The University of the Free State Shimlas did their part for cancer on Friday by having their heads shaved and cut to raise awareness for the dreaded illness. A handful of the players assembled at BAB Barbers in Louw Wepener Street in Bloemfontein on Friday afternoon in support of one of their teammates.

The loose forward and occasional hooker, Anrich Alberts, recently lost his father to cancer and his teammates showed their support in honour of his dad.

While not all the players were open to actually having their heads shaved, the majority went for a haircut, albeit some of the lads were quite particular about their hair.

One of the first men to sit in the barber’s chair was the team’s skipper, who led the “Shavathon” just as he leads the young side on the field. The team’s manager, Riaan Schoeman, got in on the action, opting for a nice clean shave with a cutthroat, seeing that there wasn’t much hair to cut in the first place.

Speaking to Courant, the centre, Stephan Janse van Rensburg, said having their heads shaved was the least they could have done for Alberts.

“We’re quite a tight brotherhood in the team and we felt maybe it’s the only thing we could do to support him (Alberts).

“When at Badass Barbers, we decided to get nice, clean cuts. It’s all for cancer and good cause”.

Janse van Rensburg agreed that this experience was also the ideal opportunity to strengthen the brotherhood and team environment even more.

“This is a long competition and as players we are together every day. It’s tough and you need that brotherly bound, so this makes it a lot easier and more fun. So we try and make it an enjoyable environment and this keeps us going.”

The Shimlas opened their 2017 Varsity Cup campaign with a hard fought 26-21 win over the University of the Witwatersrand last week Monday.

This week the team had to travel to Johannesburg again for their match against the University of Johannesburg. At the time of print the match hadn’t been played yet. – MORGAN PIEK