Robert Loftus Owen Versfeld

Loftus Versfeld
Birth nameRobert Loftus Owen Versfeld
Date of birth(1862-12-07)7 December 1862
Place of birthConstantia, Cape Colony
Date of death4 May 1932(1932-05-04) (aged 69)
Place of deathEllis Park, Johannesburg
Notable relative(s)Marthinus Versfeld, Charles Versfeld
Occupation(s)Solicitor, Administrator
Rugby union career
Position(s) Three-quarter[1]
Amateur team(s)
Years Team Apps (Points)
1880–85 Hamiltons RFC, Sea Point ()
1888 Union RFC, Uitenhage ()
1889–97 Pretoria RFC, Pretoria ()
Provincial / State sides
Years Team Apps (Points)
1885 Cape Town XV ()
1889 Transvaal ()
1891 Transvaal Country XV ()

Robert Loftus Owen Versfeld[2] (7 December 1862 – 5 May 1932) was a South African rugby union player and administrator who was a founding member of the Eastern Province Rugby Union and of the Pretoria Rugby Subunion (1908) which in 1938 became Northern Transvaal. He founded Pretoria Rugby Club in 1888,[3] and established Pretoria rugby headquarters at Eastern Sports Grounds. He introduced grass playing fields to the Transvaal.[4]

Versfeld is the only South African player to have won a Grand Challenge Cup in three different provinces with three different teams: the inaugural Western Province Grand Challenge Cup with Hamilton Rugby Football Club in 1883; the Eastern Province Grand Challenge Cup with Union RFC in 1888; and the Transvaal Grand Challenge Cup with Pretoria RFC in 1889. He also played for a Transvaal Country XV against Bill MacLagan's touring British Isles side in 1891.[4]

  1. ^ Platnauer, E. J. L. (1908). Sport and Pastime in the Transvaal. Johannesburg: Geo. Wunderlich. p. 63.
  2. ^ Alternate variants are 'Robert Owen Loftus Versfeld', but N.A. Coetzee (1993, pp.38–9) provides transcripts of the death notices for Versfeld's father and for Versfeld himself which state his name as 'Robert Loftus Owen Versfeld'.
  3. ^ Platnauer, E. J. L. (1908). Sport and Pastime in the Transvaal. Johannesburg: Geo. Wunderlich. p. 215.
  4. ^ a b Coetzee, N.A. (March 1993). "Herdenking van Loftus Versfeld op 20 Junie 1992" (PDF). Pretoriana – Journal of the Old Pretoria Society. 102–105: 35–46. Retrieved 6 January 2014.