The bottle-green house at 66 Botmanskop Road, Idas Valley is a symbol of the long-held love and passion that the community has for their local soccer club, Idas Valley Athletics Football Club. MatieMedia’s Na’ilah Ebrahim sits down with the owner of the home, Deon van Kerwel, and other members of the club to speak about the history of the club, the close connections between the club and families of Idas Valley, and how soccer has become a “religion” in the area.
When you step in front of the house at 66 Botmanskop Road, all you see is bottle green: the house, the garden, the afdakkie, and even chipped paint on the front gate.
Ivan Pietersen, a circus man from Johannesburg, painted the house green in 1972 during his stay there. The colour of the house has not changed since.
In the house, the old furniture, the cupboard in the lounge and the blinds in his bedroom are also bottle green.
“Green is life,” says Deon van Kerwel, the owner of the house. He sits on a new black couch, one of the few pieces of furniture in the house which is not green.
“When people come from Cape Town, they say ‘look for the green house at Botmanskop,’” says Deon van Kerwel (pictured), owner of the house at 66 Botmanskop Road in Idas Valley. “And they know, daai’s [there’s] the Van Kerwels. PHOTO: Na’ilah Ebrahim
“You can see I bought this couch,” he says towards the end of the interview, “My father [Paapie Kerwel] would have wanted it to be green – everything had to be green”.
Green is life
He says that even the colour of the wheels of the Van Kerwel taxis was green.
For Van Kerwel, this green house symbolises the legacy of the Van Kerwels – the “heart and soul” his father put into his local soccer club and the family’s love for Idas Valley Athletics Football Club (AFC).
Pictured is Deon van Kerwel’s father, Paapie Kerwel, with his 1962 Toyota taxi. Deon says that his father was very passionate about Idas Valley Athletic Football Club and wanted everything, including their home, to be painted bottle green. “You can see the wheels [on the taxi] are green,” says Deon. PHOTO: Na’ilah Ebrahim
A family affair
“When you were brought up, you knew that there was only one club – and that was Idas Valley,” says Van Kerwel.
“There are four generations of Idas Valley AFC players and supporters in the Van Kerwel household. My grandfather, father, myself and my brothers, and my son have played for Idas Valley AFC,” says Van Kerwel who played for the club from the age of 11 to 38.
“It is not a coincidence that everything is painted green – it’s a love for the club,” says Ryan Jumat, chairperson of Idas Valley AFC. Jumat says that his father spray-painted Paapie Kerwel’s taxis green. “White on the top, green at the bottom,” he recalls. PHOTO: Na’ilah Ebrahim
There are many families like the Van Kerwels in Idas Valley, says Cheswill Groenewald, secretary of Idas Valley AFC. Davidse, Fisher – all these families have generations of Idas Valley AFC players and supporters according to Groenewald. Groenewald himself played for Idas Valley from 1985, at the age of 8, till 2002. “My grandmother, grandpa, uncle and cousins are all a part of Idas Valley AFC.”
“Once your blood is green, you can never get that out of your system,” says Shereen Crotz, a supporter of the club and member of the club’s executive committee. “Idas Valley [AFC] is engrained into the hearts of people.”
There are four generations of Idas Valley Athletics Football Club players in the Van Kerwel family. Deon van Kerwel (pictured) played for Idas Valley Athletics Football Club during the 1980s. His son, Dustin van Kerwel, played for the Premiere Division team this year. “He [Dustin] is taking the legacy forward,” says Deon. PHOTO: Na’ilah Ebrahim
Another example is the Jumat family, says Groenewald. “From grandmother, till daughters and grandkids – all Idas Valley [AFC] supporters.”
Once your blood is green, you can never get that out of your system.
Ryan Jumat says that his father was an Idas Valley AFC player and supporter, but his mother was a Newton Football Club supporter: a rival of Idas Valley AFC. “I left Idas Valley AFC at 12 years old to play for Newtons and to play professionally,” he says. His two sons currently play for Idas Valley AFC.
Jumat returned to Idas Valley AFC as chairman, a year ago. “I did it to give respect to my dad and his love for the club,” he explains. He says he could see his father’s eyes water up a bit when he heard the news of his son joining the club as chairman. “I felt like I did my duties as a son,” he says.
Soccer is a religion
“Saturday was soccer,” says Van Kerwel. Every Saturday, Van Kerwel walked with his father to the field near his home to watch Idas Valley AFC play. “From the junior games in the morning till the senior player’s games at night, my father stayed on the field,” he says.
Groenewald recalls a similar story growing up. “I went to the field with my mother on a Saturday morning when I played juniors. I would spend the whole day on the field,” he says. “Sometimes, they would even pack lunchboxes for us [when we spent the whole day on the field].”
The religious obsession with the sport and the club means that there are also intense rivalries according to Shereen Crotz, a supporter of Idas Valley Athletics Football Club. If you are from a rival team you can’t hang your kit on the same washing line, says Cheswill Groenewald, secretary of the club. However, this rivalry stays on the field, he says. PHOTO: Na’ilah Ebrahim
Soccer is like religion for the community of Idas Valley – like how Indian people love their cricket, says Van Kerwel. He says it brings everyone together and there is such passion and love for the club and the game. “We are all Idas Valley mal.”
Soccer is a religion
It’s exactly like religion, says Jumat. Our people [in Idas Valley] carried players during games and when we won tournaments, we would have a parade and people would cry tears of joy, he says. “I used to observe this [as a youngster] and see that this is what the club means to people.”
‘The good old days’
Idas Valley AFC has been supported by the community for a long time, says Van Kerwel.
When asked about what the club means for the community, Van Kerwel speaks about the 1976 Mega ‘Beker’(Trophy) which the club had won for the first time. There were about six, full busses – all carrying Idas Valley AFC supporters to the Athlone Stadium in Cape Town for the game that day, he says.
There was a parade, and everyone partied at the Proteashoogte hotel till the next morning. “I don’t know how people went to work,” says Van Kerwel.
However, according to Jumat, the memories of the “good old days” is what the club is trying to bring back. “[Today] the fields are empty. We ask, ‘Where are our youngsters?’”
It’s also due to a lack of investment in the club, according to Jumat. “We are lucky if we get 10% of people willing to sponsor us.”
Ryan Jumat, chairperson of Idas Valley AFC, says that although the club is still recovering from the pandemic, he feels that the crowds are starting to come back. PHOTO: Na’ilah Ebrahim
However, despite such challenges, love and passion for the club and badge will continue to inspire those who want to create change within the club. “You have to be the change,” says Jumat.
“You cannot join this club without your heart all in. No one has joined this executive to pass time; you do it because you love the club and what it stands for.”
Idas Valley Athletic Football Club has always been a successful club, says Deon van Kerwel, a long-time supporter and former player of the club. “This year our juniors won the cup, our u17 team won the knockout tournament and our seniors won the Premier Division,” says Cheswill Groenewald, secretary of the club. PHOTO: Na’ilah Ebrahim
It’s more than soccer
The club represents something more than just soccer according to Groenewald. “It’s about family, helping each other out,” he says.
“People need to understand that those are not your kids, those are our kids, and we cannot instil good values into our players solely on a Saturday,” says Jumat.
“We want to develop talent and instil leadership skills [in the youth],” says Groenewald. Idas Valley AFC also has feeding schemes for those in need, he adds.
It’s about family, helping each other out.
‘A deep-rooted love’
Even after eventually moving out of his infamous bottle-green home within the next months or years, Van Kerwel says that the “green [the passion and love for Idas Valley AFC] is here to stay”.
When asked whether he believes that the club’s passion will fade away as time goes on, Van Kerwel says that the passion for the club remains within its youngsters. “Some of the youngsters who have played for Maties Football Club have come back to their roots [to play for Idas Valley AFC again].”
“There is a deep-rooted love for the club – past, present and future,” says Jumat.
“If you love the club, show it [like the Van Kerwels],” says Jumat. “We want to carry this legacy forward and we can only do it with the community.”
“So many things happen in your life, but soccer you will never forget,” says Deon van Kerwel. PHOTO: Na’ilah Ebrahim
The story behind the badge
The origin of Idas Valley Athletic Football Club, comes from a few builders and labourers who worked in big gardens, says Deon van Kerwel, a lifelong supporter of the club. “That is why you have the spade and the strawberry.” The spade symbolises the hard work of the locals and the strawberries planted in those gardens. There’s a lot of meaning attached to the badge, according to Ryan Jumat, chairperson of Idas Valley AFC. “[It means] what you put in, is what you will get out – and you have to put in hard work to get to the place you want to be.”
PHOTO: Facebook/Idas Valley AFC