CAPE TOWN FAMILY HISTORY SOCIETY

Paul Dobson’s talk on the Origins of Rugby Football – 16 January 2010

[More information follows in the next newsletter]

Paul Dobson, probably the most knowledgeable person we could have had to talk to us about rugby started with an entertaining description of the origins of rugby football - exploding a few myths on the way.

Paul went on to name and give background information on a number of South Africa’s early top rugby players, such as Benjamin Osler and Alfred Richards.

In 1891 an Anglo/Scot team played against South Africa and won every game. An Anglo/Irish team came out in 1896. Selection of the teams to play the tourists was very simple – a man was approached to form a team, and he selected his friends! This was the case with a man called Castens, who had a brother who owned a trading store in Pearston who also chose some men, and the team therefore consisted of both Eastern and Western Cape players. The legendary Barry Heatlie who started the OD Union at Bishops and whose wife designed the tie, was chosen as captain, and he chose his club’s green jersey for the team to wear – which became the Springbok jersey. This time South Africa won.

After the Anglo-Boer war – for purposes of reconciliation - a touring team was selected. Hero of this 1903 team was Japie Krige, who was the father of Uys Krige and whose sister Issy married Jan Smuts. Pieter-Dirk Uys is also of this same family. Other anecdotes were of Paul Roos who wouldn’t travel on a Sunday because of his religion, Gerald Orpen who proposed the name “Springboks” for the team, Oubaas Markotter, Danie Craven, Oupa Martinus Versfeld, brother of Loftus Versfeld. Paul showed us a precious find he had, which was the 1906 team manager’s log book.

Many thanks to Paul Dobson for a fascinating talk on the people and stories around rugby.