HISTORY records that the first rugby match played in this country took place in the bed of the Shashi river on 5 July 1890; that association football had a following at Fort Salisbury by the end of 1890; and that the first published details of a cricket match appeared in the cyclostyled newspaper published at Fort Victoria on 27 February 1893. Athletic events were commonplace in the 1890s, as were gymkhana meetings and horseracing; and the first golf club was established at Bulawayo on 25 January 1895. By the turn of the twentieth century, facilities for an impressively wide range of sporting activities were in existence, inter-town fixtures were frequent. and sportsmen were already pitting themselves against visiting teams and were themselves 'travelling'. It was not unnatural, with such an early and vigorous sporting tradition, that Rhodesia, with its favourable. sunny climate, should have become a nation of sportsmen and sportswomen; but what may be considered surprising is that such a comparatively small community should have achieved such distinction in international competition, producing some world-beaters. All sport-lovers are indebted to Glen Byrom - and his collaborators in this work: Henk van Rooyen, Dave McDermott and Brian Streak - for creating this valuable ond fascinating sports record which pays tribute to a cross-section of more than fifty 'greats' from twenty sports, ranging from angling to yachting between 1907 and 1979 - all of them with an exciting story to tell. There is a deserving chapter on John Hopley for whom the Sportsman of the Year Memorial Trophy is named; and Sir Roy Welensky has contributed the Foreword. A late addition is the section on the triumph of the Zimbabwe Women's Hockey Team ot the 1980 Olympics. This is told through a series of facsimile reproductions of Glen Byrom's telex messages from Moscow.
Published	1980
	1st Edition.

 

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