August Frederick 'Oubaas Mark' Markötter (1878–1957) was a 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 ...

player and national selector who coached Stellenbosch Rugby Football Club from 1903 to 1957. As coach he not only turned Maties into the world's largest rugby club but forged 50 of his players into Springboks and got nearly 150 of his players selected for the Western Province team. Eleven of the 1906 Springbok touring squad to Britain "had developed under him at Stellenbosch". Markötter popularized the 3–4–1 scrumming formation which is now standard in rugby union, and thus created the position of eighthman as a loose forward. He has also been credited with entrenching the swing-pass among his players. Markötter was "one of the most influential and significant personalities in South African rugby, which he dominated" between 1903 and 1957.

Early life

August Frederick Markötter, better known as 'Oubaas Mark' or 'Mr Mark', was born on 10 June 1878 on the Berlin Missionary Society's

Haarlem Haarlem (; predecessor of ''Harlem'' in English language, English) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Netherlands. It is the capital of the Provinces of the Nether ...

mission station, near Uniondale in the

Western Cape The Western Cape ( ; , ) is a provinces of South Africa, province of South Africa, situated on the south-western coast of the country. It is the List of South African provinces by area, fourth largest of the nine provinces with an area of , an ...

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 ...

. He was the third son of missionary Christoph Heinrich Markötter (d.1893) and Mari Henriette (née Beuster, d.1932). His parents had immigrated separately from

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

to South Africa, where they had met and married. When August Frederick was 15, his father was killed in an accident with a horse-drawn carriage at Humansdorp, where he was buried. His mother remarried in 1896. Young Markötter showed great promise as a student, succeeding with honours in schools at Haarlem and Uniondale, and under a Mr Stucki at Blouvlei. It is at Blouvlei that he received the nickname 'Oubaas', by which he would be known for the rest of his life.

Rugby playing career

In April 1893 Markötter enrolled at Victoria College in Stellenbosch, where he took up rugby at the age of 16. He made his first appearance in the third team as a full-back against a side from Hamiltons. Assiduous practicing moved him into the second team, where he switched to fly-half. Proving to be "a hard and committed tackler" he made the first team in 1894, for which he continued to play until 1897. His teammates and friends included 1903 Springbok Japie Krige, with whom he would later open a lawyer's firm in Stellenbosch. Markötter was also a keen cricketer and tennis player. After gaining his BA in 1898 he wrote in a letter, "I definitely decided to dedicate the rest of my life to rugby football". He accepted a position as teacher at Paarl Gimnasium for 9 months, and turned out for Paarl's rugby club. He began training as a lawyer, and moved to Cape Town, where he played for Villagers. After qualifying in 1901 at

Cape Town Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...

, he opened his first practice at

Wellington Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...

, where he continued his rugby career in the town team. In 1903 Markötter moved to Stellenbosch as a partner in the firm Krige and Markötter. He captained the town team which went unbeaten that entire season. He was appointed captain of the Western Province Country XV which beat Mark Morrison's visiting

British and Irish Lions The British & Irish Lions is a rugby union team selected from players eligible for the national teams of England national rugby union team, England, Ireland national rugby union team, Ireland, Scotland national rugby union team, Scotland, and ...

team 13–7 at Newlands. This marked the first time that a Lions team had been defeated by a non-test side in South Africa. A severe knee injury that he sustained in a 1904 cricket match ended his career as rugby player. Subsequently, he turned to coaching, establishing a reputation for "uncompromising coaching methods".

Legacy

Markötter adopted and adapted the 3–4–1 scrum formation that had been developed independently by Springboks Fairy Heatlie in 1901 while playing for Villagers and applied on the 1906 South African tour of Britain by fellow Villager Paddy Carolin. Markötter's contribution was to coach his players to wheel the formation after which the No. 8 would pick up the ball and break.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Markotter, August Frederick South African rugby union coaches Afrikaner people 1878 births 1957 deaths Rugby union players from the Western Cape Rugby union fly-halves South African rugby union players 20th-century South African lawyers

Early life

Rugby playing career

Legacy

See also

References