AJ Venter (born 29 July 1973) is a retired South African

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

footballer, who played rugby for the

Sharks Sharks are a group of elasmobranch cartilaginous fish characterized by a ribless endoskeleton, dermal denticles, five to seven gill slits on each side, and pectoral fins that are not fused to the head. Modern sharks are classified within the ...

in the international

Super Rugby Super Rugby is a men's professional rugby union club competition involving teams from Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. It has previously included teams from Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Super Rugby started as the S ...

competition, and the in the domestic

Currie Cup The Currie Cup () is South Africa's premier domestic rugby union competition featuring teams representing either entire provinces or substantial regions within provinces. Although it is the premier domestic competition, four South African franc ...

competition. Venter also played for the South African national team, the

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

. Venter made his debut for South Africa on 26 November 2000 in a Test against

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

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, and went on to represent the

25 times. His usual position was as flanker, but he also played at

lock Lock(s) or Locked may refer to: Common meanings *Lock and key, a mechanical device used to secure items of importance *Lock (water navigation), a device for boats to transit between different levels of water, as in a canal Arts and entertainme ...

or No 8. After retiring from professional rugby, Venter up-skilled himself within the financial sector and worked with institutions like ABSA and

Old Mutual Old Mutual (officially Old Mutual Limited) is a South African investment, savings, insurance, and banking group, operating across Africa. It is listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange, the Namibian Stock Exchan ...

Early life and education

Playing career

In 2002, Venter, along with Richie McCaw of New Zealand, saved referee

David McHugh David McHugh is an Irish former rugby union referee. McHugh refereed matches at the 1995, 1999 and 2003 Rugby World Cups. In 1996 McHugh refereed the inaugural Heineken Cup final. He would also referee the 2001 final, making him the first r ...

from injury when a drunk South African fan ran onto the pitch during a 2002 Tri-Nations game between South Africa and New Zealand in Durban. McCaw wrestled the fan off the referee while Venter ran and tackled both McCaw and the fan to the ground before the rest of the players attempted to drag him off as security ran onto the field. AJ Venter was selected for the second-string squad for the away legs of the

2007 Tri Nations Series The 2007 Tri Nations Series was an annual rugby union competition between the national teams of Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. The series began in South Africa on 16 June, with a Test between South Africa and Australia at Newlands, Cap ...

in Australia and New Zealand as almost 20 first team players were either rested or injured. However he decided to retire from International rugby and hence withdrew from the

touring squad. His retirement meant that he also missed out on a possible

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the name is ...

place with the

, but he cited personal and business commitments in Durban and South Africa as his reasons for the retirement. Venter continued playing for the

until the end of the 2008 Super 14 competition. Later in the year, Venter rekindled his passion for the game after a lack of game time, including a controversial exclusion from the Sharks semi-final team. He joined the

Stormers The Stormers (known for sponsorship reasons as the DHL Stormers) and the academic team DHL Stormers is a South African professional rugby union team based in Cape Town in the Western Cape that competes in the United Rugby Championship, a tra ...

(Western Province) on a short-term contract, before finally hanging up his boots.

Personal life

Venter is in a relationship with Danielle Oldfield, a holistic dietitian and keynote speaker from Durban, he also had two divorces in his early life. Venter has talked about going through a tough time in business post rugby and experiencing anxiety, he does a keynote on the lessons learned from these moments of hardship and runs a life skills program for school kids on how to navigate the challenging moments life throws at us.

References

External links

www.lifewithaj.net

Sharks profile

AJ Venter
on sporting-heroes.net

AJ Venter's Personal Web Page
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Venter, Aj 1973 births Living people South African rugby union players South Africa international rugby union players Golden Lions players Lions (United Rugby Championship) players Sharks (Currie Cup) players Sharks (rugby union) players Western Province (rugby union) players Stormers players Free State Cheetahs players Rugby union number eights Rugby union flankers Rugby union locks Afrikaner people South African expatriate rugby union players in Italy South Africa international rugby sevens players Male rugby sevens players Rugby union players from the Free State (province)