A Springbok in Belgium
The 1970s weren't exactly great days for South Africa. 1976 was an especially tumultuous year for the Republic, which was making international headlines for all the wrong reasons. The sports boycott was also in full force and the country was coming up for its fourth exclusion from the Olympic Games. Apart from the likes of distance runner Marcello Fiasconaro competing for foreign nations (Italy in Marcello's case), no South African sportsmen or women could officially compete in the international arena. Unofficially, though, it was a different story.
The header photo of the Springbok cycling team circa 1976 is a veritable "who's who" of South African cycling folklore. Allan Dipple, Eddie King, manager Gotty Hansen and Robbie McIntosh are sandwiched in between Alan Van Heerden and Ertjies Bezuidenhout. Unbeknown to most, the "Green and Gold" was being represented with distinction on two wheels in the Low Countries that year. Which begs the question: what (and how) the heck was a South African sporting team competing internationally at the height of the country's pariah status?
'We were invited to race in Belgium by a breakaway federation that sent Belgian riders to race the Rapport Toer,' explains Eddie King. 'It was the height of sanctions and the sporting boycott of South Africa but this particular federation was not affiliated to the FICP (now UCI). So that is how we got to race over there as a Springbok team.
Now approaching his 80th birthday, Eddie King is a fascinating character. Not to be confused with his namesake of Leppin Ironman fame, Eddie has worn several hats in his lifetime. Prodigious cycling talent, successful businessman and world traveller are all titles that would be accurate. But it was the bicycle that was (and still is) central to his being.
'From the time I started cycling, competing in the Olympic Games was my primary goal,' he says. 'I was part of the last official South African cycling team to compete internationally before isolation. I assumed that making the selection for the Paris World Championships of 1964 would be a stepping stone to competing at the Tokyo Olympics of that same year. But politics put paid to that.'
By 1976, though, Eddie was making a comeback. Having called time on his cycling career a few years before to concentrate on his business interests, Eddie was back in the saddle and found himself as captain of the Springbok cycling team. Needless to say it was an unexpected call up.
'I had decided to start competing again after a layoff so my selection was a surprise,' he admits. 'But I had international experience from years before and was quite a bit older than most of my teammates. So it was great to be part of that squad in a sort of road captain's role.'
Having raced in France and Belgium during his first career, Eddie knew the ropes when it came to life on the Continent. That and the fact that he was substantially older and more experienced than his teammates made him the ideal candidate to help lead and mentor the cream of South Africa's cycling talent on their European tour.
'We all got on really well,' says Eddie. 'Thanks to our Belgian contacts, we stayed at a boarding house in Sint Niklaas, which is fairly close to Antwerp. And when we had some time between races, I took the guys to Paris and we trained in the Boulogne-Billancourt area where I had prepared for the World Championships 12 years previously.
'But the racing was tough. Even though we weren't competing against the best Belgian riders, the competition was fierce. The first race was a shock to the system but Allan Dipple and Alan Van Heerden broke away early and finished one-two. I managed to launch an attack late in another race only to crash in the finale, which put paid to any chances of victory. But the team fared very well.'
History would show that the members of the 1976 Springbok cycling team would go onto great success. Van Heerden, McIntosh and Bezuidenhout would all turn professional and race extensively in Europe, whilst Dipple would eventually emigrate to Australia and become national road race champion in his adopted land. What, though, lay in store for one Eddie King?
'I kept very busy with my business interests but stayed involved in cycling,' he says. 'While I only started one Rapport Toer as a rider, I attended a further seven in a team manager's capacity. But I kept racing in the veterans category. Each year I would compete in the Veteran's World Championships, which were held annually in Austria. That was my sole racing focus for many years and training took place before and after work.'
Eddie's racing career came to an abrupt halt in 1988, though. While out training early one morning, a car hit him from behind. He was flung about 60 metres due to the impact, smashing his left leg to pieces in the process.
'I was helicoptered to hospital and ended up being in a coma for three months,' Eddie laments. 'Thanks to a nurse knowing that I was a cyclist, the surgeon resolved to save my leg instead of amputating it. They had to extract some bone from my hip in order to help reconstruct my leg. I never regained proper mobility after that, although I continued to cycle and walk for leisure. But racing was out of the question.'
One of his many projects over the years was constructing a mobile home of his own unique design, which became his residence on the KwaZulu-Natal South Coast for several years until it was burnt down by criminals. He now calls Port Shepstone home and is comfortable and content in his retirement complex. A lot of water has passed under the bridge but Eddie is as excited about cycling now as he was when he was a youngster with Olympic aspirations.
'You know, I was always an ardent world traveller and cycling was great in that regard. For instance, I would always go to Belgium for a couple of weeks before the Veteran's World Championships and soak up the culture and visit people there. Now I get to see that world on TV, what with the live coverage of the Grand Tours and Classics. Life is good.'
