Despite an incidental entry into rugby and his rugged game style, Aslam carved out a larger-than-life presence in the history of black rugby in South Africa. Shaped by his upbringing, he embodied charisma, a flair for performance, and a rugged and charismatic persona.

By PROFESSOR ASLAM FATAAR

This article is based on interviews with the renowned rugby player Aslam Toefy, who played rugby for the Kalk Bay Marines rugby club and the Western Province Rugby Union (WPRU) based at the Green Point track in Cape Town.

Embracing a naïve realist research approach which emphasises the place of self-knowledge in understanding of subjecthood (French and Gomes, 2019, p. 62-63), this article echoes Toefy’s own narrative telling. It presents a chronological account, focusing on his life entwined with his illustrious rugby career.

SARU & SACOS

The WPRU was affiliated with the South African Rugby Union (SARU), nested within the broader anti-apartheid sports movement, the South African Council on Sport (SACOS). SACOS’s political raison d’être was encapsulated in the dictum ‘No normal sport in an abnormal society (Booth 1997).

Toefy’s rugby journey unfolded against the backdrop of this illustrious sporting tradition. Despite his relative detachment from politics, he nevertheless stirred controversy when extending an invitation to a ‘white’ Springbok to attend a match at the Green Point track during the turbulent uprisings of the 1980s. This individual faced ejection from the stadium, spurred by the attending crowd.

This article portrays Aslam’s rugby saga as an extension of his life narrative. It weaves his rugby exploits with the threads of his upbringing, educational pursuits, community integration, familial ties and work engagements. Central to the discussion is the contention that Aslam’s celebrated persona as a rugby hardman sprouted from his background and the contextual currents of his life.

Early life and parents

Aslam Toefy was born on 1 January 1949 to Mymoena Moerat and Achmad Toefy. Aslam was the second of three children. He had a sister Luttfia, who was older, and a younger brother, Nazeem. The family lived in Memel Road, off Vineyard Road, in Claremont, in an area then known as Belchiesbos.

His mother was from Paarl and was the eldest daughter of Noor Moerat and Fatima Abrahams. Aslam’s maternal grandfather, Boeta Noor Moerat, was well known and a well-groomed person who ran a taxi business from Paarl station. They were related to Marwaan and Ikeraam Moerat, the rugby players for Vineyards in Paarl. Aunty Poppie, the  mother of Sheikh Nazeem Mohamed, former president of the Muslim Judicial Council (MJC), was Aslam’s grandfather’s sister. Aslam often visited Paarl with his mother.

Aslam’s father, Achmad Toefy, was the eldest of four boys. His father’s brothers were Saliem, Abubaker and Allie. They were all tradesmen in the building construction industry. Aslam and his brother Nazeem worked for them when they were older.

Aslam was five-years-old when his parents separated. He moved with his mother, grandmother and siblings to Wynberg. Aslam’s mother supported the children by working two or three jobs. She worked at Panther Shoes in Maitland and would also buy shoes that were on sale and sell them outside the shoe factory.

Aslam remembers going with his mom late at night in Kensington and Maitland, walking door-to-door, to collect money from those people who bought the shoes. They would stop on the way at a shop and get spiced beef and rolls.

He had a very special relationship with his mother. After his parents separated, his father did not play a role in his formative years. This had an impact on his behaviour as he became rebellious and unsettled. He could not be contained in the classroom and would act out by taking his clothes off while walking home from school.

School

Aslam stayed in Berry Road, Wynberg and attended Mohammadeyah Primary School. He frequented the Park Road Masjid during his childhood. Aslam recalled his time in Wynberg fondly. His days at Mohammadeyah were happy and fun times. He lived very close to the school and would walk through what people called the ‘Son Pad’ (Sun Road) to get to the school. He remembered that Mr Ismail Solomons, who was the principal at the time, was very strict. A great religious foundation was laid in Aslam at a young age by the school and the Imams at the mosque.

He explained that he had a good childhood in Wynberg. Aslam described Wynberg as a protective environment even though there were some gangs like the Vultures and the Korias. He speaks fondly of the weddings that took place at the Vigilance Hall behind the Luxurama movie and performance theatre. Aslam fondly remembers being part of the Orange Plantation coons that had their headquarters in Berry Road.

Aslam explained that he got lost a bit in his later teens, but what he learnt as a child brought him back to his faith.

Even though he was a good student, he disliked school. His favourite subjects were History, Afrikaans and Art, while he disliked English. He struggled with being in the classroom for too long, because he always had a yearning to be outside. He explained that he was an overactive child. He spent a lot of his time at the Wynberg public baths during his childhood. He excelled in swimming, diving and lifesaving. He was mostly self-taught at these activities never having had a swimming coach.

His brother Nazeem joined many sports clubs, but Aslam did not like group sports. He was more into individual sports. Even though Wynberg was a hub for soccer, he was not interested in playing the sport. He participated in interhouse and interschool athletics, although swimming was his main sporting and extramural interest.

Aslam attended John Graham High School (later named Wittebome High School) in Ottery Road. He participated in art classes after school in Woodstock, a suburb close to Cape Town city centre where he learnt to make wooden models of aeroplanes. This is where Aslam developed his creativity and at this stage of his life he even contemplated becoming a teacher. When he was in Standard 7 (Grade 9), at the age of 15, his mother told him she could no longer afford to keep the children in school. He described this as a very difficult time for his family. Struggling to make ends meet, they moved from house to house and room to room in search of a domicile. His mother clearly needed financial assistance to take care of the family, and Aslam, as the eldest son, decided he must leave school and get a job.

Early work

Aslam ended his schooling career and went to look for a job to help his family.

His first job was with his uncle Boeta Achmad, who had a construction company. At the time, Boeta Achmad’s company was building a school called Norman Henshilwood in Plumstead. Aslam became what he called a ‘carpenter’s boy’, learning carpentry. He described his uncle as a hard taskmaster and after a year he quit the job.

At the age of 16 he went to work for Boeta Moos Conrad in what was then called South West Africa, now Namibia. Aslam worked for four years in South West Africa. They treated him well and he mastered the craft of carpentry. He never went to trade school and learned everything on the job. He had a natural talent for woodwork.

Even though he was very young to be away from home he enjoyed working in South West Africa, and would send his mother beautiful cards.

When Aslam was about 18 or 19 years old, he left construction work and got a job with Safmarine, the South African cargo shipping company. He started out as an ordinary sailor where most of the people on the ship were from District Six. Aslam said many of them were gangsters.

The first ship he sailed on was the South Africa Merchant. This ship took iron ore to Belgium. He describes this as a time that he lost his way. He was young and good looking and was introduced to women. He tells the story of Friday nights in the cities where they were docked. They would take the women to the bioscope, which got them into trouble with the local.

Aslam went on to work for Safmarine on many different ships, such as the SA Letaba, SA Merchant, SA Zebedelia and SA Vergelegen.

Working on ships

From the age of 19 until 21, Aslam was a sailor and his only physical exercise during this time was the hard work on the ships, and swimming. He still swims to this day, at the age of 76, in the deep sea during all seasons and anytime of the day.

Aslam portrayed himself as a handsome man that did not need many friends when he was young. He described himself as somebody who could carry himself in any crowd. He agreed that he was multifaceted, cosmopolitan, well groomed, versatile and powerfully presented.

Aslam went into detail describing his role on the many ships he worked on. He says, ‘My life on the sea was a major thing’.

He speaks about the three highest roles a person of colour person could hold on a ship during the time of apartheid: chippy, which is a carpenter; donkey man, who oversaw the engine room; and the bosun, who managed the coloured and black deckhand sailors. He proudly spoke of being a chippy who saw to the woodwork on the ships and how important his role was. He had his own storeroom and office on the ship. He also ate with the captain, which he viewed as a privilege.

He described his duties as standing on top of the bow by the winch when the ship cast off from the harbour. He was responsible for making sure water did not get in and rolling up the rope into the ship. When they were at sea, he would go to the bottom of the ship and check and measure if there were any water leaks and log them and report to the captain. He also had to check on the drinking water which was stored in the front by the bow and mid ship in tanks. This water would have to last the crew four weeks until they got to a port to replenish.

Aslam took great pride in the woodwork and maintenance that he had to do on the ship and ensured that it was immaculate and that there were no holes on the ship. He travelled the world on the ships. He spoke fondly of the time he went to the Straits of Dover, where it was snowing. He explained with great enthusiasm how he had stand on the bow to keep the snow out of the winches.

Rugby

As much as he loved his time on the ships and all the things he did and saw, he came back to shore on that fateful day for his 14-day leave. He was coming back to marry his fiancé, Soraya. He described the emotions and joy on that day when he came and saw Soraya and his mother waiting for him. He said, ‘My heart was throbbing, and I had tears in my eyes’.

Aslam’s mother was influential in the life of her children and instrumental in introducing him to rugby. On that day, after he disembarked, his mother took him to the Green Point Track where his brother, Nazeem, was playing for Kalk Bay Marines. This was the first time he had seen rugby or heard of the sport. He watched his brother bleeding during the rough game and asked his mother, ‘What is this?’ His mother replied that it was rugby and it was a game and that his brother was playing it now. He described feeling bad seeing his brother bleeding and asked him how he could let them do this to him.

His brother challenged Aslam by asking him what he was going to do about the thuggery against his brother and his teammates that he saw on the rugby field that day. He decided then and there that he would not go back to the ship and that he was finished with sailing. He joined the Kalk Bay Marines! His motivation in the beginning was to protect his brother. He told his brother that he would never be alone on a rugby field from that day on.

Aslam went the following week to see the Kalk Bay Marines club chairman at his house. The coach was Richard Poggenpoel, dubbed Richard the Lionheart by the club’s supporters, and was a top quality fly-half.

The executive member of the club told him that he would make a good lock forward. Aslam did not know what a lock forward was at the time. He described how he was taught the basics of the game of rugby on the chairman’s dining room table; the latter using matches to explain the game to him. Aslam was shown how the line-out worked and how the ball is thrown in. He was told his job was to catch the ball. It was explained to him that he would bring the ball down from out of the sky and then, once he did that, all the men would be around him and, once he was inside the scrum, he would have to fight for the ball.

Aslam was shown how the ball would have to move from one player to the next and that he had to follow the ball. He was told not to worry about the details of the game, but just to remember when in the scrum, if somebody was wearing different colour socks from his, then that is the guy he should tackle for the ball. Aslam came to understand that his role in the rugby game would be to soften the opposition. Aslam did not have rugby skills at that point. He trained the whole of the first week with the Kalk Bay Marines club on the beach as the club did not have a rugby field.

At that stage Aslam did not participate in physical fitness programmes, apart for swimming, but he had developed a muscular frame from the hard work on the ships. He soon understood that rugby is a very physical game. He was trained to tackle and do lineout jumping on Kalk Bay beach. He said he was taught to be like a ‘bulldozer’, a hard and uncompromising player. He trained the whole week to be ready for the Saturday game. During training they would run up Kalk Bay mountain to the reserve called Dan’s Valletjie. His first game was to play as a lock forward for the club’s second team. Gregory Poggenpoel and Aubrey Poggenpoel played lock forward for the first team.

Despite the late start, rugby came easily to Aslam. When the Saturday for his first match came, he was given a jersey, socks and rugby boots. He felt proud and excited to wear the rugby outfit.

His first match was played at the Green Point Track on the Common. All the first team members were standing around watching the game. His brother, Nazeem, played in the first team. Aslam was happy to see all the supporters, especially the women at the game. He thought this was a great place to be. He said, however, the excitement made him feel unbalanced and he felt hesitant and unsure about how to play the game. He remembered the negative comments directed at him from the touchline came from the opposing team’s supporters, including their women, which he said were very expressive. One comment was ‘Yoh, kyk na daai groot dom jong’ (Yoh, look at that big stupid guy).

He completed his first game, which his team lost, with a lot of shame and embarrassment. While verbally abused by the opposition’s supporters, they could not physically abuse him. He could stand his ground in the punch-ups that were invariably part of most games he played. After that first game, they all went to watch the first team play and then he started to get a better understanding of how the game should be played.

Aslam decided that he was going to be the best he could be at rugby. He explained that it was his nature to put everything into what he attempted to do. When he went to South West Africa, sleeping with the Ovambos and Hereros in the compounds, he said he would be whatever was needed. When he went to sea, he was the best he could be and reached the highest levels possible for a coloured person on the ship. Aslam described himself as the man who liked entertaining the people who were watching him. He said that he was focused and determined to become a good rugby player.

He felt respected in the Kalk Bay club and soon played for the first team. He believes that the coaches could see that he had a brutal ‘thing’ in in him. He referred to his approach to a rugby game as him entering the ‘eye of the tiger’. He explained that when he ran onto the rugby field he was fierce, brutal, uncontrollable and undisciplined. Aslam believes he developed this fearless way of being because when he was on the ships, he would have to fight for his food and defend himself. Having to defend himself made him fearless, a quality which he took onto the rugby field. He explained that he would choose the man on the opposite team who was the biggest, strongest and whom the team depended on and would target him in games, and he felt the coaches expected that from him.

Aslam took the role of enforcer, which meant that rugby skills were secondary to his playing game. With a laser focus on taking the opposition out physically, Aslam developed a style of play that skirted the legal boundaries of the game. Over the next couple of years he was sent off the field many times by the referees. The role of the enforcer served as a stand in for his lack of rugby skills at this point. He would make sure to target and clash with the enforcer on the opposite team and would aim at winning the battle against his adversary. His teammates depended on him in the scrums to win the ball. It was his job to make sure the team won the ball at all costs. Aslam acquired his nickname ‘Tarzan’ from playing the enforcer role. After the games people would comment, ‘Die is ’n f—-n Tarzan’ (This is a f—–g Tarzan).

Aslam was never going to have done to him what he saw done to his brother in that first match witnessed by him. He thought in retrospect that he would have been a more accomplished rugby player if he was not expected to play the role of enforcer. Aslam got better at the game as he played for the club side every Saturday. He said that the fear factor he brought to the game created a buzz with the opposite teams and the supporters.

Kalk Bay

Aslam asserted that the Kalk Bay Marines was a very good club and one of the top teams in the previous generation before he joined. His era was different and the players who came before him were the elders, executives, coaches and advisors. While Aslam and Nazeem were not from the area, they found the Kalk Bay community to be lovable and compassionate. In Kalk Bay Aslam found himself surrounded by people who thought the world of him. The Kalk Bay people became a family to him. Some of the elders became like uncles to him. He had a connection with them that he did not have with his own uncles, who never came to see him play a game. He felt like his uncles did not really acknowledge him. Kalk Bay Marines was like a stand-in family for him. Only his mother and sister, Luttfia, would come and watch his games. They loved the game and supporting him and Nazeem. His wife Soraya hated rugby and the way the supporters behaved, especially the women. Soraya did not fit in with the rugby crowd.

Aslam explained that there was no money in rugby when he was playing. There was no money in the Kalk Bay Marines club. He said that the players had to buy their own socks and sort out their own transport and transport fees. If they had a game in Paarl, they would have to arrange their own transport and money to get there. They often received money from the elders for their transport to games.

The Kalk Bay Marine club was in the Green Point-based Western Province rugby union. Excelsior club played its rugby in the City and Suburban club based in Athlone. At one stage these two clubs were called upon to unify for economic reasons; they were also close to each other and had members from the same families. Aslam and Nazeem did not want to join Excelsior because they felt that the City and Suburban union, which Excelsior came from, played in an inferior union. Aslam and Nazeem thus left Kalk Bay Marines to join the Silvertree Rugby Club in District Six for one year. Aslam referred to the green coloured jerseys of Silvertree and remembered training on the hills in District Six. He recalled the first game they played as a team against Collegians. The game lasted 10 minutes before the Collegians club walked off because of dirty play. Aslam remembers that four forwards of this Silvertree team played for Western Province: his brother Nazeem Toefy, Omar ‘Vleis’ Daniels, ‘Brother’ Khan and himself.

After the year playing for Silvertree club, Aslam and Nazeem went back to play for Kalk Bay Marines, which they felt was better than any of the other clubs because of the good relationships between the players and the love amongst the players. The players who were from different religious backgrounds were respectful and loyal. Aslam explained that that Kalk Bay Marines had 70% Christian members, but there were never any religious tensions or issues in the club. Belonging to the club meant more than just playing rugby to him. Eventually he did not want to be anywhere but in Kalk Bay. He experienced a sense of family at the club and claims to be a Kalk Bay Marines man up until today.

Aslam remembers going to play in Strand for the Kalk Bay Rugby club and having his first run in with the law. They were playing against the Strand Marines. When Aslam played in Strand everybody would come and watch the game. He was very popular and they loved him to be there. He describes himself as a crowd-puller. At one of his games in Strand there was a referee who was a police reservist in the area. Many people hated him because he would arrest them for having dagga on them or for other small infractions. Aslam assaulted the referee by pulling him into the scrum and beat him to a pulp. Mayhem broke out and they had to scurry out of the Strand. Aslam was arrested while on his way out of the town. He appeared in court, spent the weekend in jail, was found guilty of assault and ordered to pay the referee’s medical costs.

Sharon/Soraya

Aslam met his wife, Sharon, at Wynberg swimming baths. He was a voluntary life saver at the swimming pool. He described himself as an exhibitionist as he would line up children and dive over their heads. He also described himself as a showman. He said that on that day at the Wynberg baths he noticed the most beautiful young lady sitting on the lawn with a big hat and reading a book. Aslam said she was the most beautiful and most spectacular woman he had ever seen. He had never seen any woman like her. He thought he would love to know who that girl was. He conspired to offer Sharon a lift home to Grassy Park.

At that stage Aslam was married but had separated from his first wife, who was from Kalk Bay. His first marriage lasted only 8 months. Aslam felt he married too young. He married Sharon who had in the meantime converted to Islam, taking the name Soraya. Aslam confessed that he may not have been the most suitable person for Soraya because of his character. He described himself as being ‘all over the show with his rugby and was too much in demand with the opposite sex’. He felt he ‘messed Soraya around because he was popular, everyone wanted a piece of him, and it made his head swell’.

Mother, brother, sister

Aslam was not interested in the political situation in South Africa when he grew up in the 1960s. He had no aspirations in politics and did not join any of protests. He was unaware of the uprisings that took place in 1976.

His mother played a very important role in his life. She was an ardent supporter of his and his brother’s rugby playing. His mother and sister attended all the matches that they played.

His mother had a great commitment to Nazeem, her youngest son, who was the apple of her eye. Nazeem, in turn, was a mother’s boy. Nazeem was always around his mother and would come home with his full wage packet and give his money to his mother. Aslam said his mother would then give Nazeem pocket money. Aslam does not remember ever giving his wage packet to his mother, but he did contribute to the upkeep of the house. He describes himself as playing the ‘big man’ role.

Aslam remembered one game they played in Surrey Estate on the open fields with no fences. People could stand right near the line. They played against a team called Rangers. This was a tough and crazy game, because the gangsters would sit on the side of the field smoking dagga and taking mandrax. The gangsters would come to the field with knives and guns. At this time Aslam and Nazeem were working for their father in the construction industry and came to the field straight from work. Their bakkie was parked next to the field and had all their tools in it. Everybody knew who Aslam’s sister was as she would run along the side of game and shout for them and tell them what to do. On this day some gangsters stabbed his sister to shut her up and intimidate the two brothers. Aslam and Nazeem saw the stabbing, ran off the field to their bakkie and got their crowbars and spades. They chased and fought with the people who had stabbed their sister. The Toefy brothers, known as the Tarzan brothers, had a reputation for being fearless on and off the field.

Western Province rugby

Nazeem was earmarked to be a front ranker in the Western Province (WP) rugby team before Aslam could find his way in the team. His transition into the WP team was not as easy as it was for Nazeem. Aslam presumably did not have enough experience yet to play for the provincial team. His main competitors for a place in the province team were Salie ‘Lippe’ Fredericks and Yusuf ‘Touch’ Davids, who were both South African Rugby Union (SARU) players. There were always two or three players selected from Kalk Bay Marines who played in the WP team. Aslam played in the provincial teams with players such as Cassiem Jabaar, Napoleon, Yusuf Louw and Yusuf Diedericks. These were people who played for the Caledonian Roses (Callies), Stars and the Silvertree teams. He remembered a player called Moses from the Rangers who was a brilliant forward. Aslam said he only noticed who the big-time players were when he started playing for WP. According to him, Salie Fredricks and Yusuf Davids were the best lock forwards in the country. Aslam said he was fortunate enough to play with Fredericks in the time just before Yusuf Davids ended his rugby career.

Aslam explained that the WP team was a tight group. Fredericks may initially have been reluctant to play with him. One day when the WP team played a game against Tygerberg, Nazeem was playing as a front ranker for the team already and was in this game. Yusuf Davids was late for the game. Everyone said, ‘Give Aslam the jersey and let him play’, but Salie Fredericks, the captain, did not want to play with him. They waited a long time for Yusuf Davids to arrive. Nazeem got angry that they did not want his brother to play so he said, ‘If you do not want my brother in the team, then you can take my jersey too’. Nazeem took off his jersey and said he did not want to play either. Fredericks then gave his jersey to Omar ‘Vleis’ Daniels, handing him his first provincial cap.

Aslam desperately wanted to play and was hoping that Davids would not arrive. Davids eventually arrived and played, but was injured in the game. WP President, Noortjie Khan, instructed that Aslam replace Davids on the field. Aslam hesitated because Nazeem had just given up his jersey because they would not let him play earlier in the game, but he really wanted to play with Fredericks, so he put on the jersey and played one of his best games ever. Aslam became an understudy for Salie Fredericks and when Salie retired Aslam received his number 5 jersey. Nazeem, who was upset with Aslam for playing, asked his brother, ‘How could you go play when I gave up my jersey for you’. Nazeem eventually got over the incident and continued playing for WP and Kalk Bay Marines alongside Aslam. Aslam partnered Yusuf ‘Touch’ Davids as lock forwards for WP for the next ten years.

Aslam started playing for Kalk Bay Marines rugby club in 1970 when he was 21 years old. He played for WP from 1974 until 1985, when he was 36 years old. Aslam did not record how many games he played or how many tries he scored, because his focus was on enjoying the games and travelling with the team. Aslam mentioned a year after the 1995 World Cup, which South Africa won, that he was selected to play in Bermuda in a veteran’s cup with players from the old white union.

Conclusion

Aslam Toefy’s journey in rugby started off late in his life at the age of 20. His entry into rugby was incidentally spurred when he saw the violence meted out to his younger brother and his team at the first rugby game he watched. Shaped by his upbringing, he embodied charisma, a flair for performance, and a rugged and charismatic persona from a young age. After his rugby days, he carried this persona into his work in the hajj pilgrimage industry and his activism with the organisation People against Gangsterism and Drugs (Pagad). Renowned for his tough, no-nonsense playing style, he was often labelled a formidable force on the field, even dubbed a ‘thug’ in rugby circles. Though not celebrated for finesse in his playing, he thrived on overpowering opponents physically, earning a reputation for his uncompromising play. His aggressive approach attracted both infamy and grudging admiration, yet it may have kept him from being selected for SARU’s ‘Springbok’ team. Despite an incidental entry into rugby and his rugged game style, Aslam carved out a larger-than-life presence in the history of black rugby in South Africa.

Aslam Fataar is Research Professor in Higher Education Transformation, based in the Department of Education Policy Studies, Stellenbosch University.

 

References

Booth, D. (1997). The South African Council on Sport and the political antinomies of the sports boycott. Journal of Southern African Studies, 23(1), pp. 51-66.

French, C. and Gomes, A. (2019). How Naïve Realism can explain both the particularity and the generality of experience. The Philosophical Quarterly, 16(274), pp. 41-63.