SAGA

The South African Go Association is the national organization responsible for promoting and developing Go in South Africa. SAGA has been affiliated to the International Go Federation since 1993.

SAGA provides various services and infrastructure to the clubs around the country, as well as obtaining sponsorship for developing Go in schools and disadvantaged communities. Many beginners benefit from the existence of SAGA even though they do not know it at the time – joining SAGA is your way to make sure you’re not just draining the system, but rather helping to support and expand Go in South Africa.

If you want to learn more about SAGA, contact the SAGA secretary or the SAGA president.

Joining SAGA/renewing your membership

Paid membership is currently suspended while the SAGA Council reevaluates the fee structure. No membership fees are being collected at this time, and no payments should be made to SAGA. Existing members will not be treated as being in arrears during this period.

An announcement will be made here once the Council has settled the fee structure and membership payments reopen. In the meantime, if you would like to join SAGA or have a question about your membership, please contact the SAGA secretary.

SAGA memberships run for calendar years (1 Jan-31 Dec).

SAGA Ranks

SAGA employs the ranks calculated by the South African Go Clubs website, available on this page. These ranks are used to determine handicaps for club and tournament games.

SAGA governance

SAGA is governed according to the SAGA constitution, as amended in December 2013: SAGA Constitution (PDF).

Additional information

Affiliations: SAGA is a member organization of the International Go Federation (IGF), and as such is subject to all their rules and regulations, including the IGF Anti-doping policy.

Historical Notes

From a Facebook post: “Possibly the start of Go in RSA was the group that started in the SPL offices (Sandton City) about 1974. No doubt there must have been isolated Go players somewhere around the country before that time, so this is a tentative claim. However, that original 1974 group traces a continuous history to the present. For reference, the late Georg Bernfeld wrote a brief history in the SAGJ (Vol. 3 No. 2 Winter 1995).”