Wigan Album
Wigan Rugby Players
5 Comments
Photo: Keith
Item #: 30289
Signed for Wigan 1st October 1923, he was a former Stellenbosch University student, he was 6 foot 1" and 13 stone 4 lbs, and came with a big reputation. He had great pace and a natural swerve, the South African national RU team was considered incomplete without him.
There are stories that he was a flamboyant personality, dancing, at times, on the tables of local hostelries in Wigan, a snappy dresser and popular it was said with the ladies.
Two memorable tries he scored were against Oldham in the 1924 Cup Final at Rochdale when he dived under a mounted policeman's horse to score, the policeman was helping to keep some of the 40,000 crowd back from the touchline. The other in April 1924 against Hunslet, running almost the full length of the field, beating 8 or 9 defenders in the process.
He played 127 games for Wigan and scored 107 tries, making him 10th in Wigan's top try scorers.
He later returned to South Africa and became a Lieutenant in a South African Highland regiment in WW2.
I met a man who said he was his son, we was watching a rL gamme nr ulverston.he lived with a brother in a cottage there
My grandad said he caused a sensation in Wigan because he used to walk around with no cap on!
My grandad said.when he arrived at Wigan north western ,a brass band marched along with him to Central Park.he also said he wasn’t wearing a hat,that was supposed to be very fashionable at that time,as it was rare to see a man without a hat
At that time it was almost unheard of for Wigan men to go out without a cap but when Van Heerden used to walk round town without one it soon changed the trend.
Exactly how Van Heerden scored his try depended to some extent on which newspaper report you read. Here's one version....
"The try of the day was that recorded by Van Heerden, Wigan's South African winger. He followed a kick and snatched the ball off the hooves of a mounted policeman's horse."
Whatever the report there's no doubt it was a try that lived long in the memory of rugby fans and passed into Wigan folklore.