The Order of Ikhamanga in Bronze

Goolam Abed (1935 - ) Awarded for:

Outstanding achievement in the field of rugby and cricket and contribution to non-racial sport.

Profile of Goolam Abed

Born from a prominent sporting family, and raised in Muir Street, District Six, Cape Town, Goolam Abed was a formidable rugby and cricket player.

Abed was a pioneering sportsman in the 1950s, playing cricket for Western Province and rugby for the Greenpoint-based Western Province Rugby Football Union.

Following in the footsteps of other great sportsmen such as Eland and Tuli, forced to seek opportunities denied to them in their own country, Abed left South Africa in 1961 to play rugby league in England, after being spotted by English rugby league talent scout, Jim Windsor.

He received significant success in rugby league for Bradford Northern as well as playing cricket in the Lancashire League in England.

Abed is widely regarded today as of the calibre that would have under normal circumstances entitled him to official national colours in both cricket and rugby.

Abed received a Springbok blazer in 2003 as part of the SARugby Football Union's efforts to recognise previously neglected rugby greats