Springbok Austin van Heerden Dies
Austin van Heerden played just one Test for the South African Coloured Rugby Board and was the captain of his team in that Test.
That he came from the Central Karoo Rugby Union made his achievement all the greater.
In 1951, when sport was racially segregated as it had been from the beginning and not just with the advent of apartheid, the SA Coloured Rugby Board and the SA Bantu (later African) Rugby Board chose their best teams and, denied access to the Springboks and IRB internationals, played Tests against each other.
The 1961 match was played at Green Point Track on windy day. The African Springboks played with the wind and led 9-0 at half-time, thanks to two tries and a dropped goal by Eric Majola. Leonard Phillips kicked two long-range penalties for the Coloured Springboks to make the score 9-6. Baba Jali then scored a try and the Africans won 12-6.
Van Heerden’s team included scrumhalf San King Mawing and prop Ebrahim Rinquest.
Van Heerden started playing rugby at Spandau High School in Graaff-Reinet where he was one of the schools first pupils. After school he joined Polytechnics, during his training to become a schoolmaster. The young schoolmaster then joined Swallows, a club which he captained. Later he taught in Murraysburg and played for Murraysburg.
Van Heerden had a long career in the game, playing his provincial rugby as a centre or a flyhalf for Midlands Rugby Union, which included towns like Graaff-Reinet, Middelburg, Murraysburg, Cradock and Somerset East. Then Central Karoo RU was formed with Graaff-Reinet as its centre and including Murraysburg. Van Heerden played for Central Karoo from 1953 to 1971. He was 38 when he retired.
Austin Appollis van Heerden was born in Nieu-Bethesda on 30 December 1932 and died in Port Elizabeth on Tuesday, 26 June 2018. His wife had predeceased him and he is survived by his four children, son Ralston and daughters Evelyn, Denise and Yolanda, nine grandchildren and one great grandchild.
