TOTT 16 November 2017.compressed

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November 16, 2017
Looking back on a life of
sporting achievements
WELCOME DONATION: Mzwandile Mgweba, left, of the Nemato Golf Club
was pleased to accept a set of second-hand clubs from Terence Perkins
this week. Perkins said he still plays golf and has a new set and was
looking for a worthy recipient of his old clubs. Mgweba said the clubs
would be put to good use by the young players they are developing
Picture: JON HOUZET
Lions Club offers free
diabetes testing
DIABETES contributes to more
than five-million deaths a year,
making it the eighth-leading
cause of death in the world.
The World Health
Organisation estimates that
more than 422-million people
worldwide have diabetes,
which is expected to increase
to 642-million by the year
2040. Only one out of every
two people who have diabetes
have been diagnosed.
With these statistics and
concerns in mind, Lions have
taken action through the
diabetes programme. This
includes among others,
education, awareness,
detection and control.
Lions throughout the world
have hosted diabetes
awareness programmes as
part of their commitment to
the prevention of blindness for
many years.
November is National
Diabetes Awareness Month
and November 14 is World
Wide Diabetes Day. Lions all
From Tarkastad’s dusty courts to Wimbledon lush
BOB FORD
GOING from the dusty clay tennis
courts of Tarkastad to the lush
hallowed turf of Wimbledon in
England is something many an aspiring
young tennis player would dream about.
But for retired farmer Ivor Phillips, now
living in Settlers Park in Port Alfred, this
became a reality way back in 1956. It
came about when a group of six talented
young South African tennis players,
including the legendary Sandra Reynolds
and Buster Farrer, toured England to gain
more experience.
Phillips teamed up with Farrer in the
men’s doubles to qualify to play in this
world-famous event. The pair managed to
win their first-round match, but were then
knocked out in the second.
They also hoped to play in the singles
and had to qualify for this event as well.
Phillips came up against the British junior
singles champion and went down in a
mammoth match that lasted five sets.
“But it was all an unbelievable
experience,” he said.
On the eve of flying to England, Phillips
came up against Gordon Forbes, who was
later to become a Springbok, in the finals
of the Kaffrarian men’s under-21 singles
in King William’s Town. He managed to
pull off a dramatic win.
But it all started long before this. One
of four sons, Phillips started his education
at the small Tarkastad school. It was
already obvious in those early days that
he was a talented all-round sportsman.
However, it was only when he was sent to
the famous Queen’s College in nearby
Queenstown as a boarder that he really
blossomed. It was at tennis that he made
over the globe participate in
this day.
The Port Alfred Lions Clubs
joined Lions throughout the
world by hosting a free
diabetes screening facility at
the Heritage Mall on Tuesday.
This project proved very
popular with just under 100
members of the public tested.
“Free screening has been a
project of the Port Alfred Lions
Club for some time and will
continue in the future,” Lion
Mike Newlands said.
his immediate mark. He was soon
selected to play in the first team and did
so for six years before leaving school at
the end of 1954. He went on to captain
this team and was also awarded his
honours blazer.
But Phillips was to excel also at both
rugby and cricket. He played in both the
first XV and XI, both for four years,
captaining the cricket team
for three. He was a versatile
backline player on the rugby
field and a stylish
middle-order batsman. He
was awarded his colours for
cricket and his honours
blazer for rugby.
More outstanding
achievements were to follow.
He did not captain his
school’s rugby side, but did
lead the Border schools team
in his last year. He was
selected to play in the
Border Nuffield cricket team
for four consecutive years,
captaining the side for three
of these.
It was during these years
that Phillips came up against
the talented Buster Farrer, who was fast
making a name for himself at Dale
College in King William’s Town, and was
to go on to become a double Springbok in
cricket and hockey. While competition
between these two was fierce, they
became lifelong friends.
It came as no surprise when Phillips
was named head boy in his last year at
school. On leaving school, he was offered
a rugby scholarship by the famous Dr
Danie Craven, of Stellenbosch University.
ALL-ROUNDER: Ta l e n t e d
sportsman and
successful farmer Ivor
Phillips
Picture: BOB FORD
But he never took this up as his father felt
it was time for him to return to the family
farm and join his brothers.
In between farming, there was still time
for this illustrious sportsman to continue
his career as he played tennis for Border’s
senior side for eight years and cricket for
four. Perhaps his most notable
achievement at this stage of his life was
that he was selected to play
in the SA Country Districts
cricket team for 19 years, 16
of these as captain.
On the farming side,
Phillips’s farm in the
Tarkastad district was
incorporated into the Ciskei
after 22 years. He then
moved to the Molteno
district where he continued
to farm with cattle, merino
sheep and his Dorper sheep
stud, which he started in
about 1978. Over the 21
years of farming in the
Molteno district, he built up
a successful operation
before handing over to one
of his sons, Leroy.
Phillips retired to Gonubie
near East London in 1999 and it was there
that he took up playing bowls. It was
soon obvious that he had a talent for this
as well as he represented Border seniors
for six years. It was here that he met up
with Farrer again on the sportsfield as the
two played together.
He has since moved to Port Alfred with
his wife, Leslie-Anne, and has played
bowls for EP seniors for a year. The
couple have four children and 10
grandchildren.
DIABETES
AWA R E N E S S :
For November’s
N at i o n a l
Diabetes
A wa r e n e s s
Month, the Port
Alfred Lions
Club offered
free blood
sugar tests at
the Heritage
Mall on
Tuesday, part of
an international
project by the
Lions. Maureen
Edlmann,
seated, was
tested by
Lucinda de Vos
Picture:
JON HOUZET