Danie Craven

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Danie Craven
Image:Danie Craven.jpg
Danie Craven in the team photo of the 1937
Personal information
Full name Daniël Hartman Craven
Date of birth 1910-11-11
Place of birth Lindley, Free State, South Africa
Date of death 1993-01-04
Place of death Stellenbosch, South Africa
Height 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Weight 80 kg (12 st 8 lb)
Rugby union career
Playing career
Position Scrum-half
National team(s) Caps (points)
1931–1938 South Africa 16 (6)

Daniël Hartman Craven (11 October 1910 Lindley, Free State, South Africa, died 4 January 1993 Stellenbosch, South Africa), more famously known as Danie Craven or simply Doc Craven, is a former Western Province, Eastern Province, Northern Transvaal and Springbok rugby union player as well as arguably South Africa's best and best-known rugby administrator. He also coached the Springboks between 1949 and 1956, becoming one of the most successful Springbok coaches of all time.

He was born in Lindley, Free State province, South Africa and attended the Lindley High School there. Later he studied at Stellenbosch University in the Western Province where he received his Doctorate and eventually also lectured, and played for the Western Province rugby union team.

He played his first test match on 5 December 1931 (as scrum half) at the age of 21 against Wales at St Helens, Swansea. His last test match was on 10 September 1938 as captain (also as scrum half) at the age of 27 against the British Lions at Newlands, Cape Town. During the 1930's he was one of the world's leading scrumhalves, but the start of the Second World War in 1939 probably ended his career prematurely.

After his rugby-playing career ended, he became a national selector until he was appointed coach in 1949. He started his coaching career with a bang, winning 10 matches in a row, including a 4-0 whitewash of New Zealand in their 1949 tour to South Africa, and leaving the Springboks undefeated from 1949 to 1952. Under his guidance the Springboks played 23 tests, winning 17 (73%), an achievement that makes him one of South Africa's greatest coaches in history.

Craven became the president of the South African Rugby Board (SARB) in 1956. He was also a member of the International Rugby Board was its chairman on several occasions.

Statue to Danie Craven at Coetzenburg in Stellenbosch.
Statue to Danie Craven at Coetzenburg in Stellenbosch.

The last part of Craven's chairmanship of the SARB occurred during the country's most tumultuous years. Rugby had become the national sport of white South Africans and a symbol of Afrikaner power. In the 1970s and 1980s, the outlawed African National Congress allied with overseas anti-apartheid movements succeeded in getting South Africa isolated from sporting contact with the rest of the world. Of all the sanctions aimed at South Africa, none upset the white population more than the ban on rugby internationals. In 1988, in a bold bid to return to global competition, Craven met leaders of the African National Congress (ANC) in Zimbabwe and entered an unprecedented deal to form a single rugby association fielding an integrated team for foreign tournaments. Many right-wing whites in South Africa attacked Craven for meeting with the ANC which they regarded as treason, and then-president P.W. Botha denounced the move.[1] Although the deal did not lead to the immediate end of the sporting isolation, it paved the way for the formation of the unified body, the South African Rugby Football Union (SARFU) in 1992, with Craven as its first chairman, until he died in 1993, having served for an unbroken 37 years at the head of the sport.

The South African Craven Week schools rugby competition is named after him, as well as the Danie Craven Stadium and Danie Craven Rugby Museum in Stellenbosch.

[edit] References

  1. ^ "World Notes: South Africa." Time Magazine, Monday, Oct. 31, 1988.

[edit] External links


Persondata
NAME Danie Craven
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Daniël Hartman Craven, Doc Craven
SHORT DESCRIPTION South African rugby union footballer and administrator.
DATE OF BIRTH 11 October 1910
PLACE OF BIRTH Lindley, Free State, South Africa
DATE OF DEATH 4 January 1993
PLACE OF DEATH Stellenbosch, South Africa
Languages