Hendrik Johannes Bekker (born 12 September 1952 in

Nuwerus Nuwerus is a settlement in Matzikama Municipality, West Coast District Municipality, West Coast District in the Western Cape province of South Africa. Village 16 km south-east of Bitterfontein and 70 km north-west of Vanrhynsdorp. The name is Afri ...

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 ...

is a former 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.

Early life and career

Bekker was born in the small town of Nuwerus in the North-western region of the

, but spent most of his school years in

Goodwood, Cape Town Goodwood is a suburb of Cape Town in the Western Cape, South Africa and is situated in the Tygerberg region of the City of Cape Town. It is 10 kilometres from Cape Town and accessible from the N1, N7 and N2 highways. The town was established ...

where he attended JG Meiring High School and represented the school's first team for three years. In 1970 he was selected to represent the Western Province schools team at the annual

Craven Week The Craven Week is an annual rugby union tournament organised for schoolboys in the Republic of South Africa. The tournament started in July 1964, and is named after the legendary Springbok rugby union player and coach Dr Danie Craven. The ...

tournament held in

Salisbury, Rhodesia Harare ( ), formerly Salisbury, is the capital and largest city of Zimbabwe. The city proper has an area of , a population of 1,849,600 as of the 2022 census and an estimated 2,487,209 people in its metropolitan province. The city is situat ...

(now Harare, Zimbabwe).

Playing career

Provincial career

After school, Bekker enrolled at Paarl Teachers Training College and made his provincial debut for Boland on 24 May 1973 against a touring London Counties team. In 1974 Bekker moved to Stellenbosch University to further his studies and joined the university's rugby club,

Maties 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 ...

. He made his debut 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 ...

on 10 August 1974 against Transvaal and scored his first try for Western Province. Two years later, in 1977 Bekker received his call up for military service and he had to join the Defence Force in

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 ...

. During his time in Bloemfontein he played 27 matches for the Free State. Bekker returned to Stellenbosch in 1979 and again joined the Maties. He also returned to the Western Province team and represented the province until his retirement from playing at the end of 1985. During the 1980s Bekker was part of the Western Province team that won the Currie Cup in

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street Bridge in Washington, D.C. ...

1983 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning of the ...

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...

and

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a n ...

. At the time of his retirement, Bekker scored 44 tries for Western Province, which was the Western Province try scoring record.

International career

Bekker made his test debut for 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 ...

during the 1981 tour of New Zealand in the first test on 15 August 1981 at

Lancaster Park Lancaster Park, also known as Jade Stadium and AMI Stadium for sponsorship reasons, was a sports stadium in Waltham, a suburb of Christchurch in New Zealand. The stadium closed permanently due to damage sustained in the February 2011 earthqu ...

Christchurch Christchurch (; ) is the largest city in the South Island and the List of cities in New Zealand, second-largest city by urban area population in New Zealand. Christchurch has an urban population of , and a metropolitan population of over hal ...

, New Zealand. He was not selected for the second test but returned to the side for the third test match against New Zealand at

Eden Park Eden Park is a sports venue in Auckland, New Zealand. It is located three kilometres southwest of the Auckland CBD, on the boundary between the suburbs of Mount Eden and Kingsland. The main stadium has a nominal capacity of 50,000, and is s ...

Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

. Bekker played a further 8 matches on tour for the Springboks, scoring three tries.

Test history

Accolades

Bekker was named the

SA Rugby Player of the Year The SA Rugby Player of the Year is awarded annually to honour the South Africa's outstanding rugby union player of the year. List of winners Multiple winners * 4 times: :: 1979, 1981, 1985, 1987 - Naas Botha * 3 times: :: 2005, 2007, 2012 - ...

for 1983. The other nominees for the award in 1983 were

Divan Serfontein David Jacobus 'Divan' Serfontein (born 3 August 1954 in Krugersdorp, South Africa) is a former Springbok rugby union player. Playing career Provincial career Serfontein started his rugby career in 1974 at where he was selected for the club's u ...

Carel du Plessis Carel Johan du Plessis (born 24 June 1960) is a former South African rugby union coach and player. Playing career Du Plessis played for Western Province and the Springboks, his skills earning him the nickname the ''Prince of Wings''.

, Liaan Kirkham and

Ray Mordt Raymond Herman Mordt ( ); born 15 February 1957) is a Zimbabwean/South African rugby footballer who represented his country in rugby union before moving to English professional rugby league club, Wigan, with whom he won the Championship during ...

Coaching

On 1 October 1985, Bekker was appointed assistant–organiser for coaching at the South African Rugby Board. From 1986 to 1989 he acted as forward–coach for Western Province and in 1990 he replaced Dawie Snyman as head coach of Western Province.

Personal

Bekker is the father of

Andries Bekker Andries Bekker (born 5 December 1983 in Cape Town, South Africa) is a former South African rugby union player for the Springbok rugby team as well as Kobelco Steelers in the Japanese Top League. Playing career Bekker made his South African d ...

, a former Western Province,

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 ...

and Springbok Rugby player. Andries is currently playing for

Kobelco Steelers The Kobelco Kobe Steelers are a Japanese rugby union team owned by Kobe Steel, and based in Kobe. They were the first ever Top League champions when the League started in the 2003-2004 season. The team rebranded as Kobelco Kobe Steelers ahead of ...

in the Japanese

Top League Japan Rugby League One (), formerly known as the Top League (), is a rugby union competition in Japan. It is the highest level of professional rugby competition in the country. The Japan Rugby Football Union created the competition in 2003, by ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bekker, Hennie 1952 births Living people South African rugby union players South Africa international rugby union players Western Province (rugby union) players People from Matzikama Local Municipality Rugby union locks Rugby union players from the Western Cape Stellenbosch RFC players