Feature: Who are the Nadoes?
The 2010 Steinhoff Koshuisrugby Championships is just around the corner and UCT's Nadoes - a legendary team which was first started in the late 1990s - are hoping to make the Cape Town university's presence felt this coming season!
The might of the Nadoes is gearing up to take on the best of South Africa in this national tournament - the greatest 'Koshuis' competition in the country and an even better opportunity for the universities' next tier of players.
The Varsity Cup has sorely missed the seven-times UCT champions but after the Nadoes' demolition of UCT's Steinhoff Internal League in 2009, they are sure to set off fireworks in this year's Steinhoff Koshuisrugby Championships.
The Nadoes, a brand forged by previous greats of the game in the Cape back in the 1990s, has grown into one of the most revered and prestigious sporting brands in the Mother City.
After continually dominating UCT rugby and creating legends, and legacies, in the change-rooms, the Nadoes grew into a cultural hub of all sports and 'pushing-it' vibe.
The Nadoes brand has successfully extended into the Western Province cricket league, Villagers Sevens rugby, Cape Town Tens rugby, False Bay Sevens rugby, Villagers six-down touch rugby, Hermanus Premier League cricket tours, Plettenberg Bay and Knysna rugby tours, Old Mutual Day/Night Cricket matches and Six-a-side Cricket festivals to name but a few.
It's hard to imagine a life without seeing a Nadoes T-Shirt on campus on a Wednesday... Or hearing a 'hoot-hoot' at the robots from a fellow Nadoe... Or without those cold and misty Wednesday evenings on the Green Mile being dominated by a sea of Nadoes jackets on the sidelines... Or without a Tiger session after a Nadoes formal hitting tequila shots with Bobby Skinstad who won't stop shouting that he's a Nadoe till he dies, or without seeing the experience show how a deep switch is really done on the touch field, or without Graham Barrett running head first into a tackle ready to die for his Nadoes family... (We could go on... and on!)
All these memories, all this legacy, all this greatness that is the might of the Tornadoes, is to be put to the test in the greatest challenge of them all; the 2010 Steinhoff Koshuisrugby Championships.
This is it gentlemen... the 22 guys selected to represent the UCT Nadoes XV have the honour of representing all these memories and the mighty legacy which is the Nadoes in the 2010 Steinhoff Koshuis Championships - a competition that the Ikeys have not able to dominate in recent years.
The youth sitting on the wall looking in on a Nadoes fines sessions dream of such an opportunity and the experience look back with full hearts bursting with pride and a tear in what was once clear eyes.
It is time to start preparing the heads to be ready to flip the switch when the going gets tough!
By Clement le Roux