South Africa tour of the British Isles 1953

On Friday 4th September 1953, the South African party arrived at Southampton on the liner "Winchester Castle". The party was met by Sir Stanley Rous (FA secretary, later FIFA president).
It was the first South African side to visit the UK for 29 years. A dinner was held in their honour at the Dorchester Hotel (London) on Thursday 10th September.

The squad consisted of 17 players, selected from clubs in South Africa and Rhodesia.

RESULTS

DATE        VENUE            OPPOSITION                  SCORE
09/09/1953  Ilford           British Universities         1-3   South Africa
12/09/1953  King's Lynn      Norfolk County FA            2-4   South Africa
14/09/1953  London           Charlton Athletic FC         3-1   South Africa
19/09/1953  London           England Amateur              0-4   South Africa
23/09/1953  London           Arsenal FC                   2-2   South Africa
26/09/1953  Birmingham       Birmingham County FA         2-2   South Africa  
30/09/1953  Wolverhampton    Wolverhampton Wanderers FC   3-1 ! South Africa
03/10/1953  Bangor           Wales Amateur                1-0   South Africa
07/10/1953  Liverpool        Liverpool FC                 3-2   South Africa
10/10/1953  Belfast          Northern Ireland Amateur     2-5   South Africa
14/10/1953  Belfast          County Antrim FA             1-0   South Africa
17/10/1953  Inverness        Scottish FA Northern XI      3-1   South Africa
21/10/1953  Dundee           Dundee FC                    3-1   South Africa
24/10/1953  West Hartlepool  Durham County FA             2-2   South Africa
28/10/1953  Newcastle        Newcastle United FC          3-1   South Africa
31/10/1953  Leeds            West Riding County FA        2-2   South Africa
04/11/1953  Sheffield        Sheffield Wednesday FC       9-3   South Africa
07/11/1953  Weybridge        Vickers-Armstrong FC         1-5 + South Africa
09/11/1953  London           Anglo-South African XI       6-1 * South Africa
11/11/1953  Southampton      Southampton FC               6-2   South Africa

! This match on 30 September marked the inauguration of the first floodlights 
  at Molineux.

+ Vickers-Armstrong FC played in the Metropolitan & District League.

* The Anglo-South African XI consisted of South African players who played 
  for English league clubs; the match on 9 November was played at Highbury,
  attendance: 3.000, with the following line-ups:
    Anglo-South African XI:
  Albert Uytenbogaardt (Charlton Athletic), Roelof Oelofse (Watford),
  John Hewie (Charlton Athletic), Edward Purdon (Birmingham City),
  Norman Nielson (Derby County), Eddie Stuart (Wolverhampton Wanderers),
  Billy Strauss (Plymouth Argyle), Syd O'Linn (Charlton Athletic),
  Alfred Ackerman (Hull City), Eddie Firmani (Charlton Athletic),
  Bill Perry (Blackpool)
  Goalscorers: Perry, Ackerman (3), Strauss and Stuart
    Springbok XI:
  Tyrrell, Dow, Meeser, Coop, Machanik, Gibson, Claassens, Warren,
  Hurly, Keys, Roos.
  Goalscorer: Warren

The team left England on Thursday 12th November to play some more games on the continent.

DATE        VENUE            OPPOSITION                  SCORE
17/11/1953  Amsterdam        North & West Netherlands     4-0 ! South Africa
22/11/1953  Oeiras           Portugal                     3-1   South Africa
23/11/1953                   Madeira                      3-4   South Africa

! Noord-West Nederland:
   Jan van de Wint (VSV); Joop Odenthal (Haarlem), Kees de Voogd (Haarlem),
   Kees Kuijs (Haarlem); Klaas Smit (Volendam), Loek Biesbrouck (RCH);
   Tonny van Ede (Sparta), Rinus Michels (Ajax), Cor van der Gijp (Emma),
   Jan Luppens (Stormvogels), Piet van der Kuil (VSV); reserves:
   Jan Hagenaars (De Volewijckers), Ferry Mesman (Blauw Wit),
   Gerrit Krist (Ajax), Jos Vonhof (DWS);
 goals: Rinus Michels (2), Piet van der Kuil, Cor van der Gijp;
 geographically the inclusion of Dordrecht-based Emma forward Van der Gijp 
   made little sense.

SOUTH AFRICA SQUAD

 Aubrey John Tyrrell                   Berea Park              Northern Transvaal
 Kenneth Robert (Doug) Rudham          Germiston Callies       Southern Transvaal
 Clarence Meeser                       Peninsula               Western Province
 Maurice (Morrie) Jacobson             Johannesburg Rangers    Southern Transvaal
 Benjamin S. (Ben) Machanik            Marist Brothers         Southern Transvaal
 Roy Coop                                                      Southern Rhodesia
 Harry Edward Naish                    Berea Park              Northern Transvaal
 Allan Clifford (Cliff) Jacques        Johannesburg Rangers    Southern Transvaal
 Ross Dow  [captain]                   Berea Park              Natal
 Brian Kenneth Gibson                  Balfour Park            Southern Transvaal
 John Henry (Johnny) Claassens         Garrison (Pretoria)     Northern Transvaal
 Walter (Wally) Warren                 Marist Brothers         Southern Transvaal
 Leslie E. (Les) Salton                Berea Park              Natal
 Godfrey Keys                          Peninsula               Western Province
 Henry Edward Charles (Charlie) Hurly  Marist Brothers         Southern Transvaal
 Daniel Leow (Dan) Le Roux             Queen's Park            Natal
 Arthur Edward Roos                    Peninsula               Western Province
Trainer: Dirk J.F. Kemp
Team Manager: W. (Freddie) Ferguson
Tour Manager: H.M. Hosking


Notes:
Doug Rudham signed for Liverpool FC in 1954, and played 66 games over five seasons.
Dan Le Roux signed for Arsenal FC in 1957, and played 5 games.

South Africa tour of the British Isles 1958

About this document

Sources: [Raa 02], "The Times" newspaper archive, "Liverweb" (www.liverweb.org.uk), "British and Irish Special and Intermediate Internationals" (editor: Keith Warsop), "Almanaque da Selecção - Edição do Campeonato Europeu de 2004"

Thanks to Perry Menexis, Karel Stokkermans, Yaniv Bleicher, Nathan Mackenzie, Mark Cruickshank, Barry Ian Sanders

Prepared and maintained by Neil Morrison for the Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation

Author: Neil Morrison
Last updated: 29 Oct 2020