Gabriël Frederick “Abie” Malan
Former Springbok hooker and captain Gabriël Frederick Malan, otherwise known as Abie, has passed away at the age of 78 on Thursday.
Malan played for the Springboks in the infamous 1965 Test against the All Blacks at Athletic Park in Wellington, which the Springboks won 6-3.
He wore the Green and Gold for 18 Tests, scoring one try, between 1958 and 1965, captaining the team in four matches, whilst playing in another 26 tour matches for the Springboks.
Gabriël Frederick “Abie” Malan
Malan did many things in rugby – played for and captained the Springboks, became a national selector and managed the Springboks at home and on an overseas tour, a strong, decisive but genial man. His achievements came a long way from his birthplace, Kenhardt in the Northern Cape, a small town in a sheepfarming area about 120 miles from Upington.
While still at Hoërskool Kenhardt, Malan played for the town team and for the Oranje Subunion. School finished, he went down to Stellenbosch in 1954 and stayed a Matie for the rest of his life. His last visit was to Ian Kirkpatrick’s funeral when he made the long journey from Upington and back by bus – to be there for his team-mate’s funeral. Malan was the loyalest of men.
In 1955 Malan, a hooker with the attributes of a tough loose forward, played for the Stellenbosch 1st XV, was in the Southern Universities team that lost 20-17 to the British & Irish Lions and made his debut for Western Province for whom he played till 1960. After that he moved up to Vereeniging and played for Transvaal from 1961 to 1965, an established Springbok by then.
At the age of 22 he made his Springbok debut against France. It was a good year for him. He played for South African Universities against France and then, after the drawn Test at Newlands, he played in the second Test at Ellis Park when France won 9-5 and so won the series. He ended the year on a tour to Europe with the Southern Universities team.
In 1960 he played in three Tests against the All Blacks, toured with the Springboks on their Grand Slam tour to the UK, Ireland and France. On the tour he hurt the knee that was operated on this year. Despite his injured knee and the arrival of a replacement, Malan played on in five more matches, including the Tests against Scotland and France. In 1962 he played in three Tests against the British & Irish Lions and then in 1963 captained the Springboks in the first two Tests against a great Wallaby side, was dropped for the third Test in a series when Tommy Bedford was the only forward to play in all four Tests, and then captained them again in the fourth Test when the Springboks saved the series. He was captain again against Wales in 1964 and then went under Dawie de Villiers on the 1965 tour to Australasia when the Springboks won just one Test out of six. Malan played in two in Australia and the first two in New Zealand. In all he played in 18 Tests, a large number for those times, and in 26 tour matches for the Springboks. He was South Africa’s 29th Test captain.
Waratahs and Wallaby prop, Benn Robinson, earlier this year returned Abie’s 1963 playing jersey to its owner from his 1963 opponent, Jim Miller with whom he had swapped at the time.
Playing days over, Abie was a Transvaal selector and team manager, then a national selector and in 1992 the manager of the Springbok team that came on wobbly legs out of isolation to play at home against the All Blacks and the Wallabies and overseas against France in two Tests and England. It was not an easy time. The Springboks won one of those five Tests. For the manager the French part of the tour, which included nine matches, was a difficult experience indeed.
After that Malan went back to his Orange River oasis and farmed.
Statistics:
Date of Birth: 18 November 1935
Place of birth: Kenhardt
School: Kenhardt
Springbok No: 345
Debut Province: Western Province
Physical: 1.82m, 86.2kg
Date of Death: 23 October 2014 (Age 78)
Test summary:Â 18 Tests, 1 Test try
First Test: 16 August 1958 Age:22 Hooker against France at Ellis Park, Johannesburg
Last Test: 21 August 1965 Age:29 Hooker against New Zealand at Carisbrook, Dunedin
Test history:
What Doc Danie Craven said about Abie Malan:
I spotted Abie together with Piet du Toit in the Stellenbosch Under 19 team. Abie came from the Northwest-Bushmanland, and it was obvious from the outset that he had a wonderful fighting spirit.
While they were on tour of the UK and France in 1960 / 1961, the Bok management asked me to send Bobby Johns over as a replacement hooker; Abie’s knee was ‘completely finished’. I told them that I didn’t think Abie would give up his place in the team lightly, that he would play even if he had to put splints on his leg to keep his knee in place.
That is exactly what happened and poor Bobby Johns had to pay the price of this man’s grit and determination as he never did get into the side. These qualities show up in Abie today as a selector – outspoken, straight as a die, says what he wants to say, crawls to nobody.
He’s made a huge success of his life and career and he’s done it on his own. It’s that same grit and determination which he showed on the field that has made him the success he is today.
Abie was appointed manager of the Nampak tour to South America. With his natural ability to communicate easily with both players and administrators he made a wonderful impression.
@ charlesm:
**** Errata
“Clive was 8th man, the others all three-quarters.”
He came up as reserve against the All Blacks.
grootblousmile wrote:
Thanks so Max Baise and a ” no try” awarded to the Springboks (the ball was grounded on Fergus Slattery’s chest…. and the controversy raged on in many autobiographies after that tour)
1974 Springboks vs British Lions results:
1. Newlands, Cape Town 8 June 1974: Springboks 3 / 12 British Lions
2. Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria 22 June 1974: Springboks 9 / 28 British Lions
3. Boet Erasmus Stadium, PE 13 July 1974: Springboks 9 / 26 British Lions
4. Elis Park, Johannesburg 27 July 1974: Springboks 13 / 13 British Lions
Check this link for all teams, team photos, scorers ect: http://www.genslin.us/bokke/SARugby.html
@ Pietman:
I know I have attended a Protea match at the Goodwood showgrounds – it must have been that one.
Unlike you I haven’t met the late Abie Malan. My brother-in-law played a couple of games with him.
I played a couple of games with his son Dawid at Stellenbosch. His daughter (I forgot her name…Liz-Marie?) was something for the eye. I used to visit another student in her residence, Lydia, quite frequently 😉
24 @ Gumboots:
Farkit, so you saw your first Test 2 weeks before I saw my 1st Test!
Damn, that side of Willie John McBride was good… no great… no fantastic!
Legends!
As far as I’m concerned, the 1974 British Lions is the best International Touring team EVERRRRRRRRRRR!
@ charlesm:
Lizma is on the farm, her husband manages the grape export side, dunno what happened to Dawid, some professional job in town, i think.
Oom Abie and my dad played together in later years, with Ian Kirkpatrick and those (Kirk was the Caltex manager in Upington, Dave Stewart at the Caltex depot Carnarvon, of all places, near to your Vosburg ancestors!)
We used to play at the annual Dave Stewart Day at Carnarvon against Villagers when I was still down in the Kalahari, got moered 6 love mostly, that is where I met Jan Voetbol, he is from Carnarvon (couldn’t make it to Maties, didn’t pass matric, or he might have been a Springbok, Dok said…).
@ Gumboots:
@ grootblousmile:
@ charlesm:
The ’74 test against the Lions was also the first test I saw… started off in the scholar enclosure but later jumped the fence and stood in front of main stand… soaking wet..
It was Jan Boland Coetzee’s first test… the hometown hero and hard man of note…. i will never forget the first time he touched the ball and Mervyn Davies tackled him out of his boots sending the ball ball flying 10 meters backwards… Newlands was silent… i then knew the these Lions were going to be a different kettle of fish.
Davies later wrote in his autobiography that it was probably the most satisfying tackle he made in his career,
grootblousmile wrote:
Ditto.
Willie John was a pipe smoker. Fran Cotton chain smoked Stuyvesant!
I maintained contact with Alan Old and Andy Ripley for many years after that tour, entertained them at very same Kanoneiland Charlesm mentioned, when they visited Upington to play NWC the Tuesday before the Loftus test.
Ken Kennedy got engaged to Miss South Afica, Shelley Latham, on that occasion and Chris Rawlston won the T-bone eating competition and landed himself in Gordonia Hospital afterwards
Fran became a millionaire out of Cotton Traders Sportsware later on.
@ Pietman:
Thanks Pietman! Then my memory isn’t too bad – Lizma I guess is an an abbreviation for Liz-Marie of whatever the full names are.
Speaking of Vosburg, my dad and his younger brother attended Stellenbosch Boys’High. Quite a while ago I have discovered some old rugby photos and had it framed. My dad was in Matric in 1929 and Paul Roos (which is on the photo as well) was the principal of the school at the time. I’m not sure when it’s name was changed to Paul Roos.
My uncle was there in 1941. He wanted to become a doctor and had to go to UCT with his Karoo English !!
@ robzim:
because I couldn’t go and had a complimentary ticket (from Uncle Choet Visser, Lions manager on tour)…
Yip, thunder and lightning the night before the test that June, I was watching the storm from Leeuwendal Clinic in Tamboerskloof…biting my pillow in anguish
@ charlesm:
I remember the family business, en daai kwaai oom Charlie (jou oupa ek dink), used to stop there at the store across from the church square often for petrol.
Pietman wrote:
Ek weet nie van die kwaai nie !! 😉 Dis my oupa daai
He had that shop for about 50 years. He was the mayor as well for a long time – I don’t think there were many candidates though !
Did you guys also go nuts and make “Plakboeke”… cuttings of all Newspaper & Huisgenoot pictures and articles of the Springboks, stuck in a blank book?
I remember in ’74 I made seperate Plakboeke for the Springboks and for the British Lions.
I even made wooden cut out figures of my heros, painted them, the works!
1974 was it for me, I was nuts about rugby and was hooked, solid… still am!
Rugby-Talk.com is my current “Plakboek” about rugby… hehehe
@ charlesm:
Those old boys with their Karoo English did okay at Ikeys…and your aunt Suzaan didn’t do to badly either, and quite a looker too, she was
@ Pietman:
@ 40
That’s a tough one.
I remember we travelled by train from bellville station late the night before.. then had to wait for a moerse long time at Salt River station for the Southern suburbs train.
While waiting in the rain i noticed two dodgy looking girls standing on the platform.. a long haired bearded bloke in an old navy duffle coat appeared and as he saw me checking out the girls he said: ” Hey, wat kyk jy so, dis Observatory se tefies, jy beter oppas vir hulle’ !!
Till today I am not sure what he meant
@ charlesm:
Oom het altyd n baadjie en das gedra in die winkel, in die middel van die somer, regop man gewees, potte vol lekkers en liquorice belts op die toonbank…en pruimtwak! Ek kan dit nou nog ruik, daai winkel se reuk.
Here the itinerary of the ’76 tour:
http://springbokrugby.webs.com/1976tour.htm
Match 3 was that Proteas (Coloured Federation XV) game.
http://springbokrugby.webs.com/3rdtourmatch.htm
But it seems as though there was not an SA Country Districs (Platteland) XV game.
Match 4, SA Invitation XV (President’s XV) vs. All Blacks, was played at Newlands on 10 July 1976. John Noble (along with Ronnie Louw, Morgan Cushe & Broadness Cona) featured on the wing for the SA Invitation XV. But John Noble did not score a try.
http://springbokrugby.webs.com/4thtourmatch.htm
Pietman
You must be referring to THIS MATCH:
“Saturday June 7, 1975, Newlands, Cape Town
South African Invitation XV 18 (2G 2PG) French XV 3 (1PG)
South African Invitation XV: Malcolm Swanby; John Noble, Johan Oosthuizen, Pierre Goosen, Toto Tsotsobe; Dawie Snyman, Stan Holmes; Turkey Shields, John Trollope, Piet Karsten, Hennie Bekker, Kevin de Klerk, Morné du Plessis (captain), Dugald MacDonald, Morgan Cushe Substitution: Kobus Immelman for Bekker
Scorers Tries: NOBLE,
Oosthuizen
Conversions: Snyman (2) Penalty Goals: Snyman (2)”
http://www.espnscrum.com/scrum/rugby/story/114664.html
@ robzim:
Gareth Edwards made gatte out of our loosies that day, first time us Saffas saw the reverse pass, Jan Ellis didn’t know which way to go!
And Sakkie Sauerman got his ass handed to him by Mighty Mouse MvCloughlin, end of story.
I was listening in on the radio, no TV, with Alan Old, he got injured against the Proteas the Tuesday before, we shared that room for three weeks, and so I had the honour to get to know the team quite well.
@ Angostura:
SA Counties vs All Blacks was in 1976, Andy Leslie’s team, if the old memory still serves, when Noble scored that memorable try. WP also beat them year, with Chris Pope scoring in the exact same corner.
@ Pietman:
I am talking kuk now! Not SA Counties, I think they were called SA Invitation or something, white jerseys with red hoops?
@ Pietman:
Check the itinerary (& results) above in my post 47
The 76 All Blacks did not play against a SA Country Districts XV, & the only teams that beat the All Blacks outside of the Tests were Western Province, Northern Transvaal & Orange Free State.
The team (SA Invitation XV) that played & beat France at Newlands in 1975 was the 1st multi racial team in South Africa, & John Noble played on the wing that day, & did indeed score a try …
Nice trip down memory lane here.
Obviously the “lane” is rather longer for some than others.
😆
Check… I added quite a bit more info on Abie Malan!
@ Angostura:
Thanks, my old fading memory bows to yours…I was at the match but can’t remember the team’s name exactly! I leave the erratum to you young guns and the next generation, homework so to speak
Us oldies haven’t really mastered the art of blogging and googling and whattawhatta, too lazy, I guess…
@ Angostura:
Thanks, my old fading memory bows to yours…I was at the match but can’t remember the team’s name exactly! I leave the erratum to you young guns and the next generation, homework so to speak
Us oldies haven’t really mastered the art of blogging and googling and whattawhatta, too lazy, I guess…
grootblousmile wrote:
Poor Bobby Johns, didn’t even play for WP and got thrown in at the deep end straight from Villagers.
Same happened to Faan Conradie, your late colleague and learned friend from George, therefore he never wanted to wear the blazer, they say…
And while we’re cruising down Memory Lane…
It’s been 28 LONG YEARS since the two teams in tomorrow’s big one met in a CC Final!
For the record:
Western Province (aka The Mountain Goats)
(15-1)
Calla Scholtz, Carel du Plessis (c) Goggie van Heerden, Faffa Knoetze, Clark Ellis (don’t really remember him) Chris Smit, Freddie Ferreira, Gert Smal, Deon Lotter, Tiaan Strauss, Schalk Burger sr, Neil Hugo, Keith Andrews, Shaun Povey, Bill Niewoudt (don’t remember him either).
Replacement: William Cockerill on for Povey in the first half
Transvaal (aka Transvaal)
(15-1)
Jannie Tiedt, Liaan Kirkham, Dries Maritz, Hugo van As, Hempas Rademeyer, Schalk Naude, John Robbie, Jannie Breedt (c) Andries Fourie, Wahl Bartmann, Lappies Labuschagne, Daan Badenhorst, Piet Kruger, Chris Rogers, Barabas Venter.
Replacements: NONE (Transvaal were tough)
And don’t anybody ask me the score because I can’t remember…
Pietman wrote:
Pietman, Chris Pope scored in that righthand corner (Railways and Northern stand) yes. Robbie Blair who missed a heck of a lot of penalties that day, had to convert from the corner to give Province the victory, which he fortunately did.
@ grootblousmile:
Two Springbok selecters born in Kenhardt, capital of Dorperland, Peter Jooste and Abie Malan, howzat!
Not bad for a little dusty, sleepy hollow in the middle of nowhere, I say, sout van die aarde manne daai
@ BrumbiesBoy:
Clarke Ellis was “a blonde” from UCT and Bill Nieuwoudt from Paarl. Povey battled with a hamstring injury and therefore he had to leave the field. Povey was the only player to play in all 5 of the 1982 to 1986 finals.
Povey set the bar for lineout throwing !
@ charlesm:
Spoke to Robbie once, at a Medi Clinic gathering when he was still Communications Manager or something at the De Braak….talked about that kick he had to take in Kimberley at the death, and some joker in the stands behind the posts started flashing a mirror straight into his face. Says Robbie, “O fok, daai dag het ons amper op ons moer gekry!”
Tertius Koch was Griqua captain that day, you remember him, I am sure, 8th man? From Moorreesburg.
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