Craven, Daniel Hartman

▪ 1994

      ("DANIE"), South African rugby player and administrator (b. Oct. 11, 1910, Lindley, Orange Free State, South Africa—d. Jan. 4, 1993, Stellenbosch, Cape Province, South Africa), was at the centre of South African rugby for more than 50 years—as a player, coach, and selector; as president (1956-92) of the South African Rugby Board (SARB); and as copresident (from 1992) of the multiracial South African Rugby Football Union (SARFU). Craven first played for the national Springbok team in 1931, while he was a theology student at the University of Stellenbosch. An injury induced him to switch majors, and he eventually received doctorates in anthropology, psychology, and physical education. Although he usually played at the scrum-half position, in his 16 matches as a Springbok the versatile Craven also played fly-half, fullback, and No. 8. He made his last appearance for South Africa in 1938 and then served as director of physical education for the national defense force (1938-41) and for the South African military college (1941-46). In 1947 he returned to the University of Stellenbosch, where he remained as head of the physical education department (1947-75) and director of sport and recreation (1976-80). He was also a Springbok coach and selector until 1956. As SARB president, Craven sought to end his country's exclusion from international rugby. In 1988 he defied South African law to meet with members of the then-banned African National Congress in exile in Zimbabwe, and when the breakdown of apartheid began in 1991, he led talks between the all-white SARB and the other racially based governing bodies to form the unified SARFU. Despite ill health, Craven traveled to Europe in October 1992 to watch South Africa play against France.

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