Rhodes University will play host to the Eastern Cape Intervarsity in Grahamstown. This year's event takes place on Friday and Saturday 17 and 18 August.
Rhodes University will play host to the Eastern Cape Intervarsity in Grahamstown. This year's event takes place on Friday and Saturday 17 and 18 August.
Intervarsity includes sports teams from Rhodes University, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (NMMU), University of Fort Hare, and Walter Sisulu University. The event dates back to a two-way competition between Rhodes and what was then called the University of Port Elizabeth.
In 1988 it grew to include the University of Fort Hare, becoming Trivarsity. Walter Sisulu University came on board in 2009 to change the format back to Intervarsity.
Over the years, NMMU has dominated the competition thanks to its advantage in numbers, but Rhodes has been steadily closing the gap. Fort Hare and WSU have always been third and fourth respectively, because they don't have the number of sporting codes as Rhodes and NMMU, which enjoy sports such as waterpolo, surfing and rowing.
Head of sport at Rhodes, Mandla Gagayi, said, “This event is an opportunity for students from these three universities to get together in a competitive yet social environment to share experiences and talents across a range of sporting codes.”
Gagayi said it was also an opportunity for the host university to demonstrate their expertise in hosting multi-code sporting events. “On the side of the economy, this event brings much-needed business to town,” said Gagayi.
