“Some of my earliest memories in this wonderful stadium were when, as a young boy, I could run around on the grass banks of SuperSport Park, while my father was busy on the field, batting and bowling with his Northern Transvaal teammates”.

When former Titans and Proteas star bowling all-rounder, Chris Morris, opened the Gala Dinner celebrating SuperSport Park’s 40th anniversary last week with these words, it was clear that an evening of nostalgia lay ahead for the guests at the event. Morris, whose father, Willie, was a Northern Transvaal cricket star in the 1970s and 1980s, acted as master of ceremonies at the function.

The dinner was part of a series of events celebrating the four decade anniversary of the iconic cricket stadium this year.

The stadium was officially opened in November 1986 with a cricket match between the then provincial teams Northern Transvaal and Transvaal, while the first international cricket match was played in the stadium a month later when Kim Hughes’ Australian team undertook their second rebel tour of South Africa. On 6 December 1986, Hughes’ team played against a South African team led by Clive Rice at this stadium in an unofficial One Day International match.

In January 1987, Hughes’ Aussies played Northern Transvaal on their new home ground.

Since then, the former Centurion Park, which would later become SuperSport Park, has been “woven into the DNA of South African cricket”, as Damian Weidemann, President of Titans Cricket Union, put it in his welcoming speech at the dinner.

Different panels of personalities who have all played roles in the history of the stadium over the past 40 years, built on the nostalgia of the evening through anecdotes and stories about their experiences in their interaction with SuperSport Park.

Former players such as Albie Morkel, Anton Ferreira and Lee Bernard shared their memories and experiences and their emotional connection with SuperSport Park as part of a panel led by another former player Pierre Joubert, who is now the Titans’ commercial manager.

Ferreira, a Northern Transvaal cricket legend who was one of the men who experienced the switch from the old Berea Park cricket grounds to the new facility in Centurion as a player, shared his first “encounter” with the stadium.

“At the end of 1985 I was still playing County cricket in England and my father came to pick me up at the airport late that year to report for the South African season with Northern Transvaal. When he suddenly took the John Vorster off-ramp on the highway I was surprised, but he drove here to the stadium. When we arrived here it was just a skeleton of concrete and steel and I remember how bulldozers were busy moving the soil where the grass banks would be established. My father broke the news to me: ‘This is your new home. Northern Transvaal will play cricket here in the future,’ he said. A year later we played on the new pitch in the new stadium. It was incredible how quickly it was completed and ready,” Ferreira said.

Two legendary administrators, Vincent Sinovich and Alan Jordaan also shared their experiences and in particular told of the initial negotiations with the then City Council of Verwoerdburgstad, as Centurion was known, and the later scramble to get plans in place to build the stadium in record time.

Both Sinovich and Jordaan highlighted the contribution of another legendary cricket administrator, the late Dr. Willie Basson, in the early days surrounding the planning of the new stadium and praised him for his foresight and leadership.

The current Head Groundsman of SuperSport Park, Bryan Bloy, shared snippets from his experiences, while the Titans’ Marketing Manager Tshegofatso Rakumakoe gave an overview of the facilities and attractions that visitors to the stadium can experience these days.

Dr. Jacques Faul, current CEO of the Titans, and several other speakers at the function also paid tribute to another deceased distinguished administrator and Faul’s predecessor, Elize Lombard. Under her and Faul’s successive leadership, the Titans have won 22 major domestic trophies since 2004.

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