeioi. This coin was very popular and was accepted in all areas and countries where trade and commerce was carried out, even as far as Gaul (France) and ancient Britain.

Among numismatologists it is regarded as the forerunner of the British sovereign. Even after Philip’s death in 336 BC, Macedon continued minting the coin in large quantities.

It was in 356 BC that Philip managed to conquer and bring under his rule the City States of Thrace, Thebes, Athens, Corinth, etc, from which to create an army which would enable him to throw off the yoke of dominance exerted by the Persians.

After his assassination in 336 BC, his son Alexander the Great carried out the attack on the Persians and defeated Darius the Great at the battle of Granicus. He went on to conquer the Persian Empire, Egypt and the rest of the civilised Asian world.

Philip’s principal coin, being the Stater, was used to pay his soldiers and to finance his assault on Persia.

On the obverse is the laureate head of Apollo, the god of manly youth, sunlight, poetry and music.

On the reverse is a two horse chariot, or biga, with galloping horses driven by a boy jockey, to commemorate his victories at Olympia in 352/348 BC, together with his name Philip (Piairroy)

From the foregoing and the accompanying photographs, it can be seen and be conclusively accepted that the theme for the Wanderers badge was copied from the Stater commemorating Philip’s victories at Olympia and I think it is a worthy emblem for a prestigious sporting club.


June 1992