Paul Roos (rugby player)

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Paul Roos, Springbok Captain, of the first South African touring rugby team to the British Isles in 1906

Paul J. Roos (1878 - 1948) (also known as Oom Polla - Afrikaans for "Uncle Polla") was the first South African Springbok rugby union captain and led the first South African rugby union team to tour overseas - to Britain in 1906.

He was born in the South African town of Stellenbosch and also completed his education there.

It was during this tour that the South African national rugby union team's nickname, Springboks, was first used. At an impromptu meeting, the tour manager, officials and Paul Roos invented the nickname 'Springbok' to prevent the British press from inventing their own nickname. Roos told the newspaper reporters that they were to call the team 'De Springbokken', the Daily Mail then printed an article referring to the 'Springboks'. The team thereafter wore blazers with a springbok on the left breast pocket. The trip helped heal wounds after the Boer War and instilled a sense of national pride in the South Africans.

In 1910 he became Rector of the Stellenbosch Boys' High School, of which he was a former pupil and teacher. He held this post for thirty years and retired in 1940. In 1941 the name of Stellenbosch Boys' High School was changed to Paul Roos Gymnasium in his honour.