There’s a lekker new event on the block, and it looks to have serious potential to not only bring together many of the players in the country’s ever-rising sport of Spin, but spread the love of the motorsport.
You’ll no doubt know that Spinning has been the fastest growing sport for some time, and many organizers have been striving to gain the support and recognition our homegrown sport deserves. With the start of new series Wie’s die Hond se Baas, it looks to reaching that tipping point.
Here’s how the story has developed. Gayton McKenzie, the recently appointed Minister of Sports, Arts and Culture, is a man who understands the important place of Spinning in South African townships.
In the past month his support and intention to grow and regulate Spin has been all over social media.
So when McKenzie visited Cape Town, he met up with Johnny Schaffers and Shahiem Bell from Supporting People In Need (SPIN), finding that SPIN here is not just about entertainment, it’s also about youth upliftment, keeping kids away from gangsterism and drugs. Not to mention that crime stats go down when the pitch is humming.
McKenzie proposed an idea, to stage an event in each province, nine in all, with SPIN finding the promoters in each area to make it work. Enter the new series, colourfully titled ‘Wie’s die hond se Baas’.
Last Saturday the first event was hosted in Richards Bay, KZN. Preshu Singh, from 360 Boyz, and his partners put up an amazing event, kicking off the series with a storm. The event criteria is based on technical spinning by earning points when successfully executing expected criteria per obstacle, while doing so simultaneously with your opponent on track. This makes it even more exciting for spectators.
McKenzie himself, who donated R100k of his salary as prize money to the winners, was accompanied by Member of Parliament Ashley Sauls, well known as Oom Biza.
Sauls says: “Dating back to the 1960s, spinning has deep roots in South African culture, bringing people of different races and backgrounds together through their shared passion for cars and adrenaline-fueled maneuvres…77 is a bold and visionary initiative that seeks to elevate spinning to the status it deserves, promoting unity, diversity, and positive social impact along the way. It is a testament to the power of sports in bringing people together and fostering positive change in society.”
He continues that the idea is to pave the way for the official recognition of spinning as a sport, adding: “It is not funded by the government, and no individuals stand to profit from it; rather, the entire culture and community of spinning enthusiasts will benefit from its establishment as a legitimate sport.
With involved supports like McKenzie and Sauls, Bobby hopes that Spin will gain traction (well, while losing it on the pitch), supporters and sponsors will flock to the game, and safety will be served.
Bobby Nitro spoke to Ismail Peck of national motorsport federation World of Motorsport ZA (Womza), which was called in to organise and manage the safety requirements for the event. Womza traditionally manages the oval events around the country, smaller events with a lower barrier-to-entry for people wanting to get into motorsport.
Ismail says: “My hope is that this is the start to something that will get more people involved. That parents will see that Spin is a lekker sport for the family, and that people will put money in. The more influential people involved, the bigger it will grow.
Bobby doesn’t want to speak too soon but what is apparent now, though, is that after all these years and efforts from many playmakers in the sport, that the tipping point has been reached. Bobby hopes this will lead to the establishment of more pitches, especially in Cape Town. At present the Killarney pitch is the only official one.
As Sauls puts it: “By uniting the spinning community on a national level, "Wies die Hond Se Baas aims to celebrate the best spinners in the country and pave the way for the official recognition of spinning as a sport.”
