Danie Craven: 'It was a joke boys'This week we celebrate the life of Mr. Rugby, 'Doctor' Danie Craven, arguably one of the most influential figures in the history of world rugby.
During the 1930s, Craven played Test matches in four different positions, centre, fly-half, number eight although scrum-half was where he excelled as one of the world's best with South Africa at their peak, captaining the Boks on a Grand Slam tour in 1931-2 and becoming the first team to win a series in New Zealand, in 1937.
Success continued as Springbok coach between 1949-52, overseeing 17 wins in 23 Tests marking him out as one of their most successful coaches of all-time. But more was still to come.
He became the president of the South African Rugby Board in 1956, chaired the IRB, as well as the inaugural South African Rugby Football Union until he died in 1993.
Craven had the marmite complex, loved by many who knew him, yet also hated for doing little to challenge segregation in South African rugby, a sport central to white South African identity, during the apartheid era. But for the last decade of his intensely-led life, he even went around the Rainbow Nation preaching the gospel of racially mixed sport.
Daniel Hartman Craven 1910-1993
It was a tough week in 1967, however, for global cultural icon and Latino guerrilla capitan Che Guevara, who was captured and executed by special forces whilst trying to fire up a revolution in Bolivia .
Lest we forget, long before Che became a tough-guy revolutionary and his rugged and raggedy image was silk-screened on thousands of stoners T-shirts worldwide, he was a damned fine rugby player.
The young Che starred at inside centre for several Argentine rugby union clubs in the early ‘50s, and – had he been born 50 years later, he might be lining up alongside Los Hermanos Contepomi in the Pumas’ midfield when they take on South Africa in the World Cup semi-finals this weekend.
And it's Srećan rođendan as they say in Sarajevo to Aussie dual-coder Ryan Cross (29), Munster battle-axe Mick O'Driscoll (30), England skipper Steve Borthwick (29) and Kiwi centre Conrad Smith (27) and special mention must go to Simon Cowell (49) and Sir Bobby Charlton (71) - you sell out!