A significant body of research shows that the practice of sports and physical activities play a significant role in children’s physical and mental development, as well as in terms of key life skills, such as team work and perseverance.

In the township of Langa in Cape Town, the vast majority of young people under 18 get exposure to sports only through the public schooling system. However, like the majority of public schools in South Africa, Langa’s educational facilities cruelly lack resources to provide adequate access to sports training and infrastructure, in huge contrast to more affluent schools in nearby prosperous areas of the city.

Busy Bees, South Africa’s oldest Black rugby club, is actively trying to engage with the youth of Langa, to inspire passion about sports in general and rugby in particular, in collaboration with local schools. It also seeks to spot local talent, and identify potential provincial and national champions who could emerge despite the township’s challenging socio-economic backgrounds.

Busy Bees draws on the past as well as the present: It celebrated its 101st year in 2024, as the country’s oldest “Black” rugby club. It is hugely proud of its legacy and contribution to keeping rugby alive in what was, during apartheid, often perceived as a “white” sport. In the past decade, this image has been thoroughly transformed by country’s most diverse and representative team of all time, which won two successive world cup titles (2019 and again in 2023) under the captainship of Siya Kolisi. Kolisi and his teammates have become national heroes, inspiring an entire generation of young South Africans in all communities. Busy Bee is keen to drive on that momentum, but faces significant challenges on the way.  One focus area is to improve its feeder pipeline of male and female players from local schools. Another is to secure its own permanent facilities, as it is currently sharing facilities which limits its ability to organise training sessions and games.  It is also looking to form more sustainable long term partnerships and sponsorships to ensure it can confidently enter the next century of its existence.