Tank van Rooyen

Gert Wilhelm "Tank" van Rooyen (9 December 1892 – 21 September 1942), also known as George van Rooyen, was a South African international rugby union and rugby league footballer. His position was at lock.

Tank van Rooyen

Van Rooyen when he was playing for Rovers.
Personal information
Full name	Gert Wilhelm van Rooyen[1][2]
Born	9 December 1892 Steynsburg, Cape Colony, South Africa
Died	21 September 1942 (aged 49) Runcorn, England
Playing information
Height	1.87 m (6 ft 2 in)[3]
Weight	99.8 kg (15 st 10 lb)[3]
Rugby union
Position	Lock
Representative Years Team Pld T G FG P 1921 South Africa 2 0 0 0
Rugby league
Position	Second-row
Club Years Team Pld T G FG P 1922–23 Hull Kingston Rovers 35 7 0 0 21 1923–29 Wigan 178 26 0 78 1929–33 Widnes 74 4 0 12 Total 287 37 0 0 111 Representative Years Team Pld T G FG P 1924 Other Nationalities 1
Source: [4][5]

Club career

At the age of 29, Van Rooyen moved to England in 1922 to play rugby league for Hull Kingston Rovers, where he won the 1922–23 league championship. He joined Wigan in November 1923, and went on to win the Challenge Cup in 1924, and two Lancashire County League titles in 1923–24 and 1925–26.

Tank van Rooyen played left-second-row, i.e. number 11, in Wigan's 22–10 victory over Warrington in the Championship Final during the 1925–26 season at Knowsley Road, St. Helens on Saturday, 8 May 1926.[6]

Tank van Rooyen played left-second-row, i.e. number 11, in Wigan's 11–15 defeat by Swinton in the 1925–26 Lancashire County Cup Final during the 1925–26 season at The Cliff, Broughton on Wednesday, 9 December 1925. He spent six years at Wigan, making a total 178 appearances for the club.

In 1929, he joined Widnes on a free transfer,[4] and became the club's first ever overseas player.[5] In 1930, he won his second Challenge Cup in a shock 10–3 victory over St. Helens.[7] He continued to play for Widnes until his retirement in 1933.[4]

Representative career

In rugby union, Van Rooyen appeared for South Africa in two Tests in 1921. As a professional rugby league footballer, his only appearance at representative level was for Other Nationalities, playing in the team that beat England 23–17 at Headingley in 1924.[4]

References

1. "Tank van Rooyen". ESPN Scrum. Retrieved 8 December 2013.
2. "Wigan Rugby Players: G. van Rooyen". WiganWorld. Retrieved 29 October 2018.
3. "Rugga World: Happy Birthday". RuggaWorld Blog. Retrieved 5 November 2018.
4. Morris, Graham (2005). Wigan Rugby League Football Club: 100 Greats. Stroud: Tempus Publishing. p. 124. ISBN 978-0-7524-3470-4.
5. "George Van Rooyen". rugby.widnes.tv. Retrieved 8 December 2013.
6. "1925–1926 Championship Final". wigan.rlfans.com. 31 December 2011. Retrieved 1 January 2012.
7. "Widnes 10-3 St Helens". BBC Sport. 27 February 2004. Retrieved 8 December 2013.