It has been a week since you were crowned Varsity Cup champions and I still struggle to find words for how proud I am of you. What a wonderful achievement. You took on the best university rugby teams and players in the country and you came out on top. But that is not all. The spirit with which you represented the North-West University (NWU) was nothing short of inspirational. The skills you displayed on the field were exceptional, but it was your determination, the respect you showed your opponents, your integrity and humility in victory that made you extraordinary.

They came, they saw, and they conquered. The North-West University (NWU) Eagles are the newly crowned Varsity Cup champions after beating Ikeys from the University of Cape Town (UCT) 27-25 at the Fanie du Toit Sport Grounds in Potchefstroom on Monday night, 17 April 2023.

The half-time score read 20-9 for the Eagles. This marks the first time the NWU Eagles won the trophy since 2016, and the second time overall.

The North-West University (NWU) Soccer Institute has secured a spot in the North West ABC Motsepe League Provincial playoffs and will be facing well-known opponent Orbit College FC.

The two teams will be facing each other in the provincial playoffs for the second year. In the 2022 playoffs, the NWU won the game, and they are geared to be crowned North West ABC Motsepe league champions for 2023 too.

They just have a touch of class, don’t they? Slick as marlins in the water at the back, as ferocious as stampeding rhinos in the front. On Monday, 20 January, the North-West University (NWU) Eagles ran in five tries as they beat the Central University of Technology (CUT) Ixias 45-28 at the Fanie du Toit sports grounds in Potchefstroom.

Some call them the purple army, others call them the noble boys, but officially known as the North-West University (NWU) Eagles, the team’s on-field performance in the 2023 ABC Motsepe League is like a tsunami that can’t be stopped.

With one game left to determine the log leaders of the league’s Group B stream, the NWU Soccer Institute is leading the pact with 34 points. They have scored 37 goals so far, with 13 of these goals scored in March alone.

The doctor is in the house. After a hiccup against Stellenbosch University (Maties) a week ago, the NWU Eagles are back in rude health after beating the University of Pretoria (Tuks) 26-22 during round 4 of the Varsity Cup clash in Pretoria.

The victorious visitors scored four tries through Tino Swanepoel (two), Keano Windvogel and Theuns Pretorius. Zinedine Robinson slotted two conversions.

She is the undisputed mother figure of the Rugby Institute at the North-West University (NWU). She is one of the heroes behind the scenes. She is the friendly face who greets you first. She is Ronel Emms, and her share in the Rugby Institute’s bulging trophy case is just as big as that of all those tries behind the gold.

As the secretary to the Rugby Institute and the assistant to the head, Mervyn Taylor, she is part of the DNA of the Fanie du Toit Sports Grounds.

Africa’s top badminton players – among them three North-West University (NWU) students – converged on the John Barrable Hall in Benoni on the East Rand from 13 to 19 February to determine who wields a badminton racket the best of them all.

The event was the All Africa Badminton Championships and the NWU students were Deidré Jordaan, Diané Olivier and Jarred Elliot.

The North-West University (NWU), in collaboration with the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT), was awarded the bid to host the prestigious World Association of Sport Management (WASM) conference in March 2026.

The conference is hosted every three years, and this will be the fifth conference, hosted for the first time on African soil.

The NWU and CPUT plan to co-host the WASM conference at the Newlands Stadium, where the CPUT Sport Management Department offices and lecture halls are located.

The North-West University Eagles’ dream start to their Varsity Cup campaign has been shattered. A close 31–28 defeat by Maties on Monday evening, 6 March on the Fanie du Toit Sports Grounds means that the Eagles’ triumphant march of two consecutive wins has now been arrested, but at one stage it looked as if the opposite was happening.