Preloved boots give Eastern Cape township rugby a boost

Across the Eastern Cape, boys and girls run onto rugby fields in their school shoes or a pair of tekkies. Lincoln Mali, founder of the Mzwandile Mali Schools Rugby Champions League, tells BizNews how a visit by businessman Paul Gardiner to Kwanobuhle township led to Boots for Boys and Girls, a campaign to give pre-loved rugby boots to players who don’t have the right kit. The first collection box was placed at St Andrew’s College in Makhanda, and Mali hopes the drive will spread to other schools beyond the Eastern Cape. His league, which grew out of a tournament he started to honour his father to bring rugby to township schools, now includes 133 schools and is growing to 150 next year. Mali says his main aim is not only to produce rugby players. He wants them to stay at school, get good grades and have families of their own, because rugby gave him “great friendships, a lot of structure, a lot of discipline.”– Linda van Tilburg