Three Generations of 1st XV Fabers
- Wits University
The story of three generations of 1st XV Fabers starts with a photo in the Wits rugby clubhouse, featuring the 1st XV at Wits in 1929.
We recently had the pleasure of speaking to two of the three generations of 1st XV Fabers – Tutty, Gunther, Michael and Trevor Faber – about their total passion “for this physical game, this hooligans’ game played by gentlemen”. They are part of the strong Wits/King Edward VII School (KES) tradition as they all came to Wits from KES, which is our close neighbour in Upper Houghton, and continues to be one of our top feeder schools.
The story starts with a photo in the Wits rugby clubhouse, now called Jomos, featuring the 1st XV at Wits in 1929. In the photo is Ernst Albert Faber who studied engineering from 1926 – 1929 and was awarded the Chamber of Mines gold medal for the best graduate.
A scholar and a sportsman, Ernst played full-back and did the placekicking for the 1st XV in 1927, 1928 and 1929. “Ernst, my late father, came from Upington where he played rugby for Upington High School and managed to persuade a wealthy farming family in the area by the name of Conin to lend him the money to attend Wits,” explains Tutty. Ernst’s younger brother, Helmut, also played for Wits in 1935 but died while still a student.
Tutty, whose actual name is John, generously contributed most of the materials for the transformation of Jomos in the early 1980s and supervised the construction. He studied civil engineering at Wits from 1958 – 1963. He played eighth man, flank and scrumhalf for the 1st XV, Northern Universities and Transvaal, and also played for Stanford when he did his MSc there.
After Ernst passed away in 1965, Tutty took over the family business, West Wits Contractors in Johannesburg. He was in in his mid-20s at the time and newly married to Julie Faber (nee Watt) who donates to Wits because it is the university where her husband and children were educated. She, too, would have loved to have studied here after matric but finances didn’t allow.
Tutty subsequently managed the 1st XV with Doc Noman Helfand, and they went on to win the Pirates Grand Challenge in 1967, captained by legendary Springbok Alan Menter who was a Wits medical student at the time. The flank in that team was Dr Gunther Faber, Tutty’s cousin. “It was an honour for me to play in the Pirates Grand Challenge-winning team,” says Gunther who qualified as a veterinary surgeon at Onderstepoort and was enrolled to study economics at Wits when he played for the team. He ultimately moved into the pharmaceutical industry where he was the CEO of SmithKline Beecham in South Africa and subsequently CEO for GSK in Africa and Director of the International Division, based in London, which covered all countries other than Europe and the USA. The international division covered 20 international time zones. He is now retired.
“Although I played flank I also loved playing scrum half as you have the ball so often, and always volunteered to step into scrum half if there were injuries on the field,” says Gunther. He adds that although he has lived in London for 24 years, “I still completely support the Springboks, as do three of my grandsons who live in London and two in Connecticut, USA. You’ll find us all jumping up and down during the games.”
Gunther and his wife Pamela’s daughter Renee enrolled at Wits in 1993. She did a BCom Accounting degree, with Honours in Taxation and worked for Morgan Stanley in London. She and her civil engineer husband, Andrew Brown, moved to London shortly before they married.
Pamela is also a Witsie, having completed her Public Health degree at Wits, after doing her nursing and midwifery studies.
This brings us to Tutty’s sons Michael and Trevor. Michael studied BCom Accountancy from 1988 – 1992. He is now a self-employed chartered accountant and was previously the CFO of the Goscor Group, an industrial conglomerate.
Michael regrettably only played one match for the 1st XV (at centre) as he injured his shoulder, and could not play again. “It was so unfortunate but it didn’t curb my love of the game, shared by our whole family, including my son who plays for KES,” says Michael.
Trevor studied mining engineering from 1990 – 1993 and was hooker for a season with the 1st XV in 1993. He is the CEO of mining holding company, Luma Africa. “Like our father, I enjoyed being in amongst the forwards; that feeling of being at war together,” Trevor says. “Rugby is like no other sport. It creates lifelong friendships, you go through the knocks and hardships together, you stand up to players who are far bigger than you and you know your team has your back; that you can rely on them. That’s why our family loves the game.”
Their sister Bridget ‘Biddy’ Faber also studied at Wits (BSc Nursing 1989) and Master of Laws (Tax Law 2002). She is a partner in the international law firm Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF), based in Johannesburg.
Tutty and Michael recently attended two 1st XV games against UCT and the University of the Free State and have pledged to attend more. “I hadn’t been back to watch rugby at Wits for 30 years and then the VC, Prof Zeb Vilakazi, invited us and we loved it,” says Michael. “especially given there were 5 KES old boys playing for the Wits First XV in the match against UCT – which ended up as 32-32 draw.”
“It would be wonderful to see more former rugby players returning to support the team and club,” says Trevor. “The old boys networks are incredibly important and can be connected on WhatsApp groups and invited back. Everyone who can attend should turn up, especially for the derby games.”
Tutty recalls the days of the open spectator stands at Wits and a particular referee “who did not like Wits which was regarded as a liberal or left wing establishment, but he unfortunately refereed most of our games in 1961 and 1962. The Wits crowd would taunt him, with the result that he punished us with penalty after penalty at Wits and Ellis Park where most of our games were played.”
Tutty’s first game for the Wits 1st XV was in 1960 against Vanderbijlpark and from then on he was a permanent member of the team in 1961 and 1962. “In 1961 we had a wonderful win against Tukkies and I was marking the heavyweight boxing champion Willem Vermaas!”
In 1962 he was part of the Northern Universities side (including seven players from Wits, as well as players from Tukkies and what was then Potchefstroom University) selected to play the British Lions in Springs, “it was a 6 all draw and we should have beaten them but we missed four penalties. In 1963 with three Witises in the Northern Universities team we beat the Wallabies 15-9 at Ellis Park. I felt very sorry for the Wallabies as they were wracked with flu and in those days you couldn’t have substitutes, so there was a lot of coughing and spluttering on the field.”
Four years later, with Tutty as manager, the Wits 1st XV held the Pirates Grand Challenge Cup high. As mentioned, Gunther was in the team. “ I loved playing for Wits,” he says. “The happiest rugby games I played were with the Wits team as we always had such a strong bond. If I look at the 1967 season, we were all so relaxed and it helped us a lot. We were friends on and off the field and I am still in touch with several of the players. I don’t believe there is any other sport that brings you together as much as a team on the rugby field. And while you want to kill the other side on the field, after the match you have a beer together. That’s why they say rugby is a hooligans’ game played by gentlemen.”
Michael says when he arrived at university the big news was that James Small had joined Wits rugby club out of school. The club had been open to non-university students since 1964. “I clearly remember playing a curtain raiser at Ellis Park against Roodepoort U20 and we were losing but in last 10 minutes James scored 2 or 3 tries and he caught everyone’s attention and the Transvaal selectors moved him into the senior Transvaal team,” Michael recalls.
“We had some incredible athletes in those Wits teams, like Simon Berridge who was even faster on the field than James Small. We also had Charles Joffe and a fullback by the name of Gary Puterman who was one of the very few Witsies to make the SA Universities team in the 80s. Despite his small stature, Gary had the best feet in the business. He could side-step you in a telephone booth.”
Trevor adds a major development in his final year (1993) “was when Wits rugby started integrating and we had talented black students coming into the 1st XV. It was interesting to say the least when we played against sides like Randfontein and Roodepoort. It was such a politically charged time on campus and it spilled over into rugby. Fortunately things have improved for the better and the beauty of watching the Rugby Cup games today is that it’s very clear who the best players are. And I’m proud to say several are from KES, where my father coached for 40 years and Michael for 5.”