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30 January 2019 | Story Ruan Bruwer | Photo Varsity Cup
Varsity Cup
Shimlas scrumhalf, Rewan Kruger, played for the Junior Springboks last year and he was also jointly named Junior Player of the Year for the Shimlas alongside Lubabalo Dobela.

A fresh and inexperienced Shimla team, branded as the youngest squad ever, came two log points short of reaching the semi-finals of the Varsity Cup in last season's tournament. Ten of the players in the squad were still U19 last year. The 2018 rugby year proved to be a reconstructive one for the Shimlas after they parted ways with several members of their team in 2017.

After winning three of their first four encounters, including two away fixtures, the Shimlas were set for a spot in the semi-finals, which could possibly have been a home game. The three victories were against the defending champions Tuks by 19-17, 44-24 against Wits, and a 32-27 win over Ikeys.

The Shimlas played a total of 17 matches in 2018, claiming victory in 12. They finished fourth at the University Sport South Africa (USSA) tournament and won the Mangaung Metro league.

Johan Kotze, Shimla captain and prop, was titled ‘Senior Player of the Year’.

In the same breath, Lubabalo Dobela and Rewan Kruger, who both played for the Junior Springboks, were jointly selected as the ‘Junior Players of the Year’.

Vishuis was named the country’s best hostel rugby team for the third consecutive year. They defeated Patria of the North-West University in the finals by 55-29.

The UFS U20 team won all four of their matches in the group stage of the Young Guns competition before they lost to Tuks in the semi-final.

The Kovsie Sevens team won the bowl competition at the USSA tournament and at the Varsity Sevens they ended in 6th position.

News Archive

Lunch-time lecture on the subject of contested memories
2011-08-23

 

Guests at the lecture from the left: Dr. Sheila Aronstam, a former UFS Council member; Dr. Eva Hoffman and Henya Bryer a survivor of the Holocaust
Photo: Amanda Tongha

Acclaimed Polish author and academic Dr Eva Hoffman visited the University of the Free State’s (UFS) Bloemfontein Campus on 16 Augustus 2010 to deliver a lunch-time lecture on the subject of contested memories.

Speaking about the after-effects of unjust violence on second-generation Holocaust survivors, Dr Hoffman drew some parallels between the history of Eastern Europe and that of South Africa, stating that with some categories of conflict and prejudice the context in this region of the world might not be too remote. Dr Hoffman, born to Jewish parents who survived the Holocaust, told the audience that in most instances the past was still alive in the present.
 
Talking about traumatic memories, Dr Hoffman revisited her family’s suffering during the Holocaust and stated that the second generation lives with the paradoxes of indirect knowledge. According to her there has to be acknowledgment of the injustice to put the conflict and tension inherited from a repressed history truly to rest. Referring to the work of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), she said wrongs could not be forgiven until they were admitted. 
 
Dr Hoffman, who is the author of books such as Lost in Translation: life in a new language and Stetl: the life and death of a small town and the world of Polish Jews, praised the university for being on the forefront of social issues in democratic South Africa.

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