Gabriël Pieter 'Gawie' Visagie (31 March 1955 – 19 November 2014) was a South African

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

footballer.

Playing career

Visagie was born in Vereeniging, Gauteng, but finished his schooling in Kimberley in the

Northern Cape The Northern Cape is the largest and most sparsely populated province of South Africa. It was created in 1994 when the Cape Province was split up. Its capital is Kimberley. It includes the Kalahari Gemsbok National Park, part of the Kgalagadi T ...

at HTS Kimberley and was selected to represent

Griqualand West Griqualand West is an area of central South Africa with an area of 40,000 km2 that now forms part of the Northern Cape Province. It was inhabited by the Griqua people – a semi-nomadic, Afrikaans-speaking nation of mixed-race origin, wh ...

at the annual

Craven Week The Craven Week is an annual rugby union tournament organised for schoolboys in the Republic of South Africa. The tournament started in July 1964, and is named after the legendary Springbok rugby union player and coach Dr Danie Craven. The tou ...

tournament in 1973. In 1974 he moved to Pretoria for his two years of National service and played for the

Northern Transvaal Northern may refer to the following: Geography * North, a point in direction * Northern Europe, the northern part or region of Europe * Northern Highland, a region of Wisconsin, United States * Northern Province, Sri Lanka * Northern Range, a r ...

under–20 team. In 1976 he was back in the Northern Cape to work at the Associated Manganese Mines of South Africa Limited (AMMOSAL), now called Assmang Proprietary Limited. Visagie made his Provincial debut for Griqualand West in 1977 and played 39 games for the union. In 1981 Visagie re-located to Natal and played for

Natal NATAL or Natal may refer to: Places * Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, a city in Brazil * Natal, South Africa (disambiguation), a region in South Africa ** Natalia Republic, a former country (1839–1843) ** Colony of Natal, a former British colony ...

until 1985. He was also part of the team that unexpectedly reaches the

Currie Cup The Currie Cup is South Africa's premier domestic rugby union competition, played each winter and spring (June to October), featuring teams representing either entire provinces or substantial regions within provinces. Although it is the premier ...

Final in

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeast A ...

. Visagie toured with the

Springboks The South Africa national rugby union team, commonly known as the Springboks (colloquially the Boks, Bokke or Amabokoboko), is the country's national team governed by the South African Rugby Union. The Springboks play in green and gold jersey ...

to New Zealand in 1981. He did not play in any test matches for the Springboks, but played in three tour matches, scoring two tries.

Accolades

Visagie, along with

Darius Botha Daniël Sarel 'Darius' Botha (26 June 1955 – 12 February 2018) was a South African rugby union player. Playing career Botha played for the Blue Bulls, Northern Transvaal under–20 side in 1974 to 1975 and made his debut for the Northern T ...

, Willie du Plessis, Doug Jeffrey and

Andre Markgraaff Andries Thomas "Andre" Markgraaff (born 23 December 1956) is a retired South African rugby union lock. He matriculated at Diamantveld High School and was a controversial national coach, who resigned after he was taped using the racial K-word. ...

, was named one of the five SA Rugby Young players of the year for 1979.

Death

Visagie died on the 19th of November 2014 after a long battle with cancer.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Visagie, Gawie 1955 births 2014 deaths South African rugby union players South Africa international rugby union players Griquas (rugby union) players Sportspeople from Vereeniging Rugby union players from Gauteng Sharks (Currie Cup) players Rugby union scrum-halves

Playing career

Accolades

Death

See also

References