Tommy Thompson (rugby union)

Tommy Thompson

Full name	Gerald W. Thompson
Date of birth	(1886-10-04)4 October 1886
Date of death	20 June 1916(1916-06-20) (aged 29)
Place of death	Kangata, German East Africa
School	Rondebosch Boys' High School
Rugby union career
Position(s) Forward Senior career Years Team Apps (Points) Provincial / State sides Years Team Apps (Points) 1912 Western Province () National team(s) Years Team Apps (Points) 1912 South Africa 3 ()
Military career
Buried at	Dar es Salaam War Cemetery, Tanzania
Allegiance	South Africa
Service/branch	South African Infantry
Battles/wars	East African Campaign (World War I)

Position(s)	Forward
Senior career
Years	Team	Apps	(Points)
Provincial / State sides
Years	Team	Apps	(Points)
1912	Western Province		()
National team(s)
Years	Team	Apps	(Points)
1912	South Africa	3	()

Gerald "Tommy" W. Thompson (4 October 1886 – 20 June 1916) was a South African rugby union player. Thompson, who played club rugby for Somerset West Rugby Club, was selected for the provincial team of Western Province in 1912. He was then selected to participate in the 1912–13 South Africa rugby tour to the British Isles and France, and was capped in three tests, against Scotland, Ireland and Wales all in 1912. He played in a further 12 matches against club sides. He was considered to be one of the two best of an outstanding pack of South African forwards.

At the outbreak of the First World War, Thompson volunteered for service, first in South West Africa, and then in the German East Africa campaign, with the 5th South African Infantry. He was killed in action at Kangata, taking a bullet in the neck. He is buried in the Dar es Salaam War Cemetery, near his fellow countryman and teammate Jacky Morkel, who died a few weeks before him.

Tommy Thompson was born on 4 October 1886, in Carnarvon, Cape Colony, and attended Rondebosch Boys' High School.

Thompson played rugby for Somerset West Rugby Club, and in 1912 was selected for his provincial club Western Province. He was a member of the South African rugby team that toured the British Isles and France in 1912–13. The team won all four of its international matches against the Home Nations, and against France. Thompson played against Scotland, Ireland, and Wales, and in a further twelve matches against other teams. He was considered to be one of the two best amongst one of the 'finest pack of forwards'. The contemporary rugby journalist and author E. H. D. Sewell recounted seeing the game against Ireland at Lansdowne Road on 23 November 1912, and said of Thompson: "I have never seen a better individual performance than his on that frost-bound pitch... Only a few have I seen to equal that all-round display". Thompson played "like one possessed" en route to a 38 point to zero victory.

...
Wikipedia