Adriaan "Attie" Jacobus van Heerden (10 March 1898 – 14 October 1965) was a South African Olympian 400-metre hurdler,

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 ...

and professional

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...

footballer who played in the 1920s. He played representative level rugby union (RU) for South Africa (Springboks), at provincial level for

Western Province Western Province or West Province may refer to: *Western Province, Cameroon *Western Province, Rwanda *Western Province (Kenya) *Western Province (Papua New Guinea) *Western Province (Solomon Islands) *Western Province, Sri Lanka *Western Provinc ...

and

Transvaal Transvaal is a historical geographic term associated with land north of (''i.e.'', beyond) the Vaal River in South Africa. A number of states and administrative divisions have carried the name ''Transvaal''. * South African Republic (1856–1902; ...

, and at university level for

Stellenbosch University Stellenbosch University (SU) (, ) is a public research university situated in Stellenbosch, a town in the Western Cape province of South Africa. Stellenbosch is the oldest university in South Africa and the oldest extant university in Sub-Sahara ...

, as a

Wing A wing is a type of fin that produces both Lift (force), lift and drag while moving through air. Wings are defined by two shape characteristics, an airfoil section and a planform (aeronautics), planform. Wing efficiency is expressed as lift-to-d ...

, and representative level rugby league (RL) for Other Nationalities, and at club level for

Wigan Wigan ( ) is a town in Greater Manchester, England. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. It is the largest settlement in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan and is its ad ...

and

Leigh Leigh may refer to: Places In England Pronounced : * Leigh, Greater Manchester, Borough of Wigan ** Leigh (UK Parliament constituency) * Leigh-on-Sea, Essex Pronounced : * Leigh, Dorset * Leigh, Gloucestershire * Leigh, Kent * Leigh, Staffor ...

, as a . Attie van Heerden played for Wigan in the same era as fellow South African Afrikaner David Booysen.

Olympic appearance

Born 10 March 1898 in

Boshof Boshof is a farming town in the west of the Free State province, South Africa. The town is 55 km north-east of Kimberley on the R64 road. Established in March 1856 on the farm Vanwyksvlei, which had been named after a Griqua who sowed his ...

, Free State, Attie van Heerden participated in the 400-metre hurdles in the

1920 Summer Olympics The 1920 Summer Olympics (; ; ), officially known as the Games of the VII Olympiad (; ; ) and commonly known as Antwerp 1920 (; Dutch language, Dutch and German language, German: ''Antwerpen 1920''), were an international multi-sport event held i ...

in Antwerp, Belgium. He was eliminated at Round One, Heat Two as he did not finish. Attie van Heerden's personal best for the 400-metre hurdles was 57.9 seconds set in 1920. Attie van Heerden was crowned as the South African champion in the 120-yard hurdles (16.0 seconds), as well as in the 440-yard hurdles (58.2 seconds) at the South African Championships held in Johannesburg in 1920. Attie van Heerden is the only rugby

Springbok The springbok or springbuck (''Antidorcas marsupialis'') is an antelope found mainly in south and southwest Africa. The sole member of the genus (biology), genus ''Antidorcas'', this bovid was first Species description, described by the Germa ...

to have participated at the Olympic Games.

Playing career

International honours

Attie van Heerden won caps for

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

(RU) while at

in 1921 against New Zealand (2 matches), and won cap(s) for Other Nationalities (RL) while at Wigan in 1923–26 against England. Attie van Heerden did not participate in the

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 ...

Tournament of 1920, held at

Bloemfontein Bloemfontein ( ; ), also known as Bloem, is the capital and the largest city of the Free State (province), Free State province in South Africa. It is often, and has been traditionally, referred to as the country's "judicial capital", alongsi ...

and

Kimberley Kimberly or Kimberley may refer to: Places and historical events Australia Queensland * Kimberley, Queensland, a coastal locality in the Shire of Douglas South Australia * County of Kimberley, a cadastral unit in South Australia Ta ...

, due to his participation at the 1920 Olympic Games in Antwerp, Belgium. However, he was still selected for the

rugby team for the 1921 tour to Australia and New Zealand. Attie van Heerden scored the first ever try in a South Africa versus New Zealand international rugby union match. He scored five tries in the first official match of the 1921 tour, against

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

, this was a

record until 1956, when it was improved by Roy Dryburgh, who scored six tries. Attie van Heerden scored 42 points, from 14 tries, and was the top try scorer on the

1921 South Africa rugby union tour of Australia and New Zealand The 1921 South Africa rugby union tour of Australia and New Zealand was the third tour made by the Springboks rugby team, and their first tour to Australia and New Zealand. South Africa played three Test matches against the All Blacks. The serie ...

Championship final appearances

Attie van Heerden played in

's 22–10 defeat by

Batley Batley is a market town in the Kirklees district, in West Yorkshire, England, south-west of Leeds, north-west of Wakefield and Dewsbury, south-east of Bradford and north-east of Huddersfield, in the Heavy Woollen District. In 2011, the popu ...

in the

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this sys ...

Final during the 1923–24 season, and scored a try in the 22–10 victory over

Warrington Warrington () is an industrial town in the Borough of Warrington, borough of the same name in Cheshire, England. The town sits on the banks of the River Mersey and was Historic counties of England, historically part of Lancashire. It is east o ...

in the

Final during the 1925–26 season at

Knowsley Road Knowsley Road is a former football stadium in Eccleston, St Helens, Merseyside. It was the home ground of St. Helens from 1890 until its closure in 2010. St Helens Town FC played their home fixtures at Knowsley Road from 2002 until 2010. For ...

, St. Helens on Saturday 8 May 1926.

Challenge Cup Final appearances

Attie van Heerden played , and scored a try in

's 21–4 victory over

Oldham Oldham is a town in Greater Manchester, England. It lies amongst the Pennines on elevated ground between the rivers River Irk, Irk and River Medlock, Medlock, southeast of Rochdale, and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative cent ...

in the 1923–24 Challenge Cup Final during the 1923–24 season at Athletic Grounds,

Rochdale Rochdale ( ) is a town in Greater Manchester, England, and the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale. In the United Kingdom 2021 Census, 2021 Census, the town had a population of 111,261, compared to 223,773 for the wid ...

on Saturday 12 April 1924. Attie van Heerden's try was scored between the posts behind a

police horse Mounted police are police who patrol on horseback or camelback. Their day-to-day function is typically picturesque or ceremonial, but they are also employed in crowd control because of their mobile mass and height advantage and increasingly in t ...

that was on the field of play attempting to keep the 41,831 crowd at bay.

County League appearances

Attie van Heerden played in

's victory in the Lancashire League during the 1925–26 season.

County Cup Final appearances

Attie van Heerden played on the in

's 11–15 defeat by Swinton in the

1925–26 Lancashire Cup The 1925–26 Lancashire Cup was the eighteenth tournament in the history of this regional rugby league competition, and another new name was added to the trophy. This time it was the turn of Swinton Lions, Swinton, one of the founding members o ...

Final during the 1925–26 season at

The Cliff A cliff is a vertical, or near vertical, rock exposure. Cliff, The Cliff or The Cliffs may also refer to: Buildings *Cliff Brewery, a former brewery near Ipswich, England *Cliff Palace, largest cliff dwelling in North America *The Cliffs, a histo ...

, Broughton on Wednesday 9 December 1925.

School days

Attie van Heerden was a pupil at

Paarl Gimnasium Paarl Gimnasium is a public Afrikaans medium co-educational high school situated in the city of Paarl in the Western Cape province of South Africa. History Rev. van der Lingen founded the school in the centre of town in 1858. The school has p ...

school in

Paarl Paarl (; ; derived from ''parel'', meaning "pearl" in Dutch) is a city with 294,457 inhabitants in the Western Cape province of South Africa. It is the largest city in the Boland, Western Cape, Cape Winelands. Due to the growth of the Mbekweni ...

Western Cape Province The Western Cape ( ; , ) is a province of South Africa, situated on the south-western coast of the country. It is the fourth largest of the nine provinces with an area of , and the third most populous, with an estimated 7 million inhabi ...

, South Africa.

Genealogical Information

Attie van Heerden was the brother of the of the 1920s for

and

York York is a cathedral city in North Yorkshire, England, with Roman Britain, Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers River Ouse, Yorkshire, Ouse and River Foss, Foss. It has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a Yor ...

; Nicolaas Van Heerdenbr>
Van Heerden died 14 October 1965 in

Pretoria Pretoria ( ; ) is the Capital of South Africa, administrative capital of South Africa, serving as the seat of the Executive (government), executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to the country. Pretoria strad ...

, Gauteng.

After Rugby

Following his retirement from rugby, Attie van Heerden returned to South Africa, and worked as a security guard for Iscor.

References

External links

Search for "Heerden" at rugbyleagueproject.org

->
Statistics at wigan.rlfans.com
* *

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Van Heerden, Attie 1898 births 1965 deaths Afrikaner people Alumni of Paarl Gimnasium Athletes (track and field) at the 1920 Summer Olympics Leigh Leopards players Olympic athletes for South Africa Other Nationalities rugby league team players Orange Free State people People from Tokologo Local Municipality Rugby league wingers Rugby union wings South Africa international rugby union players South African male hurdlers South African people of Dutch descent South African rugby league players South African rugby union players Stellenbosch University alumni Wigan Warriors players Rugby union players from the Free State (province) Golden Lions players Stellenbosch RFC players