SARL Hall Of Fame

Adrian Jacobus Van Heerden
 
B:  10/3/1898
Boshoff, South Africa
 
D:  14/10/1965
Pretoria, South Africa
 
Attie Van Heerden was a South African 400m olympic hurdler, rugby union and rugby league footballer of the 1920’s
 
He scored the first ever Springbok try against New Zealand in a rugby test and is the only Springbok who has participated in an olympic games
 
He played for Western province  and the Springboks in union before moving to England  to play  rugby league with Wigan and later Leigh as a winger
 
Whilst at Wigan he represented the other nationalities side in two matches
 
Van Heerden signed with Wigan in October 1923  and made an impressive start with 5 tries in an “A” match. He soon went into the firsts team and
 
went on to consistently score including 4 tries against Hull KR and Hunslet
 
In the Hunslet match he scored what was one of the greatest ever tries seen at Central park in which he went the full length of the field , beating half the Hunslet team in the process
 
In 1923/24 , He was a member of the victorious Wigan side who defeated Warrington ,22-10 in the Championship final
 
That same year Wigan won the Challenge cup final , 21-4 over Oldham
 
In 1925/26 Van Heerden played in the Lancashire Cup victory
 
His brother was Nicholas Van Heerden who also played for Wigan in the 1920’s
 
Van Heerden  signed  with Leigh for the 1927 season before returning to South Africa
 
 
 
1923-1927            Wigan                            127 matches       107 tries
1927                       Leigh                                14 matches
1923                       other nationalities              2 matches            2 tries

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