Fred Smollan

Frederick "Fred" Cecil Smollan (20 August 1908 – 8 February 1998, Johannesburg) was a South Africa international rugby union player.[1]

Fred Smollan
Birth nameFrederick Cecil Smollan
Date of birth(1908-08-20)20 August 1908
Place of birthUitenhage, South Africa
Date of death8 February 1998(1998-02-08) (aged 89)
Place of deathJohannesburg, South Africa
SchoolGrey High School, Muir College
Occupation(s)businessman
Rugby union career
Position(s) Flanker
Amateur team(s)
Years Team Apps (Points)
Wanderers RFC 1930–38 ()
Provincial / State sides
Years Team Apps (Points)
1929–30
1930–39		 Eastern Province
Transvaal		 ()
National team(s)
Years Team Apps (Points)
1933 South Africa 3 (0)
Official website
www.smollan.co.za

Career history

Fred Smollan was born in Uitenhage, South Africa in 1908 to David Smollan and Mathilda Goldwater, the second of four brothers.[2] Educated at Muir College and later Grey High School, Smollan was only the second Jew to represent South Africa in rugby union, after Morris Zimerman.[3] Smollan played club rugby for Wanderers RFC, regional rugby for Eastern Province and Transvaal and played three times for South Africa in 1933.[1][4]

His three internationals were all against Australia on the team's 1933 tour of South Africa. Although he would receive no further caps, he faced international opponents again, facing the 1938 British Lions as part of the Transvaal team. Transvaal defeated the Lions 16–9, with Smollan scoring one of the tries.[5]

In 1931 he set up a business Smollan Holdings, initially as a sales agency. With the outbreak of World War II he served in North Africa. He married Molly Amelia Raphaely in Johannesburg in 1943 and after the war returned to run his business which he built into a public company.[6] Smollan and Molly had two children, Doug (b. 1945) and Katherine (b. 1948).[7] Smollan Holdings expanded to become the Smollan Group, a multinational company which now employs 34,000 people and outsources marketing services across the world.[8] Smollan remained as its chairman until shortly before his death.[7]

See also

References
  1. "Fred Smollan: Profile". ESPN Scrum.com. Retrieved 24 April 2010.
  2. Wiseman, Donald. "Kehilat Middlesbrough Newsletter and Archives". kmbro.org. Archived from the original on 19 August 2014. Retrieved 8 August 2012.
  3. Shneider, Moria (10 July 2009). "Jewish rugby players of yore reminisce about 'The Game'" (PDF). South African Jewish Report. p. 14. Retrieved 8 August 2012.
  4. "Brief History of Wanderers Rugby Football Club" (PDF). thewanderersclub.co.za. Retrieved 8 August 2012.
  5. "Transvaal 16 v 9 British & Irish Lions". lionsrugby.com. Retrieved 8 August 2012.
  6. "A Global Fieldmarketing Leader – Smollan". Retrieved 14 February 2013.
  7. Wiseman, Donald. "Kehilat Middlesbrough Newsletter and Archives". kmbro.org. Retrieved 8 August 2012.
  8. "Smollan Group "About Us"". smollan.co.za. Retrieved 8 August 2012.
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