A day in the life at the University of Pretoria. 16 April 1909

On this "Day in the life of the University of Pretoria" the Johannesburg based newspaper, the Rand Daily advertised a rugby match between Transvaal University College and Pirates at the Wanderes stadium.The article (featured below) indicated that the match was set to start in the early afternoon.

Rand Daily Mail, 16 April 1909© UP Archives

Following its establishment, the T.U.C. soon had strong soccer, rugby, tennis and basketball teams. However, in this initial period the institution lacked proper facilities and, to make things worse, its heavy financial burdens made it virtually impossible for university management to allocate funds to improve the situation regarding the establishment of a sport infrastructure. The students often complained about the state of affairs, for most of the university teams had to rely on the goodwill of city clubs in the vicinity to make their facilities available to the students. Rugby was to be the initial exception though. This club was founded in 1908. Such a small group of players was available during those early years, that they barely constituted one full rugby team. In 1912 there were only seventeen players – “enough for a rugby team and two touch judges”, as L.C. de Villiers jokingly remarked.

Completion of the rugby field progressed by fits and starts, for the students were still complaining in 1916 about the inability of the authorities to complete this project. Even with the peaking of rugby at Tuks in the next year, when our rugby team won the Carlton Cup in the city knockout competition, the rugby filed was still described by some students as “a gravellous hollow”.  In 1922 the rugby field was at long last completed where the Aula and the adjacent parking lot are nowadays situated. Many years later, in 1931, a second rugby field was established in the southwesterly corner of the university grounds, on the spot where the present administration building would later be erected.

The UPA preserves the history of the University of Pretoria. We have an extensive photo collection and earlier copies of the senate, council and faculty minutes. The volumes of the University’s history captured in histories of the institution like Tukkie review its first 100 years,  as featured here, also forms part of our collection. Please contact us on [email protected] to share your memories of Tukkies or access our collection virtually