Grant Khomo - the man
Grant Khomo has given his name to the national Under-16 week which starts in Pretoria on Monday, 7 July 2014. He was a great all-round sportsman.
It is fitting that the week this year should be north of the Vaal, for Khomo was born in Potgietersrus, as it was then, Mokopane as it is now.
He grew up to be an outstanding sportsman in days when sport was strictly segregated by race. He played soccer the SA Bantu which he captained, was the national tennis champion, played cricket for Transvaal and was an outstanding sprinter. In 1940 he went down to Fort Hare, the intellectual home of many black Africans. There Khomo trained to become a teacher and there he took up rugby. In his second year, 1941, he was chosen to play centre for Border at the Bantu Board's tournament in Queenstown.
His first teaching post was at Orlando High School in 1943, the year rugby started at the school. Khomo coached them and then took over the school in 1945. He played at centre for Transvaal and became their captain.
In 1950, the South African Bantu Board played its first Test, against the SA Coloured Rugby Board bat the Showgrounds in Port Elizabeth. Khomo was made the captain of the Bantu Springboks in their very first Test. A huge crowd turned up and the Bantu Springboks did them proud, winning 14-3. He played on in the 1950s, ending as a fullback
In 1965 World Newspaper carried out a pole to pick the best player of the 1950s and Khomo was chosen, ahead of Eric Majola, the great flyhalf.
In 1966 Khomo became the treasurer of the SA African Rugby Board and then from 1970 to 1975 its president. In his time the name of the Board was changed to the SA Rugby Association to eliminate racial reference. Those were critical years when the African Springboks went international and changed their name to the Leopards, which caused unhappiness in some quarters but increased the playing opportunities of many Black players. He succeeded in getting sponsorship both for an internal competition and for an overseas tour.
Grant Khomo was awarded the Order of Ikhamanga in Silver for "his excellent achievement in the field of rugby and his contribution as an excellent sport administrator".
In 2003 the national Under-16 Week was named the Grant Khomo Week.
