Short History of The Society
In the beginning there were no referees. The captains decided. Rugby School’s rules, as written in 1840 state: "Heads of sides, or two deputies appointed by them, are the sole arbiters of all disputes."
The two deputies came to be called umpires and they ran with sticks in their hands. If they agreed when asked for a decision, there was no problem. If they disagreed, they then referred the matter to a single person – a referee.
After that, with the formation of unions, a dispute could be referred to the union as well.
The great Fairy Heatlie, who was the great forward and captain for Western Province in his day, had this to say about umpires and the method of appointing referees in those far-off times: "Thanks be for small mercies! Umpires were scrapped after the 1892 season. We had, however a very good system with regard to the appointment of referees. This official was appointed by the two competing sides. Only in the case of disagreement was the Union asked to step in. This was very rare. I cannot remember ever having to resort to it."
From 1893 the referee was entitled to blow his whistle whether there was an appeal or not. In the strictest sense he ceased in 1893 to be a referee, because he was making up his own mind instead of waiting to be referred to.
From the start of playing in South Africa, in 1861 as a local game based on the game played at Winchester School, and then in 1878 as a game played in accordance with the laws of Rugby School, there were officials to see that the laws were fairly observed.
Originally the referees were current players. The first referees’ society to be founded in South Africa was in Eastern Province in 1896. The next was Transvaal in 1904 and after that came Western Province in 1909. In 1922 the Society gained autonomy from the Western Province RFU.
The Newlands-based Western Province Referees’ Society joined with the referees of Western Province League in 1978.
In 1992, with the unification of rugby in South Africa between SARU, and its affiliates, and SARB, and its affiliates, a new Western Province Referees’ Society was founded. It was made up of referees from City & Suburban, Somerset Board, Tygerberg, Western Province Board, Western Province, based in Green Point, and Western Province, based at Newlands.
Top Achievers
Over the years there have been many referees in the Western Province who have refereed test matches. Included amongst them are HH Castens who was South Africa’s first rugby captain and refereed a test in the same series and Jenny Bentel, South Africa’s first woman to referee a test.
The following is a list of test referees from the Western Province.
Herbert Hayton Castens (1891), William Molteno Bisset (1896), Alfred Renfrew Richards (1896), Percy Ware Day (1903), John Henry Anderson (1903), William Alexander Millar (1924), Alexander Wilhelm Archibald van der Horst (1933), Johannes Jacobus Strasheim (1938), Ralph Douglas Burmeister (1949-61), Gamatdien Davids (1950-52), Mohammed Salie Basardien (1957), Pieter Melt Hertzog Calitz (1961), Hassiem Magmoed Daniels (1961), Pieter Abraham Myburgh (1962-63), Gamat Noor Khan (1964), Yusuf Isaacs (1965), Ebrahim Smith (1965), Ronald Albert Gordon (1966), John Fortuin Kulsen (1967), Theophilus Cornelius Hardenberg (1967), Max Baise (1967-74), Johannes Petrus Jacobus Schoeman, (1968), Ismail Schroeder (1969), Harry Francis Abrahams (1971), Suleiman Abels (1972), Denzil John Rabie (1973-77), Edmund Hubert Swart (1974-76), Edward Geoff Kulsen (1977), Graham Petersen (1978), Fuad Sasman (1982), Edwin Errol Hendricks (1984-89), Neville Leslie Heilbron (1987), Freddie Daniel Claassen (1988), Frederick Burger (1989-94), Carl Moses Spannenberg (1991-2000), Andrew Daniel Turner (2000-04), Eugene Clive Daniels (2001-04), Louis Mzomba (2001-03) Jerome Christopher Fortuin (2005-06), Jenny Bentel (2004-06).
