George Murray Daneel (29 August 1904 – 19 October 2004) was a
South African __NOTOC__
South African may relate to:
* The nation of South Africa
* South African Airways
* South African English
* South African people
* Languages of South Africa
* Southern Africa
Southern Africa is the southernmost subregion of the Afric ...
rugby
Rugby may refer to:
Sport
* Rugby football in many forms:
** Rugby league: 13 players per side
*** Masters Rugby League
*** Mod league
*** Rugby league nines
*** Rugby league sevens
*** Touch (sport)
*** Wheelchair rugby league
** Rugby union: 1 ...
player. He was capped eight times, scoring two tries. He was known as being the oldest Springbok rugby player.
Personal history
Daneel was born in Calvinia,
Cape Colony
The Cape Colony ( nl, Kaapkolonie), also known as the Cape of Good Hope, was a British Empire, British colony in present-day South Africa named after the Cape of Good Hope, which existed from 1795 to 1802, and again from 1806 to 1910, when i ...
(now in the Northern Cape) on 29 August 1904 to Marthinus and Charlotte Daneel, and was one of seven children. His father was a
Dutch Reformed Church
The Dutch Reformed Church (, abbreviated NHK) was the largest Christian denomination in the Netherlands from the onset of the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century until 1930. It was the original denomination of the Dutch Royal Family and ...
minister who had played rugby for Stellenbosch University against
Bill Maclagan
William Edward Maclagan (5 April 1858 – 10 October 1926) was a Scottish international rugby union forward who played club rugby for London Scottish F.C. Maclagan was one of the longest-serving international rugby players during the early dev ...
's
1891 British team. He also had two other relatives who played at a high level; his uncle Henry Daneel was a member of
Paul Roos' 1906–07 team, while one of his cousins, Louis Louw, played on the
1912–13 tour under the captaincy of Billy Millar.
When his father was at
Victoria West, Daneel attended the local school, but had to leave in his final year as he was the only senior pupil left and that the standards were not quite up to scratch. His father eventually sent him to school in Robertson, due to the boarding there being inexpensive.
He studied theology at the University of Cape Town (UCT) in 1922 and 1923, failing both years, but managed to complete his final year at Stellenbosch University in 1929.
Rugby career
While still at school he played halfback, alternating between
scrum-half and
fly-half on opposite sides of the field. After arriving at the University of Cape Town (UCT) with the intention of studying theology, he came to the realization that he had no future at scrum-half and subsequently switched to number 8.
At provincial level, he represented Western Province and Transvaal. During World War II after he had already stopped playing, he was also persuaded to play for and captain Western Transvaal after their regular captain Nic Bierman became ill.
He won his first cap against
New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
in 1928 and his last against
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...
in 1932.
Life after rugby
On the
1931–32 Springbok tour of the UK and Ireland, he came into contact with
Frank Buchman's Oxford Group
The Oxford Group was a Christian organization (first known as ''First Century Christian Fellowship'') founded by the American Lutheran minister Frank Buchman in 1921. Buchman believed that fear and selfishness were the root of all problems. Fur ...
and decided to give up rugby to be a part of the
Moral Re-Armament, although he still coached on occasion. His work with the movement made him particularly unpopular with the government of the time.
Later he followed in his father's footsteps and himself became a religious minister and served as chief chaplain to the South African Forces during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
.
See also
*
1931–32 South Africa rugby union tour
References
External links
George Daneelon espnscrum.com
George Daneelat the Springbok Rugby Hall of Fame
{{DEFAULTSORT:Daneel, George
1904 births
2004 deaths
People from Hantam Local Municipality
Afrikaner people
Rugby union number eights
South African rugby union players
South Africa international rugby union players
South African centenarians
Men centenarians
South African military personnel of World War II
Rugby union players from the Northern Cape
Western Province (rugby union) players