New Era

He played rugby at school, in the army and for Wanderers’ ‘White Stallions’, but finally switched his attention to football and hockey in the intervening years where he enjoyed a successful career before falling in love with the swing. Born in Otjiwarongo in 1929, ‘Oom Ray’ as the fairly ageing Raymond is affectionately known amongst his peers nowadays, was amongst four founder members of Ramblers FC in 1945. Despite the advancing summers behind his back, Oom Ray would oversee several generations at the Pionierspark-based outfit until father time obliged him to take a bow from the game that has taken him beyond the borders of the then South West Africa to represent his native land in the annual South African provincial Currie Cup tournament.

“As I much as I would love to go and watch domestic league football, I just don’t have the time because I’m playing golf in my free time. I only watch the odd English league on the telly, obviously time permitting.”

By Carlos ‘CK’ Kambaekwa

WINDHOEK – Former Ramblers midfield kingpin Raymond Dodds is a perfect example of a complete athlete as he excelled in four different disciplines – rugby, soccer, hockey and golf.

At 80, Oom Ray still finds time to confront the greens and is currently an eleven (11) handicap with a couple of tournaments under his belt.

“I only started playing football at the age of 18 - the very same year we formed Ramblers with Walter Stern, Uwe Hoenck and Robbie Pieters. We joined the elite straight away and had to endure a four-year dry spell as we went without recording a single win in any competitive match,” recalls the versatile 80-year-old Oom Ray.
Ramblers became the whipping boys in the national football league that consisted of Fortuna, to be known as Sport Klub Windhoek (SKW) in later years, Railways, Swakopmund FC, Walvis Bay FC, Tsumeb FC, Otavi FC and Okahandja Manschaft.
Things would change for the better when the team roped in the services of Jerry Joubert as coach. “He (Jerry) changed the training methods and brought in a good number of youngsters who brought a new dimension to our game. As a result, Ramblers was transformed into a winning unit.”

The team was a mixture of Afrikaans, German and English speaking folks together who enjoyed a great camaraderie amongst each other.

Oom Ray was selected for the lily white South West Africa Invitation to represent the country at the annual Currie Cup tournament in South Africa. “I played for the Currie Cup team for about four years and it was during these games that I met the late Vic Lovell who was keeping goal for Western Province. In those days, the competition was extremely tough and the closest we came within a victory was a narrow 2-1 defeat at the hands of Western Province when South West Africa hosted the tournament here in Windhoek at the show grounds.”
In the meantime, Oom Ray would occasionally turn out for the country’s only semi-professional team, Windhoek City. His team mates included Karl-Heinz Steinfurth (Steinie), Siegfried “Cocky” Horstemke, Ernst Zapke, Hasso Ahrens, Wessie van der Westhuizen and Klaus von Buchelan.
“In those days, there were only two grassed fields and that was the Windhoek Show Grounds and Talpark, with the rest all gravel fields. We would travel for about two days for a match in Tsumeb with 13 players cramped in a small pick-up.”

It was customary practice to spend a night in Otjiwarongo before continuing the long journey to Tsumeb. The team’s favourite accommodation used to be the sample rooms in various hotels as it was more apparently affordable.

As the old guard faded away, it was left to Oom Ray to guide the new generation of footballers – a task he managed to accomplish with a great measure of aplomb.

When the likes of Bobby Craddock, Werner Sasse, Bob Koudelka, Gunter Hellinghausen, Dougie Rilley, Hasso Ahrens, Steinie Steinfurth, Willy Roesner and Siggy Horstemke came aboard the smooth-sailing train at Tunchel Street – it was Oom Ray who took the new arrivals under his wing.

Oom Ray is the proud custodian of 13 gold medals as an uncompromising midfielder with Ramblers. Such was his exploits on the football pitch that his admirers and team mates took it upon themselves to have him knighted – though unofficially. He was rightly nicknamed Sir Stanley Mathews, the hero from England’s World Cup winning team in 1966.

“Whenever we travelled to a town like Walvis Bay, all 15 players in the Ramblers squad would also represent the club in the National Hockey League in different positions.”

Oom Ray was a valuable member of the national hockey team for an uninterrupted spell of 22 years until a fractured leg put an end to his flirtation with the game of hockey.
“I suffered a fractured leg while playing soccer for Ramblers against Cohen in a league match at the show grounds and that was probably the only time that I missed out on selection for the South West Africa Hockey Team.”

In the meantime, Oom Ray found time to try his hand at the golf course whenever Ramblers was not in action. “I started playing golf at the age of 32 as a 24 handicap and graduated to a 2 handicap.”

His newly found love with the greens saw his two siblings Trevor, then 9 and little Andrew also taking a keen interest in swinging the clubs. “Ag, the boys were just messing around and I really never thought they would become amongst the finest golfers to come out of the shores of this country.”

Young Trevor won his first major tournament at the age of 14 before he turned pro in 1985 and has been playing professionally ever since.

Oom Ray played competitive football and was there and has seen it all when multi-racial football was introduced in the domestic setup in 1977.
Aged 49, Oom Ray was still playing first league football and his last competitive match was against Black Africa in the late 70’s at the Windhoek Stadium, to be Baptist Independence Stadium after apartheid was abolished in 1990.

“Football is really a beautiful game, we competed fiercely on the field but then everything will be forgotten after the match and the players would mingle freely amongst each other. I will always cherish our countless on-the-field battles with Fortuna – they were quite a hard nut to crack and that ultimately led to the rivalry between Ramblers and SKW up to this day.”

Oom Ray rates former team mate and midfield partner Robbie Pieters as the greatest footballer he has ever rubbed shoulders with during a flourishing football career.

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