Ithembelihle lose a legend
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After 36 years as the heart and soul of rugby at Ithembelihle, Theo Pieterse is moving on to chase a rugby development dream.
Having gone to school at Hangklip in Queenstown, Pieterse studied teaching at what was then known as UPE (University of Port Elizabeth) from 1974-1978, and played provincial rugby for the EP 'B' side before he started working at Ithembelihle in 1979 where he has been ever since.
"I got a call from the Principal who was looking for a History teacher and a rugby coach, and that fitted me," he said.
When he joined the school in New Brighton there were around 300 pupils, which grew tremendously once they made the shift from technical to comprehensive a few years later.
"In those days there were about ten white teachers and about five black teachers. We had just started changing from a technical school to a comprehensive school. The numbers were about 300 or 400.
"In 1982 we moved to this school and the numbers picked up to over 1500, it was huge," he said.
While Pieterse coached rugby from the start, it was only at the turn of the century that he saw a marked increase in interest from the boys, who had a clear pathway to provincial rugby.
"The talent that we see today I didn't see in those days, only from about 1999 or 2000 things started changing, suddenly there was an explosion of talent.
"In the early days because of Apartheid they refused to play sides from white and coloured areas, so it was difficult in that sense," he explained.
Since then rugby at Ithembelihle has come on in leaps and bounds thanks to the seemingly limitless energy and commitment from Pieterse and the input of sponsors who have assisted in organising kit, transport and equipment for his team.
Pieterse is assisted by Springbok legend Danie Gerber who comes in regularly to mentor the backline, and takes the team far and wide to tournaments around the country.
As a result the school has developed a reputation as a rugby school which attracts boys from all over the Eastern Cape and has resulted in a few significant success stories.
"There are guys from the Transkei come here, they see us in the papers and on tv and we have got to house them, they come from all over.
"Lubabalo Mtiyanda played for Cowen, I saw this huge prop nearly two metres tall and I took him and told him he was playing the wrong position. I got Giant to come and play for us and look at where he is today playing for the Sharks," he said.
In 2012 Ithembelihle was recognised as the High School Sports Team of the year at the SA Sports Awards, which Pieterse admits came as a bit of a surprise.
"I thought nobody noticed, but it was fantastic," he said.
Having won their recent FNB Classic Clash against local rivals Ndzondelelo from Zwide 42-8, which Pieterse described as 'very sweet', he is set to leave Ithembelihle at the end of the year and follow a dream to make a wider difference in the development of black rugby players in South Africa.
"I have drawn up a business plan with a company called Supplements SA, and hopefully with some help from Vodacom and Coega who have shown interest in sponsoring this.
"We are looking now at a formation of a new hub where we are going to have 10-15 teams from the townships and put all of them together to play throughout South Africa.
"Hopefully it will be backed by SARU and the government, and we are also hoping for more sponsorship," he explained.
Given his experience and passion for rugby development, Pieterse is exactly the type of person that needs support. If anyone understands what is required to develop more black rugby players in South Africa it is Theo Pieterse, and after 36 years working at a grassroots level he has much to offer the transformation of rugby in this country.
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