How Curries Fountain became a landmark of South African sport and politics - IOL

THE name of the Curries Fountain sports field, popularly known as “Curries”, has its origins in the 1870s when a waterworks, which was Durban’s first reliable water source, was situated in the area. Although the waterworks and tower named Currie’s Fountain had long ceased to exist, the name remained (spelt without the ’s) when the area became a sports ground.

It was situated in the marshy Western vlei, or "flats" as this area was known, and formally became a sports facility for the Indian community in 1925.

Facilities for golfers, cyclists, athletes, tennis players and the ever-increasing number of soccer and cricket players were all catered for. This became the premier soccer ground in Durban, not only for Indians but for “non-Europeans” in general for the next six decades. When the original lease expired in 1950, there were six soccer fields, four cricket pitches, three tennis courts, a quarter-mile cinder track, a nine-hole golf course, a refreshment room and a clock tower.   

In the late 1940s, boxing promoter Nat Moodley staged an open-air boxing tournament at Curries with local favourite Mannie Dixon fighting Alex Makela.

It was touted as the first non-European floodlit boxing tournament in the country.

Two Curries all-time greats were Elijah “Tap Tap” Makhatini and Maxwell Malinga.

Malinga lost to Makhatini in 1971 but beat him in a return match at Curries in 1972.

In 1974, Malinga drew over 10 rounds with American Alvin Anderson, the then World Boxing Council’s No. 6 world-ranked fighter.

Makhatini was regarded as one of the best fighters in the country in his heyday in the early 1970s. He won 11 straight fights at Curries before meeting Joseph Sishi for the Natal (non-white) Middleweight Championship in 1971.

In September 1972, he beat his first international opponent, then former world welterweight champion Curtis Cokes, at Curries. Natal middleweight champion Joseph Sishi fought 43 times at Curries. Curries also provided a platform to several Zimbabweans (then Rhodesia), the most famous of whom was Mohamed “Tar Baby” Afonso. Tar Baby fought the likes of Fraser Mamela, Phineas Mthembu, Joe Ngidi, and Joseph Sishi at Curries.

The Durban Golf Club (DGC), formerly known as the Durban Indian Golf Club, was founded in 1928, and with the co-operation of the Durban Indian Sports Ground Association (DISGA), nine tees and greens were laid on the boundary fence of Curries Fountain.

Par for the course was 68, and the membership fee was two shillings and sixpence, with monthly subscription fees set at one shilling. This was to become the first golf course for non-whites in the country and the home of Indian golfers, particularly in Natal, for more than 25 years.

The club was allowed to use the golf course only on Saturday and Sunday mornings and whenever there were no soccer or cricket fixtures.

Soccer was regularly played at the venue. Super Naidoo is pictured left.

One of the milestones of the 1930s was a tour by a soccer team from India which played a series of matches throughout the country, including Curries, in 1934.

The 1949 chapter of the Sam China Cup was played at Currie when Southern Natal beat Northern Natal 3-0 in front of 15 000 spectators. The name Sam China was inscribed in the memory of many generations of Indians in South Africa as the name of the premier soccer competition in which Indians competed nationally for almost seven decades.

The last tournament at Curries took place in 1969 when a crowd of 25 000 witnessed Southern Natal defeat Western Province 3-1.

Although supposedly non-racial, a pattern of inter-race soccer tournaments for the Singh Trophy between African, Indian and coloured teams started in the late 1940s and lasted until 1960. From the 1950s, soccer, which had been played separately by Africans, Indians and coloureds, would increasingly be played on the same field, although still in racially divided teams.

On September 30, 1951, the South African Soccer Federation (SASF) was founded and launched at Curries, followed by a Goodwill tournament between national African, Coloured and Indian teams to mark the historic occasion.

The first match of the professional South African Soccer League (SASL) was played at Curries on April 9, 1961, between Aces United and Blackpool United.

Teams such as Orlando Pirates, Moroka Swallows, Real Fighters, Avalon Athletics, Lincoln City, Hearts, Maritzburg City and Aces United played in the pro ranks, which became an instant success. Large crowds turned up to see some of the big names at Curries. After a four-year lapse, professional soccer was given a boost with the formation of the Federation Professional League (FPL).

Sponsorship was a major problem for non-racial organisations and the FPL had its fair share of difficulties in this regard. Undaunted, the FPL conducted its affairs with voluntary staff out of an undertaker’s parlour in Grey Street.

The FPL was launched with seven teams: Avalon Athletics, Aces United, Verulam Suburbs, Manning Rangers, Maritzburg City, Chatsworth Rovers and Transvaal United, with a R4 000 sponsorship secured from RK Naidoo’s employers, the Stellenbosch Farmers’ Winery (SFW).

By 1971, the FPL had become national in character, with teams from the Cape also joining. Later, Berea, Cape Town Spurs, Glenville, Bluebells, Dynamos, Swaraj and Sundowns joined the League. Although sponsorship was always a major concern for the FPL, the efforts of a number of individuals secured sponsorships, and 10 years later 15 clubs competed for a total prize-money of R100 000.

The Cup Finals of the FPL were the premier soccer events of the year. Since its inception in 1969, the SFW were the main sponsors of the Mainstay League Cup, followed by the bottlers of Coca-Cola, who started their R5 000 sponsorship in 1974 when the Mainstay Cup was replaced by the Coca-Cola Shield.

The FPL suffered a serious setback when all sponsorships were withdrawn, and a “Save the Fed” fundraising campaign was started. In 1979, the presidency of the FPL changed from RK Naidoo to Ashwin Trikamjee, heralding a new era in the League’s history. The United Tobacco Company (UTC) Cup in the 1960s, the Mainstay Cup of the late 1960s and early 1970s, and the Coca-Cola Cup finals of the 1970s drew capacity crowds at Curries made up of young and old men and women supporters, vendors, police and their dogs, businessmen, politicians, officials, beauty queens, sponsors and gangsters.

The FPL disbanded in 1990 to join the NPSL in forming the National Soccer League (NSL), and in so doing closed a chapter of soccer history at Curries spanning 65 years.

Queen Elizabeth visited the stadium in 1947.

Political gatherings at Curries date back to 1913, when large numbers of Indians met at Curries to resist the tax laws of that period. The NIC election was held in 1945 at Curries, where the radical faction of the NIC was elected, taking the organisation on a different political trajectory.

In 1946, the Women’s Action Committee of the Passive Resistance Council hosted a five-day “Freedom Fair” to raise funds for the Passive Resistance Campaign. The banning, house arrests, and the Treason Trial resulted in a short lull in political activity in the early 1960s that was resurrected by the Black Consciousness Movement (BCM) that emerged in the late 1960s, leading to the formation of the South African Students Organisation (SASO).

The 1970s were characterised by another phase of political activity and resistance leading up to the Pro-Frelimo Rally planned at Curries in 1974. The violent clash with police at the banned rally was followed by the arrests and detention of several BCM leaders in the mid 1970s, some of whom were jailed on Robben Island.

The formation of the United Democratic Front (UDF) and COSATU trade union in the 1980s shifted leadership of the struggle against apartheid. Curries became the main venue for these struggles from the mid-1940s. These included the 1946 Passive Resistance rally and the rallies against the Group Areas Act in the 1950s, the Defiance Campaign rally in 1952, the Pro-Frelimo rally in 1974, followed in the 1980s by COSATU affiliates’ rallies and Sayco, MAWU, SACOS, the UDF and IFP rallies.

In the 1990s, it was the preferred venue for the ANC Women’s League when it was re-launched and for the first SACP rally in KZN in thirty years, after organisations were unbanned. It was also the venue for a Mkhonto WeSizwe rally in 1993 when the liberation army was in the process of being disbanded into a People’s Army.

Excerpts from the book Curries Fountain: Sports, Politics and Identity by Leonard Rosenberg, Sumboornam (Sam) Moodley and Goolam Vahed.