The prestigious Chairman’s Cup, the largest domestic clay target shooting competition of the year, has teams of 12 competitors from each of the nine participating provinces, divided into four teams for each individual discipline, for a total of 108 contestants, and it’s happening in Kimberley this weekend.
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Here’s some history on clay target shooting, as you may be wondering, where and how did the sport start.
The development of firearms for use in warfare and hunting started in the 13th century when Bartolomeo Beretta – one of the first gun manufacturers – created a firearm that could launch a projectile fairly accurately across a long distance making arrows seem rather tame.
It was Charles II who brought the French ‘Art of Shooting and Flying’ with him to England in the 15th century. Shooting for rewards was first documented in 1474. It was fairly common to shoot live birds, mostly pigeons, starlings, and even sparrows in an activity called ‘trapshooting’.
However, as shooting live birds was frowned upon as time moved on, the sport needed to evolve and inventors looked to developing inanimate targets that would ‘fly’ like birds.
It was George Ligowski who created the first clay target in 1880. Ligowski would watch boys skim clamshells across a pond, and had a eureka moment. He persuaded the youngsters to toss targets into the air for him to fire at. Following these experiments, he created his clay target, and later a spring-loaded launching device was developed.
The first public display of clay pigeon shooting was held at New York’s Coney Island in 1880.
The history of clay shooting in South Africa is a little hazy, but with the establishment of the Clay Pigeon Shooting Association (CPSA) in 1954 the work became simpler, and after 1972, when formal mechanisms were put in place, record keeping significantly improved.
Kimberley saw the use of live pigeon shooting at the end of the 19th century. On May 23, 1876, the Diamond News and GW (Government Gazette) published an item announcing a live pigeon shoot to celebrate the birthday of the Queen. On June 15, 1877, the Diamond Fields published a challenge competition that was scheduled to take place at the Racecourse.
The enchanting history of the Northern Cape CTSA (formerly Griqualand West CPSA) began more than 50 years ago when Dr. Alec Kalell was elected as Chairman of the Clay Pigeon Shooting Association of South Africa in 1972. It was around this time that the illustrious history of the De Beers Gun Club started.
A noble and unselfish culture has permeated the Northern Cape clubs for the last 50 years, starting with the Riverside Gun Club in 1958 and continuing with the Sandiacres Gun Club in 1960 and the De Beers Gun Club (now Kimberley Clay Target Club) in 1971.
Despite being one of the smaller provinces, the Northern Cape CTSA members’ passion and drive continue to motivate and develop young clay target shooters who reap the rewards of their forefathers’ toil and illustrious past.
The Northern Cape has produced numerous new junior members over the years, increasing its CTSASA (Clay Target Shoot Association of South Africa) membership and nearly tripling it over the past 20 years.
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