13/10/2026
Errol Tobias Became the First Black Springbok in 1981. Most South Africans Still Don’t Know His Name.
On 30 May 1981, a bricklayer from Caledon ran out at Newlands in the green and gold.
He was 31 years old. South Africa was still under apartheid. Black South Africans could not vote. And Errol Tobias was about to become the first Black player to start a Test for the Springboks.
The first ball Naas Botha passed to him, he broke the line. He fed Rob Louw, who scored. South Africa beat Ireland 23-15.
Think about where he came from.
He was born on a farm outside Caledon, the seventh of nine children in a poor family. He laid bricks for a living and played for his local club, the Caledonians, then Boland.
Under apartheid, the best he could hope for was the segregated teams. He played against the British Lions twice, in 1974 and 1980. Argentine legend Hugo Porta called him the best flyhalf in the world.
In 1979 he toured Britain with the South African Barbarians. Clubs in Wales and France offered him a way out, a career overseas.
He said no. He wanted the Springbok jersey.
Then came the part that stays with you.
When he was finally picked, he was attacked from both sides.
Many white apartheid supporters did not want him in the team. And some in his own community called him a sell-out, saying no Black player should wear the jersey while apartheid stood.
By his own account, he had no say in politics. He did not even have a vote. All he knew was rugby, and he wanted to prove a Black player could be picked on merit.
On the 1981 tour of New Zealand, he was kept to the midweek side. A team manager later admitted there may have been an anti-Errol bias.
This is where the story gets its weight.
Sporting isolation took away his best years. By the time he got his chance, he was past 30.
He played six Tests between 1981 and 1984, and won every one. In 1984, he finally wore the number 10 shirt and helped the Boks crush England.
He retired that same year, aged 34.
But the door he opened never closed again. Avril Williams followed him into the Springboks. Then Avril’s nephew, Chester Williams, won the World Cup in 1995. In 2019, Siya Kolisi lifted the trophy as captain.
Years later, Errol met Nelson Mandela.
In his autobiography, he recalls Mandela telling him that when Errol was selected, the prisoners on the island held hands and wished him well for his first Test.
Then Mandela said: “As political prisoners trapped in a dark tunnel, you brought us into the light.”
It is hard to read this and not think the first Black Springbok deserves more than a footnote.
Every Black player who has worn that jersey since walked through a door Errol Tobias opened.
