CAPE TOWN – Springbok legend Chester Williams will make his final visit to his favourite Newlands rugby stadium on Saturday.
Family and fans of the late Springbok will arrive at the rugby stadium on Saturday to pay their final tributes to the legendary Western Province and Springbok winger when his funeral takes place at the Newlands rugby stadium at noon today.
The event in Newland will cap a week of tributes to the Springboks legend who unexpectedly passed away last Friday.
Family, friends and rugby supporters arrived in their thousands during a number of memorial events held in the course of the week.
Tributes to the late Rugby World Cup 1995 winner kicked off at the University of the Western Cape's Great Hall on Wednesday. At the time of his passing, Williams was the coach of the UWC Varsity Cup rugby team. In attendance at UWC were Francois Pienaar, captain of the triumphant RWC 1995 Springboks, close friends and former teammates Breyton Paulse and Jerome Paarwater, as well as the UWC Varsity Cup rugby team.
This was followed by a packed event in his hometown of Paarl - at the Boland Cricket stadium on Thursday - where supporters arrived on a cool evening to bid farewell to a son of Paarl.
During the event at UWC on Wednesday, Minister of Public Works, Patricia de Lille - a close friend of the Williams family - announced that President Cyril Ramaphosa had declared Chester Williams' funeral a special provincial event.
National flags will be flown half-staff throughout the province in memory of Chester Mornay Williams.