Desmond Charles van Jaarsveldt MBE[1] (born 31 March 1929) is a Rhodesian-born South African retired rugby union player[2] and former captain of the Springboks.
This was because Van Jaarsveldt believed it was due to Afrikaner Broederbond pressures on the South African Rugby Board not to select him because he was Rhodesian.
When he was 31, Van Jaarsveldt became the first Rhodesian to captain the Springboks in 1960, taking over from Johan Claassen after being appointed by Danie Craven, the president of the South African Rugby Board.
[7] It was also claimed that his decision not to follow the Springboks tradition of the captain leading a team prayer, which van Jaarsveldt attributed that it was not in his nature to pray for victory, and not giving a long motivational speech was also not received well by some players.
[4] It was also speculated that he was only appointed as captain as a token gesture by Craven in what was considered a low profile match as it was viewed as only a warm-up for the upcoming New Zealand tour of South Africa.
[6] He was appointed a Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 1963 New Year Honours for "services to sport in Southern Rhodesia".
[1] Van Jaarsveldt briefly entered politics in 1983, unsuccessfully standing for former Rhodesian Prime Minister Ian Smith's Republican Front for a seat in the Senate of Zimbabwe where he lost the election after drawing of lots on a 10–10 tied vote.