A very rare photograph which shows the winner of the Natives Representatives Council Trophy, Durban and District League, 1932. Shooting Stars Football Club (Amanzimtoti). In picture standing second from left A.J. Luthuli and front far right R. Caluza. Founded in 1853, and one of southern Africa’s historic Christian mission schools, the college produced an illustrious list of alumni, including Mangosuthu Buthelezi, John Dube, Pixley ka Izaka Seme, Pius Langa, ZK Mathews, Anton Lembede, Joshua Nkomo, Epainette Mbeki, Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, the presidents of Botswana and Uganda, Seretse Khama and Milton Obote respectively, and Luthuli himself.
Chief Albert John Luthuli (1898-1967) was President of the African National Congress from 1952 until his death in 1967, and awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1960 for his non-violent struggles against apartheid, becoming the first African and South African to receive the award.
Mr Reuben Caluza (1896-1969) was an internationally recognised brilliant pioneering composer, known for his ragtime songs in isiZulu, and a leading figure in what is referred to as the New African modernity, itself a development from the New Negro modernity.
Qualifying as a high school teacher at Adams in the early 1920s Luthuli stayed on teaching music, isiZulu and other subjects. Believing in the school’s ethos of `muscular Christianity`, Luthuli became the supervisor of the school’s football team, the Shooting Stars, with soccer being the College’s most popular sport. Fiercely competitive League games were played with other teams, including long-established teams at other Mission schools. These included teams such as the Ocean Swallows of Umbumbulo, formed in the 1880s, the Natal Cannons in Inanda, formed in the 1890s, and Bush Bucks of Ifafa formed in 1902. In 1930 the Shooting Stars won three competitions: the Bushbucks Cup, the Durban and District League Trophy, and the Inter-District Cup.
The NRC Trophy was donated by the Chamber of Mines and named after the Chamber’s Native Recruiting Corporation. Luthuli wrote a brief history of the Shooting Stars in the first issue of Adams College’s magazine Iso Lomuzi (`eyes of our village`). At the time of this photograph, Reuben Caluza had returned from higher education studies in America, and was teaching music at the college. The Shooting Stars currently play in the South African Football Association Local Football League in Amanzimtoti. There are some historical anomalies. One account has Caluza teaching at Dube’s Ohlange Institute. Another states that Caluza returned from Columbia University in 1936, when here he is at Adams College in 1932. This photograph clears up these issues, definitively.
The size of the photograph is 300 x380mm. The definition in the image is exceptionally sharp. There is one minute circular hole in the photograph. As can be seen the photograph is mounted on thick brown card, with water damage.
- Overall Condition: A Good Copy
- Sold By: Clarke's Africana & Rare Books
- Contact Person: Paul Mills
- Country: South Africa
- Email: [email protected]
- Telephone: 021 794 0600
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