Short History
of the
Hall of Fame

It was extremely important that these awards not be made lightly, so to this end, a comprehensive list of criteria was established whereupon the motivation of all applicants would be based. Both the Executive Committee and 1996 AGM at Worcester accepted these criteria exactly as they were proposed. During 1998, the Executive Committee made only 3 amendments to sub-sections of these criteria.

During the 1996 Championship Show, eleven ad hoc awards were made to members who had excelled by virtue of their contribution to the fancy pigeon hobby prior to this time. Having recently compiled the Commemorative edition of “The Fancy Pigeon” magazine, the editor, Kobus Snyman, identified the recipients of these awards. This information was gleaned from the copyright Bloemfontein Library after months of research.

The Hall of Fame idea was further implemented by Kobus Snyman during 1997 when he requested permission to have a physical building erected on the Bloemfontein show grounds. Up until then, Bloemfontein had been responsible for hosting the Championship Show almost every second year, so it was reasoned that in future everybody would have easy access to the Hall of Fame. Building started with funds from the Free State region and later with the help of other regions, clubs and members and with the help of the Central Agricultural Society. Free State members, especially Kobus Snyman, who was already on pension, personally undertook the building, working days and weeks at a time. After Kobus suffered a heart attack in April 1998, the building was taken over by the Free State region itself, with Chris van den Berg being very closely involved. The building was completed in 2000, but due to a lack of funds, the finishing touches could not be made.

As a result of the slow progress with the finishing touches, the Hall of Fame building became a bone of contention in 2000. Some were of the opinion that it was not worth the money spent on it, while others thought that the Free State region had actually created additional accommodation for itself. The controversy increased. Kobus, who had regained his health in the meantime, was in the middle of this controversial issue. Slowly but surely, his dedication to complete this mission waned, and he could no longer see his way clear to continue with it.

During the Executive Committee meeting of July 2006, the decision was made to finally put the Hall of Fame project aside, for the following reasons:

It was proposed that, instead of a physical building, the Hall of Fame should much rather be developed as an integral part of the SAFPA website on the internet, which would also be much cheaper. This task was delegated to Kobus because he is best equipped to deal with it: - he handles the website for SAFPA, knows much of the history of SAFPA and has, since the beginning, had specific ideas about the completed Hall of Fame.

The “Internet Hall of Fame” is available to the public at large. If you are a SAFPA member, rest well assured that the history of SAFPA and those members who left their mark on the hobby, can serve as motivation to you, to also rise above average and the norm to great heights, in concord with the talents entrusted to you by our Heavenly Father.