Wilf Rosenberg

Wilf Rosenberg (18 June 1934 – 14 January 2019) was a South African rugby union and rugby league footballer who played in the 1950s and 1960s.

Wilf Rosenberg
Rosenberg in New Zealand in 1956
Personal information
Full nameWilfred Rosenberg
Born(1934-06-18)18 June 1934
Sea Point, Cape Town, South Africa
Died14 January 2019(2019-01-14) (aged 84)
Herzliya, Israel
Playing information
Rugby union
PositionCentre
Representative
Years Team Pld T G FG P
1955–58 South Africa 5 2 0 0 6
Rugby league
PositionCentre, Wing
Club
Years Team Pld T G FG P
1959–61 Leeds 81 73 0 0 219
1961–63 Hull F.C. 86 42 0 0 126
Total 167 115 0 0 345
Source: [1][2]

Career

Born in South Africa, Rosenberg moved to Australia as a child and started playing rugby union while a pupil at Sydney Grammar School. As a teenager, he returned to South Africa and played for his local school, Jeppe High School in Johannesburg, before playing for the Transvaal provincial team.[3] Picked five times for the South Africa national rugby union team between 1955 and 1958, in which he scored two tries,[1] Rosenberg moved to the United Kingdom and changed codes to become a professional rugby league player while studying dentistry at Leeds University.[3]

Rosenberg was signed by Leeds for a £6,000 signing-on fee and made his début in 1959.[3] Initially playing as a centre before settling on the wing, in a three-year stay he helped the club win its first Championship title in the 1960–61 season, setting a new club record for most tries in a single season with 48 tries in the 1960–61 season.[3] He rounded off the season playing on the right wing in the 25–10 victory over Warrington in the Championship Final at Odsal Stadium, Bradford on Saturday 20 May 1961, in front of a crowd of 52,177.[4][5] He made 81 appearances for Leeds, scoring 73 tries.[5] Known as "the Flying Dentist", Rosenberg left Leeds in 1961 after breaking his jaw and joined Hull F.C. for whom he played 86 times, scoring 42 tries before retiring from the game in 1963.[6]

After retiring from rugby, Rosenberg returned to South Africa, where he established his own dental practice before a stroke ended his dental career in 1970. After this, Rosenberg turned his hand to other pursuits, including boxing promotion. He eventually retired to Israel and died in Herzliya from another stroke on 14 January 2019.[7]

Rosenberg had been inducted into the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in 1994.[7]

References
  1. "Wilf Rosenberg South Africa". ESPN. Retrieved 15 January 2019.
  2. Caplan, Phil; Smith, Peter (2001). 100 greats: Leeds Rugby League Club. Stroud: Tempus. p. 96. ISBN 978-0-7524-2225-1.
  3. "Jewish community were wonderful, says rugby legend Wilf". Jewish Telegraph. 2011. Archived from the original on 17 December 2015. Retrieved 15 January 2019.
  4. "1961–1970: The Holy Grail is captured". therhinos.co.uk. 31 December 2011. Retrieved 1 January 2012.
  5. "Leeds and Hull mourn wing legend". Yorkshire Evening Post. 15 January 2019. Retrieved 15 January 2019.
  6. "'He was my first hero' – Wilf Rosenberg tribute after ex-Hull FC star's death". Hull Daily Mail. 15 January 2019. Retrieved 15 January 2019.
  7. "Wilf Rosenberg dies in Israel". Rugby365. 15 January 2019. Retrieved 15 January 2019.
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