The Journey of Errol Tobias - South Africa's First Black Springbok - Part 2 "Climbing the Ladder"

Tobias' individuality on the field and command of the basics soon earned him a spot in the 1972 Proteas (consisting of the country’s top non-white players) tour to England. The tour was mildly successful in terms of results, with two victories, one draw and three losses, but the real eye-opener for the young men was witnessing a free society in motion, one in which they could be considered equal.

“We came from a country where people of different races had to do everything separately. Now, suddenly, everything was open to everyone and we could come and go as we pleased. We kept looking at each other and saying: ‘Surely this is how things should work in South Africa.’ We were hoping that this rugby tour would open the eyes of white South Africans and change their mindset. We played harder every game and were more competitive in the hope to one day also be considered equal back home.” Tobias recalls.

While that dream was still many years away, he was determined to keep it alive. Later that year, the young fly-half was given the opportunity to play against the touring British & Irish Lions side. The Proteas lost the game but left the field with a sense of pride in their performance and the name ‘Tobias’ began to be whispered in rugby circles all over the country.

The Lions opportunity repeated itself two years later in the famous and violent tour of 1974. The Proteas were heavily beaten 37-6 in a dirty game which Tobias, to this day, is somewhat ashamed to have been a part of, despite scoring all his team’s points. The Lions roared on that tour and dealt the whole of South Africa a stern lesson in rugby, winning all of their 21 matches.

The year 1977 was a bright one in the career of young Errol Tobias. The country opened its first ‘mixed trials’ initiative in which black and white players took to the field as teammates and resulted in Tobias being the first non-white player to be selected for the provincial team, Boland, to participate in the Currie Cup (South Africa’s premier domestic competition and the oldest rugby competition in the world).

1977 and ’78 paved the way for Tobias’ selection into the South African Barbarians team to tour the UK in 1979 – the first multiracial South African team to play overseas. The excursion was challenging on two fronts; firstly, the players were bombarded by a media who were determined the tour be seen by the rest of the world as ‘political window-dressing’ and, secondly, with eight white, eight, coloured and eight black players, integration required almost as much attention as the rugby.

Despite the challenges, the players’ and coaching staff’s efforts were rewarded with a decent set of results (winning four games, losing two and drawing one) and the tour would be forever remembered as a success, not just for the players, but for the ideal of a new South Africa as well.