Photo Credit: Cricket South Africa
Southern Cape Cricket icon, Mr Simon Swigelaar, was honoured with the Eden Sport Council Presidential Award at the Garden Route Badgers launch of the season function that was held at the Six Gun Grill Recreation Ground in Oudtshoorn on Wednesday 21 September 2022.
The 88-year-old Swigelaar joined the Union Stars Cricket Club in Oudtshoorn in 1948 at the age of fifteen and currently serves as the Honorary Life President of this club. He also represented and served Union Stars as secretary, treasurer, captain, and selector.
He represented the SWD senior cricket team in the Dadebye tournament in Port Elizabeth in 1963/64 and officiates as a provincial umpire between 1974 and 1989. He served as the president of SWD Cricket Board between 1981 and 1991 and was instrumental in the unity process of the SWD Cricket in 1991.
He was a General Council member of the United Cricket Board of South Africa between 1991 and 1993 as President of a unified SWD Cricket Board and is currently the Honorary Life-President of the SWD Cricket Board. He also served as a member of the Transformation Committee of the Boland Cricket Board between 1999 and 2001.
His length of service at provincial level stretch over a period of more than 50 years – as a player, umpire, administrator, and selector. He served as the President of the SWD Cricket Board for more than a decade and is the Honorary Life President of SWD Cricket since 1995.
In 1983 he received a merit award from the South African Cricket Board after officiating as an umpire in the Benson & Hedges final between Western Province and Eastern Province. In 1993 he was honoured with a Mayoral Award from the Mayor of Oudtshoorn for his contribution, achievements and service to cricket and the community.
In 2003 the Western Cape Department of Cultural Affairs and Sport honoured him with a Life-Time Achievement Award for his contribution towards cricket. In 2007 he was honoured with a Legend Award from the Western Cape MEC for Sport & Recreation for his contribution in the unification process of sporting bodies in South Africa in 1990., on invitation, accompanied the South African cricket tour since unification to India (under the captaincy of Clive Rice) in 1991.
In 2013 he was elected as an Honorary Life member of Cricket South Africa and also received the Eden Sport Council Presidential Award in 2014.
