Ikey Tigers

The story of Ikeys v Maties goes far beyond your typical student rugby rivalry. Antisemitism, apartheid, blue-chip donors and the presence of many future Springboks have made this grudge match one of South Africa’s most notorious.

Francois Pienaar’s place in history was assured the moment South Africa won the World Cup in 1995 and the Springbok captain received the Webb Ellis Trophy from Nelson Mandela.

But what is less known outside of his own country is the contribution Francois made towards South Africa winning the last two World Cups. In 2008 he launched the Varsity Cup, an annual tournament that brings together the nation’s top eight university teams. It injected new life into South Africa’s university rugby system and provided a platform for burgeoning young stars to make the step up into professional rugby. Since it was founded sixteen years ago, more than fifty former university players have gone on to become Springboks. 

The 2019 World Cup-winning squad featured thirty Varsity Cup ‘veterans’. They included Malcolm Marx,  Lood de Jager, Damien de Allende, Eben Etzebeth, Siya Kolisi and Bongi Mbonambi. The latter quartet all turned up in France four years later to do it all over again. The influence of the Varsity Cup also spreads far and wide. Scottish duo Duhan van der Merwe and Huw Jones both played in the tournament along with Exeter Chiefs’ Zimbabwean flanker Don Armand. Indeed, the careers of both Eben and Duhan were in danger of stalling until they got vital exposure and game-time in the cup. 

But in any major sporting event there is usually a standout rivalry, and in Varsity Cup there is one that goes beyond rugby. The University of Cape Town v Stellenbosch (aka Ikeys v Maties) has a history that takes in apartheid, antisemitism, Britain’s most infamous imperialist, as well as some of the best players and coaches in the history of the game.

Just as the Oxford v Cambridge match would once attract huge crowds at Twickenham, there was a time when the Ikeys v Maties annual Intervarsity game would be played in front of packed stands at Newlands Stadium, the now derelict former home of South African rugby. Both fixtures became collateral damage in the wake of rugby turning professional in 1995. But whereas Oxford v Cambridge continues to slide from public view, Ikeys-Maties is very much a match that still matters; it is broadcast on TV in South Africa and often provides a chance to spot the stars of the future.

Thanks to the cup format, Ikeys and Maties face each other in the Cape derby once in the regular season, with the possibility of meeting again in the semis or the final, with the teams taking it in turns to be the hosts. This year they met at the Ikeys home on the Green Mile, and Rugby Journal came to Cape Town not only to capture the unique experience of an Ikeys-Maties match but also to delve into the complicated yet fascinating history behind this rivalry, and what makes the Ikeys unique among Varsity Cup teams. 

“The 2019 World Cup winning squad featured thirty Varsity Cup ‘veterans’; Malcolm Marx, Damien de Allende, Lood de Jager, Eben Etzebeth, Siya Kolosi, Bongi Mbonambi.”

The first rugby match between UCT and Stellenbosch was in 1883 at a time when there were profound cultural and political differences between the two universities.

As Ikeys chairman Greg Fury explains, whereas UCT has always considered itself to be liberal in its outlook, Stellenbosch was a bastion of conservatism and often described as ‘the home of apartheid’. “There was a significant English and Afrikaans divide amongst white South Africans, dating back as far as when the Brits took occupation of the Cape in 1806,” explains Greg. “So, there was this historical and significant antipathy between English and Afrikaan-speaking South Africans. Stellenbosch University was the philosophical, political and intellectual home of Afrikaan-speaking South Africans. It was just as well endowed [financially] as UCT, but they looked at the world very differently. 

“Rugby became this expression of Afrikaner nationalism with Stellenbosch at its heart. Obviously, that distinction has dissipated massively over time.”

Meanwhile, UCT was built on land bequeathed by former Cape Colony Prime Minister Cecil Rhodes, and his statue used to overlook the playing fields on the Green Mile until the ‘Rhodes Must Fall’ campaign succeeded in getting the monument to colonialism removed in 2015.

Back in the early twentieth century, the  rivalry was intensified when students from both universities decided to give their opponents a nickname.

There are two wildly contrasting versions of how Stellenbosch became known as Maties. One is that the students’ blazers were a tomato-ey red and “Tamaties” was slang for tomato. The other explanation comes via the late Paul Dobson, a celebrated referee who officiated more than forty first-class games and became an equally respected writer and rugby historian. He wrote that Matie “was first used in 1911, apparently by the men of the South African College who looked down their noses at their country cousins, who called one another maat or its diminutive matie [chum]”.

Whatever the reason, the name stuck and the Stellenbosch Song Committee then convened in 1918 to create a riposte. Around that time, UCT had a number of Jewish students and Ikey was a racial epithet for a Jew. The exact origin of Ikey is unclear but there was an Irish folk song known as “Ikey Moses: King of the Jews”. Variations of the song range from fairly innocuous to profoundly antisemitic. “The Students’ Representative Council (SRC) of UCT did not like the name because of its possible anti-semitism and protested in 1920 and 1921,” Dobson added.

Subsequently, the SRC of UCT arranged to have a meeting at Stellenbosch on Friday, 20 May, 1921, to discuss the matter. What the UCT students didn’t know was that the train to Stellenbosch, which is around 45 km from Cape Town, didn’t run on a Friday. So, the meeting was cancelled, never to be rescheduled. And what neither university foresaw was that over time both teams would take those slurs and embrace them as a “fuck you” to the other side. To be an Ikey or a Matie is now a badge of honour.

Somewhere within all of this, there is an annual rugby match. “One of the most interesting things about the history of rugby in South Africa is that the Afrikaner took the English game and embraced it, and became among its best proponents in the world,” explains Greg. “But what’s also really fascinating in South Africa is just how little we as white South Africans knew about how important culturally rugby was to black and coloured South Africans.”

“The South African school system produces an extraordinary wealth of talent. The truth is, there’s actually not enough space in our Varsity Cup system … we’ve got too many good players.”

Stellenbosch is also known as the biggest rugby club in the world with more than fifty teams. The university lives and breathes the game. The same, however, cannot be said for UCT. It is the top-ranked university in Africa for academia but doesn’t embrace sport. In that respect, the Ikey Tigers are operating at a noticeable disadvantage when compared to their rivals, especially when it comes to funding. “Those clubs are funded principally by the home universities who see value in having a competitive and excellent sporting infrastructure that spreads across other sports, not just rugby,” says Greg, adding, “although rugby is obviously the most important one, both culturally and historically in South Africa.

“They will have some support from others, like donors – principally alums – and sometimes their home professional union. What’s happened is that over time varsity rugby has become what I would classify as semi-professional. Players at the big universities are not just getting a full scholarship, they’re getting a substantial financial incentive over and above that.

“UCT is different because we get no support from the university and forty-to-fifty per cent of our total funding is used for scholarship provision. But we will never give anybody more than a scholarship. Nobody is paid to play for UCT. We’re kind of like that old Corinthian culture. At least, that’s how we see ourselves.”

The strength and depth of Stellenbosch’s rugby programme meant that for many years the rivalry was often one-sided. Ikeys would usually lose and would be happy if they got within a few points of Maties. Then rugby turned professional and the amateur game floundered.

Greg credits his predecessor, Philip Kilroe, for keeping the Ikey Tigers going through a period of uncertainty. Philip played for UCT in the 1980s and went on to become MD of financial services firm Personal Trust International – and the club may have disappeared without his drive and support in the years before they received an invitation to play in the Varsity Cup. 

South African rugby traditionally has been dominated by Afrikan players, clubs and by universities that were Afrikaan-speaking. The thinking, according to Greg, was that UCT would add a bit of flavour to the tournament as an “English” university but would probably get hammered by the opposition. Instead, they reached the first final and only lost to Stellenbosch after the whistle with a try scored by Morne Jooste who would go on to become a Springbok.

The Tigers also made the final the following year. Greg became chairman in 2011 having previously been a student at UCT, and played for the Tigers, before having a successful career in the corporate world.

Greg’s timing proved to be exceptional. “We had this incredible year in 2011,” he says, “where we ultimately won the Varsity Cup, and we had an unusually impressive crop, both as rugby players and young men. A whole bunch who have gone on to be successful.”

“He’s got no rugby pedigree at all, but he’s the most extraordinary coach I’ve ever met. He’s created the most brilliant culture in terms of joy and competitiveness.”

Among them was Eben Etzebeth, and when reflecting on some of the best players that Greg has seen during his tenure as chairman, the Springbok behemoth is the obvious starting point. “Funnily enough, Eben had just been rejected for a professional contract and joined the Ikeys as a last way of getting some exposure. We wouldn’t have won the Varsity Cup without him. He was physically so good, so big and so athletic.

“Siya Kolisi trained with us. He was an incredibly impressive guy, although funnily enough, not so much athletically back then. But he had a presence about him. He got called up by the Stormers two weeks before our first Varsity Cup match. Damien de Allende developed much more [physically] after playing for UCT. He was on the wing for us before becoming a world-class 12. 

“We also had a chap play for us last year, Suleiman Hartzeberg, who is also playing for the Stormers now. He was eighteen years old, straight out of school when he played Varsity Cup and it was obvious that he had it from when he touched a rugby ball. I think he’s going to go the whole way. Both Suleman and Asad Moos are two Muslim lads from Cape Flats. Asad is still with us. He’s a scrum-half and about the fastest player I’ve seen over ten-to-fifteen metres. Again, he is also somebody who could go far in rugby.

“Don Armand was our club captain before going on to have two-hundred-odd games for Exeter Chiefs,” continues Greg. “We had two flankers that year, Don and Nick Fenton Wells – two players who people would die for. Again, they both had a presence about them. Then there’s Scottish centre Huw Jones who was part of our team that won the Varsity Cup in 2014. He had great physical gifts, not so much in size but he was so quick. He had obviously been very well coached as a schoolboy.”

How does a club that can’t offer direct financial incentives to join, manage to stay so competitive? Over the past four seasons, the Ikeys have reached two finals and two semi-finals. The first part of Greg’s answer, for anyone outside South Africa, is quite depressing.

“The South African school system produces an extraordinary wealth of rugby talent. It consistently surprises me to see just how many good players are spat out into the university. The truth is there’s actually not enough space in our Varsity Cup system for all the good players. We’ve actually got too many good players.”

While the size of Stellenbosch means competition for places is so intense you can have several players vying for one position, there’s a far smaller pool of players at UCT and therefore a better chance of playing. “The second factor I’d say is that UCT has by far the highest academic rankings of a South African university. While they don’t support sport, what they do have is a global academic reputation. We get the most extraordinary demand from postgraduates from other universities wanting to come and do graduate degrees here, particularly those who played against us. 

“They can look over the fence, so to speak, and see the way that we play, the way that our coaches and managers interact with the players. It’s a very different place to the traditional South African rugby culture. We value experimentation. It’s player-driven. The players, ultimately, are the decision-makers in the club. They are expected to challenge the coaches, and to make mistakes. 

“There was a very famous quote from Heyneke Meyer, who was the Springbok coach but also coached at Pretoria University, where they had a banner over the changing room that said, ‘Execution Before Innovation’.  “And that’s the antithesis of the way we try and play, right. I suppose you could say we’re a bit like Harlequins in the way that we think about rugby.”

“My wife and I will host players on a Sunday night before each game. All we do is make spaghetti bolognese, but I think the players enjoy it. One of our values is ‘relationships matter’.”

They also have the advantage of playing at the Green Mile, a venue like no other, on the slopes of Devil’s Peak. “Within a few hundred metres of our ground is the single highest rainfall point in South Africa. The wind blows like a complete bugger and it’s like playing in Galway against Connacht. It rains and the wind pumps. Nobody wants to come here because it’s a hard place to play.”

Because the playing fields are protected land there is no scope to develop the site. So, whereas Stellenbosch has an 16,000-capacity stadium, it’s mostly standing room only at UCT. 

In 2011 the club’s biggest donor, the former Coca-Cola CEO Neville Isdell, put down $1 million to kickstart a plan for building a new stadium but the Tigers will be staying put for the foreseeable future. “Everyone’s got a different view,” says Greg. “My view is we will stay where we are and it would be great to fix up the place a little bit.”

Isdell is a UCT alumni who played for Ikey Tigers and his money has ensured the club is sustainable, for now at least. “Neville has been an extraordinary benefactor to us. We also have a trust, which was established by an alumnus who had a very storied financial career in Canada, and a number of other smaller, but still substantial donors. I would say eighty per cent of our money comes from five people. We call it the serendipitous budget. We have to cut our coat to fit our cloth and the long-term vision is to get on a more sustainable financial standing.

“Virtually everybody is a volunteer, although we do pay our coaches. When we were recruiting for a head coach, we knew that one of our rivals was paying three and a half times as much [to their head coach].

“From a playing point of view, I think we’re on the right track. We’ve got a fantastic team this year, and we’ve got more depth than we’ve had in all the years that I’ve been involved. I mean, you never know, because so many teams change during the course of the Varsity Cup, as players can get offered contracts by professional teams, but I think we’re going to be very competitive. 

“Our aim is to be among the top couple, if not right at the top of amateur student clubs in the world. Yeah. We feel that we can compete against any other amateur club on an even footing.”

Last year, the team won the World University Rugby Invitational Tournament for the third time in a row. The chance to travel and play abroad – last year’s event was in Bordeaux – is also very attractive to the players. The coach who led them to victory in France, and is plotting to turn this year’s crop into a Varsity Cup-winning team, is Tom Dawson-Squibb. 

“He’s got no rugby pedigree at all,” says Greg. “But he’s the most extraordinary coach in a broad sense that I’ve ever met. He’s created the most brilliant culture around our first team in terms of joy and competitiveness.”

Tom also went to UCT, but went into marketing after he graduated and then found himself in between jobs in 2010. “I did some coaching when I was younger and what I realised is that I really enjoyed the mind side of things and the team dynamics,” Tom tells Rugby Journal. “So, I thought, ‘Okay, I’m going to start my own business,’ but firstly I needed to work with some people in the areas of team dynamics and leadership.

“I basically banged the door down at Western Province. I got a little bit lucky there because they allowed me to do some work with the under-21s who ended up winning their competition. At the same time, I also banged the door down to UCT. And I said, ‘Listen, like, can I come and help?’ And they said, ‘Yeah, why not?’ 

“So, I was just lucky, to be honest,” admits Tom. “UCT was looking for a coach in 2019 to take over the team in 2020. As a performance coach, I’ve been a sort of Robin to somebody else’s Batman. I’ve worked with John Dobson [Stormers] Gary Kirsten [South African Cricket], David Wessels [Melbourne Rebels], Robbie Fleck [UCT, former Springbok] and you end up taking a little bit from each of them.

“The first team I worked with included Frans Malherbe. I got them to be a bit more demonstrative. Even just high-fiving on the pitch. God, I didn’t know much really. I do look back now and cringe a bit. But I sort of had this philosophy that I was gonna bring a lot of enthusiasm. I wasn’t going to try and be the expert. I was gonna ask lots of questions and I had lots of ‘chutzpah’.”

Tom’s time in Melbourne with the Rebels in 2018 was a real eye-opener. “Melbourne took me out of my comfort zone,” he admits. “It was the first time I’ve been full-time in a system. At the Stormers, I was three days a week. So, I really appreciated what a coach goes through. The hours that go into planning a training. I’ve brought that back to UCT.”

When trying to explain his success as UCT coach, he says, “I think because they [the players] feel like they belong, it allows me to create an environment where there’s a collective sense of purpose and meaning. So, they feel like they’re playing for something bigger than just a game of rugby. We’re trying to do something more than winning ugly. 

“One of the things I really like to do is that my wife and I will host different groups of players on a Sunday night before each game. All we do is make a spaghetti bolognese or something like that. But it’s cool and I think the players enjoy it. One of our values is ‘relationships matter’.” Although Tom doesn’t know exactly where he’ll be after this season, it’s safe to say he won’t be out of work. In the meantime, he’s hoping to write his own script and leave UCT with a Varsity Cup on his CV, by going one better than last year, when they lost the final to North-West Eagles.

This time, Ikeys got their cup campaign off to a winning start against the University of Free State Shimlas. The Ikeys-Maties game was next up and the wind duly wreaked havoc, but it was the visitors who proved to be better at handling the conditions and went in at half-time leading 10-0. With the wind behind them, Ikeys poured on the pressure in the second half but despite reducing the deficit, Maties won 15-10. 

As Tom observed when we spoke a few days before the Maties game, assuming the role of underdogs amongst the elite of varsity rugby in South Africa can be “a blessing and a curse. We’ve gone semi-final, final, semi-final, final in the past four years. We’ve got to break the mould of being the underdog and actually say, ‘No, we’re the favourites. We deserve to be here.’”

Story by Ryan Herman

Pictures by Luke Maritz

This extract was taken from issue 25 of Rugby.
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