
11 January 2021
[caption id="attachment_747" align="aligncenter"
width="399"] Jacky
Morkel[/caption] Jan Willem Hurter Morkel was one of those South
African rugby players who in one memorable season established a
reputation at international level that has never faded. Born in
Somerset West, a town situated 30 miles from Cape Town in the
Western Cape, on 13 November 1890, he came from a family that
played a significant role in the growth of South African rugby in
the lead-up to the 1st World War.
Jackie Morkel was the youngest child of a
. He played first-class rugby as a hard-running centre
three-quarter for Somerset West before breaking into the Western
Province side in 1911. He played for Western Province up until
1914 and was an important member of the Currie Cup side of 1911,
when they were beaten 13 - 14 by Griqualand West, and the 1914 side
when they extracted their revenge by defeating Griqualand West 16 -
0 in the final Currie Cup match before the war. [caption
id="attachment_1276" align="alignnone" width="2656"] South Africa,
1913[/caption] Along with his older brother, the great full back
Gerhard (PG) Morkel, Jackie Morkel was selected as a centre for the
1912-13 Springbok tour to the UK and France. Described by the
Springbok captain, Billy Millar as "our best centre", he had a
superb tour, playing in 18 of the 27 matches including the five
test matches in which he scored a total of 4 tries and 2
conversions against Ireland, England and France. When war
intervened, Jackie Morkel joined the 1st South African
Mounted Brigade, the van Deventer Scouts, and served in East
Africa. After seeing action in the Kilimanjaro area, he fell ill
and died of dysentery on 15 May 1916. This was just a month before
his old rugby team-mate from Somerset West, Western Province and
South Africa, Gerald "Tommy" Thompson died in an action in the same
theatre of war. Jackie Morkel is buried in the War Cemetery in
Dar-es-Salaam in Tanzania. Sources:
About the Author - A professional musician and arts administrator, Richard Steele has had a life-long love of sport. He has been on the committee of the World Rugby Museum at Twickenham since 2005.
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