RUGBY legend Naas Botha was in Port Elizabeth yesterday to receive four limited-edition books containing information about great sportsmen of the past to add to his foundation the SA Sports Hall of Fame.

At the Protea Marine Hotel two former presidents of the old Port Elizabeth St George‘s Club, Neil McLaggan and Peter van der Merwe (SA cricket captain from 1965 to ‘67) handed the books to Botha, who was ecstatic about them.

“These books are in the interest of every South African who has ever been interested in sport.

“Over the years we lost a bit of our history, but I think this is a step in the right direction to get our rich history back,” said Botha, who was in the city to watch the British and Irish Lions clash against the Southern Kings.

McLaggan said the four leather- bound volumes were discovered in the library of the PE St George‘s Club, which recently closed down.

“We really do not know how we came to be in possession of these extraordinary books, but they are still in excellent condition,” he said.

Botha said the history of sport had been brushed under the carpet because everybody is “a bit blasé about it”, but he was confident the information in the books would continue to be of interest.

“It is important to preserve history and to make sure we do not lose any more of our history. We need to preserve and build a legacy,” he said.

A number of the pictures in the volume about great South African sportsmen date back to the 1700s, and feature events which all played a big role in building sports to where it is today.

The Hall of Fame is being built in Knysna. Botha said that although there was still a lot of work to be done before the Hall of Fame could officially be opened, he hoped to finalise the financial interest by the end of the month.

“It has definitely not been an easy road, but we‘ll get there and it will be most definitely worth it.”

The Hall of Fame will incorporate all types of sports, not only rugby and cricket.

“It‘s a long process. We cannot just induct someone into the Hall of Fame because they are the hot topic at the moment because our emotions can cloud our judgment. We have to look at what they have achieved on the field overall.

He stressed that he was not in charge of the selection process which determined who was in the Hall of Fame. He was merely the driving force to ensure the processes were carried out.

He is encouraging the public to donate any item of memorabilia to the hall of fame in order to further promote the preservation of sporting history.