A personal breakthorugh for a Capetonian – with the use of her whistle.

Roslyn Fortuin (38), a referee hailing from (the Western Cape Town of) Worcester will be officiating in her first international rugby game at the (Cathay Pacific/Credit Suisse) Hong Kong Sevens Tournament for women. The tournament happens in the same week as the mens’ tournament from 26-28 March 2010.

Roslyn will be the first female South African to take up the whistle at this event. She is also the number one ranked women’s referee on the South African Rugby Union’s order of merit.

According to Fortuin this is an opportunity that she has waited for a long time. “I am still overwhelmed by this opportunity and have to pinch myself often to make sure I’m not dreaming,” she gushes. “I believe in God and His plan for me. One tends to say I WANT but God determines your path in life.”

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Fortuin, who is a teacher at the Eden Training Centre, a school for mentally challenged kids, ascribes much of her success to Mr Ivan Pekeur, the Boland Rugby Union’s referees development officer as well as SARU’s manager of referees Mr Andre Watson.

While waiting for her international debut, Roslyn Fortuin will make sure that she is at her fittest and that she knows all her rugby rules.

Twelve womens team will take part in the Cathay Pacific/Credit Suisse Hong Kong Sevens and Fortuin thinks that she will probably officiate in about four games per day. Every game lasts for 14 minutes.

“I am very excited at the prospect of officiating on the international stage and to see how I measure up to the other international referees.” Fortuin says. “Every referee has to be rather tough. There is no place for cry-babies in sport.”

She continues: “I don’t differenciate between men’s and women’s referees. The most important aspect is to have a feel for the game.”

He mentor Ivan Pekeur says he too is excited over Fortuin’s achievement. “This time last year Roslyn had quite a setback. She was injured and subsequently lost her position on SARU order of merit. One day she told me that she wanted to stop refereeing because there were to many thing that counted against her.”

He then promised her that if she works hard, she WILL become the number-one ranked referee in South Africa. “She clung to that wish,” Pekeur added and continues: “Roslyn is a hardworker and gives only her best on the pitch. “Our next aim is to make her the best women’s referee in the world. Roslyn has all the qualities to become just that.”

“When she makes her international appearance in Hong Kong, she will eventually become number one.”

(This story was translated from an article by Carryn-Anne Nel that appeared in Afrikaans in Kaap-Rapport.  Picture by: Lizane Louw.)

Love them or hate them, the Vuvuzela will be a major must-have during the 2010 Soccer World Cup, now just over 100 days away.

During the recent Confederations Cup ‘test event’ some spectators and in particular the TV broadcasters complained over what they called the ‘mindless, monotonous cacophony’ emitted by these plastic horns.

However, this has just spurned a whole new industry around the horn and we were very amused to see the following t-shirt print in the SA dailies this past week proudly exclaiming:  Africa is a noisy place!

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An innovative Cape Town-based outfit called K.E.L.P. came up with a very environmentally friendly way of satisfying what will ultimately be a best-selling soccer-tourist keepsake from the first World Cup in Africa.  KELP is an acronym for Kelp Environmental Learning Projectwhich aims at promoting environmental awareness and to educate the public about marine conservation and environmental matters.  The business uses dried kelp horns to create vuvuzelas which are painted and branded.

Have a look a how they do it:

WikiPedia has the following to say about the origin of the Vuvuzela:

A vuvuzela, or a stadium horn, is a blowing horn, approximately one metre in length, commonly blown by fans at football matches in South Africa. It is also used in other countries such as Mexico, Brazil, or Israel. The origin of the name is disputed. It may originate from the Zulu for “making noise,” from the “vuvu” sound it makes, or from township slang related to the word for “shower.”

Originally made out of tin, the vuvuzela became popular in South Africa in the 1990s.

La dooooooooooo ma!

(This post originally appeared on BlitzBokke.com)

The Hong Kong Sevens is almost upon us and with the Springbok Sevens coach Paul Treu having declared his mission to capture the Cup for the first time ever, it’s time to polish our knowledge of the South African National Anthem.

I noticed at the previous Cup Finals, notably the New Zealand and USA Sevens, that the anthems of the finalists were not played. I could be wrong, but as far as I remember, the anthem of the Cup finalists are still played here in Hong Kong. OK, Maybe I visited the sponsor’s brew bar too many times in previous years! Cheers to that Guinness!

So, mense, to prepare you for the Hong Kong Sevens Cup Final 2010, where South Africa will play …..? here’s a little tutorial to help you sing you South African National Anthem uit volle bors (like we say in Afrikaans!):

(The Afrikaans translation is within brackets, for the English translation, refer to the YouTube video below)

 [Xhosa]

Nkosi sikelel’ iAfrika

(Here, seën Afrika)

Maluphakanyisw’ uphondo lwayo,

(Mag haar gees opstyg)

[Zoeloe]

Yizwa imithandazo yethu,

(Hoor ons gebede aan)

Nkosi sikelela, thina lusapho lwayo.

(Here, seën ons, u kinders.)

[Sesotho]

Morena boloka setjhaba sa heso,

(Here, beskerm ons nasie)

O fedise dintwa la matshwenyeho,

(Verban oorloë en twis)

O se boloke, O se boloke setjhaba sa heso, Setjhaba sa South Afrika – South Afrika!

(Beskerm ons, beskerm ons nasie, Suid-Afrika)

[Afrikaans]

Uit die blou van onse hemel,

Uit die diepte van ons see,

Oor ons ewige gebergtes,

Waar die kranse antwoord gee,

(English)

Sounds the call to come together,

And united we shall stand,

Let us live and strive for freedom,

In South Africa our land.

Daar het jy dit nou!

The full rendition will be done just before the Cup Final of the 2010 Cathay Pacific/Credit Suiise Hong Kong Sevens.

See you at the Hong Kong Stadium!

Confucius (孔子 in Chinese) was a Chinese thinker and social philosopher, whose teachings and philosophy have deeply influenced Chinese, Korean, Japanese and Vietnamese thought and life.

Here in Hong Kong, and I suspect throughout China and Taiwan, his birthday is still celebrated as “Teachers’ Day”  Pity teachers don’t get the day off work!

Sadly there are many of his ‘wiser’ sayings that have gone unnoticed.  That’s why you have Howzit-HongKong.com  Never say we’re not a useful site!

Here goes.

Confucius says,

If you are in a bookstore and you cannot find that

book you are looking for, you’re obviously in the:

Have a lekke Thursday everybody!

(Thanks for the pic, Mel!)

News24.com reported the following story after recent media stories that the tourism sector is milking tourists ahead of the 2010 FIFA World Cup:

South Africa’s tourism industry and Match, Fifa’s single licensed agency, has hit back at media claims they have outpriced visitors – known as price gouging – to this winter’s Soccer World Cup. Fifa is soccer’s world governing authority.

According to the Tourism Business Council of South Africa (TBCSA), which on Tuesday hosted a specially arranged press conference, peak season prices will be the maximum charged for accommodation and flights during the World Cup in June.

“There is nothing for them (travellers) to worry about,” said Mmatsšatsši Marobe, CEO of TBCSA “The industry is not involved in price gouging, not the majority anyway,” she added.

Most accommodation providers in the country are not aiming to exploit tourists, rather, that it will be business as usual during the World Cup, he said.

The TBCSA, along with Fifa’s Match and numerous South African travel and accommodation associations called a meeting to address the recent reports alleging tourists will be fleeced by opportunistic travel operators during the World Cup.

In the current economy, soccer fans from Germany and England in particular, are worried about the cost of attending the event, said Jaime Byron, executive chairman of Match.

“The nearest qualifying country to South Africa is Cameroon, the distances to travel are long,” he said. “So, yes, packages put together are more expensive, but the distances are what they are.”

Match has the exclusive rights to sell travel and ticket packages for the 2010 tournament, and its near monopoly of hotel rooms has been blamed for the high prices.

Citing Jerome Valcke, Fifa’s general secretary, the UK’s Telegraph said last week that Fifa would overhaul the ticketing system which has been blamed for only 2.1 million tickets sold to World Cup games against the 2.8 million that are available.

Room prices misunderstood

According to TBCSA, it is overlooked that the alleged high prices for hotel rooms is inclusive of transportation and entertainment.

As far as flights are concerned, prices are set to remain at peak season rates. “Airlines have priced their seats reasonably,” said Michael Tatalis, CEO of SATSA.

An SAA flight from Cape Town to Johannesburg for the opening match on 11 June will cost R1270, according to its online booking facility. Kulula and 1Time offer similar prices. Flight prices during December peak season usually reach over R2000 one way.

However, TBCSA’s Marobe said industry players can’t be forced to charge reasonable rates. “We have seen sporadic incidences of some businesses inflating their prices. [But] organised business recognises the long term benefits of sustainable growth in visitor numbers.”

“There are really no worries on our part, said Tatalis. “To those places that are ridiculously high priced, good for you, you’re going to be left empty.”

The body also said there are enough rooms available for accommodation, but that extensive use of private transport companies must be used to be able to ferry travellers to and from games.

“Do I think the bad press will have the sufficient effect to disappoint people? I doubt it very much,” said Byron.

Cornelius Johannes Petrus Gerhardus Van Zyl was the coach of the South African Cricket Sixes team who won the 2009 Karp Group & Inurich Jewellery Hong Kong Cricket Sixes. 

Van Zyl, who is the current coach of Gestetner Diamond Eagles, is a former National cricketer who represented his country in two One Day Internationals in 1992.

After the recent shock resignation of national cricket coach Mickey Arthur, CorrieVan Zyl was appointed acting coach for the Proteas National Cricket side for their tour to India. 

The team recently drew the 2-test-match series against the number-one ranked Indians.

Corrie Van Zyl in Hong Kong (Pic: Mike Jansen)

Everyone who were in attendance at the Kowloon Cricket Club on Sunday November 1, 2009 will remember the nail-biting Final between South Africa and hosts Hong Kong.  Set a modest target of 98 runs to win the US$55,000 first prize, the South Africans left it late with Farhaan Behardien smashing a massive six off the final delivery from Hong Kong’s Mark Wright to clinch the title.

       The advertising boards are flattened by the SA players after Behardien’s six. (Pic: Mike Jansen)

The win was a cruel blow for the hosts Hong Kong who impressed with the their performance throughout the tournament and was set for their first-ever win.

Scroll to around 7:28 of the following clip to refresh your memory. Colleen Thane and her loyal gang of Saffas are featured at the beginning, while yours truly also feature in there happily snapping away with my camera.  Papparazzi!

After the final ball, CEO of Cricket South Africa Gerald Majola suddenly appeared from a VIP Box to congratulate the team:

      “You’re the man! Fancy going to India, Corrie?”  Did they know something we didn’t?  (Pic: Mike Jansen)

However, there was no fairytale finish for the Proteas in their first One Day International on the sub-continent.  India beat South Africa in the first one-day-er under the tutelage of Corrie Van Zyl in another tense finish. 

This time there was no Farhaan Behardien when Wayne Parnell was run out off the final delivery, attempting a second run that would have tied the match, to leave the Proteas on 297 all out in reply to India’s 298-9. 

The second match in the series of One Day Internationals will be played in Gwalior on Wednesday and the third in Ahmedabad on Saturday.

A few years ago, while living in Taiwan, I watched a program on KuduClub’s Kwela that dealt with the many Taiwanese families whose children grew up (some were born) in South Africa.  What made the insert so much more interesting was that Kwela, being an Afrikaans-language program, conducted the interviews with the Taiwanese kids in Afrikaans!  The children who were interviewed were fluent Afrikaans-speakers.

When I told my Taiwanese students about this, their responses varied from “Wow!”  to “But how can they, black people live in Africa.”  The latter response requires a blog-post on it’s own so I won’t dwell on it here.  However, I gave them the example of my own two children; my son came to Taiwan when he was only a few months old and basically grew up in China.  Furthermore, they were foreigners who lived in Taiwan and could speak Mandarin Chinese, while the Taiwanese kids who lived in SA were also foreigners who could speak that local language.

The PostMagazine insert in today’s Sunday Morning Post (SCMP) carried a story about one such Taiwanese.  In his regular “Long-distance call” feature,  Mark Footer tells the story of Taiwan-born lawyer and politician Michael Sun’s own “Groot-Trek” from Taiwan’s Taichung (pronounced Tai-jong) to the northern South African province of Polokwane.

(In a previous post, Howzit-HongKong also brought you Mark Footer’s story about Taipei-born South African politician Chris Wang Yi-Ju) 

I have brought up this issue on several occasions in other forums, but still it continue (at least in the Hong Kong press that uses AFP in their sports sections).  This time we will send this post out to the powers-that-be in SA Rugby and see what they can to remedy this injustice.

A quick search around WikiPedia for AFP produces the following:

Agence France-Presse (AFP) is a French news agency, the oldest one in the world, and one of the three largest with Associated Press and Reuters. It is also the largest French news agency.

Well, they may be the oldest news agency, but somebody has yet to tell them that the names of the South African franchises in the Super 14 rugby tournament have indeed changed… a long time ago.  Truth be told, the name “Western Stormers” was canned together with those aweful jersey they had then. 

Messieurs AFP,

The Northern Bulls are now called The Bulls, the Central Cheetahs are called The Cheetahs these days, while the Western Stormers are simply known as (yes you guessed it) The Stormers.  If you don’t believe me, click on their names and your computer will show you.

Actually Sirs, if you want to be “commercially correct” then we actually call them the Vodacom Bulls, Vodacom Cheetahs, and say it with me… the Vodacom Stormers.

It’s easy isn’t it?!

Mike Jansen

Hong Kong

Last night, Howzit-HongKong.com attended the official draw for the 2010 Cathay Pacific/Credit Suisse Hong Kong Sevens.  HKRFU officials and players were there en-masse in their snazzy blazers, joined by sponsors’ representative and, as this is Hong Kong… the media.

One could almost feel the throngs of media folk chomping at the bit for the official part of the evening to end so they could envelop Acting Chief Secretary for the HK Government Stephen Lam about other (more important?) local/ political issues.

When Howzit-HongKong.com arrived home, we checked the late-night news to check on coverage, but there was nothing mentioned about the Sevens draw, save for the Stephen Lam interview at the same venue, after the draw.

So, other than a mention in the local papers today (un-checked by us), coupled with a couple of seconds on local TV… this is Hong Kong.  Invite Government officials to comment on issues of the day or local schlebs to your event en siedaar: you have coverage! Or at least a promise of coverage.

We saw it at the Invictus premiere where the throngs of cameras were enticed by the prospects of local schlebs with the carefully applied Invictus stickers.  Invited Springbok rugby player Marius Hurter played second fiddle to some girl with an Invictus sticker stuck on her shoulder.  As soon as the player finished his gig, the cameras flashed madly when a girl in a tight back number was put on stage (without saying a single word nogal).  In their defence, the schlebs did stay until the end of the movie.

After Hong Kong’s upset soccer win at the East Asian Games, local scribes went crazy trying to highlight the positive benefits of the win and enticing the government to spend more money on promoting sport.  However, when the local media sees more benefit in issues other that what they were invited to, sport in Hong Kong will never get the positive exposure that it deserves.  With the perceived ‘drunkenness and debauchery’ that Hong Kongers equate the Sevens with, we need much more positive reporting in the run-up to the biggest sporting event on our calendar.

 But enough bitching.  Be that as it may, we were there for the RUGBY so here are some images from last night: