remember reading green,un (Yorkshire evening paper)of his signing,great elusive player,R.I.P.gert oupa coetzer,i remember tony Thomas another good threequarter,i think he went to cas,also I remember ken battye,another good versatile player,think he went to down under,dont know whether he is still with us.

Our South African recruits Prinsloo,Skene,Coetzer and Greenwood were some of the best players to ever wear a Trinity shirt.I wonder why clubs no longer recruit players from this country.Is it because of visa problems ? There must be some young talented backs or half backs playing RU who would be up for the chance to play in the superior code and they would probably be a lot cheaper than the Australian option !
RU forwards are an altogether different option.

Seen pics on facebook, it was his funeral today.

Who remembers Ivor Dorrington who, if I'm not mistaken, was the first of the influx of South Africans to Wakefield Trinity, in 1958? I can picture him now.

Its because RU is pro now as opposed to shamatuer as it was then. Now there is loads more money in SA RU than there is in RL and loads more international opportunities.

It’s hard to imagine any half decent SA RU player heading north these days. Sad but true.

As well as your SA recruits in the 50's/60's there were others who graced the English game back then. Van Vollenhoven and Len Killeen were the wingers at St Helens with another Wilf Rosenburg at Leeds. Fred Griffith was a fullback at Wigan.

Rugby League in SA crashed and burned in the early sixties and when I was there from 1966-1968 there were no games played in the areas I lived at any level. When I moved to Aus in 1968 a winger banging goals over for Balmain Tigers was Len Killeen and he was in the side that won the Grand Final a year later.

Remember selling these (or pink'uns?) round the streets of Lupset on a Saturday evening. Nice bit of pocket money.

Talking of wingers, here's one to test the memory of the older fans on here, can anyone remember a South African winger called Jan Lotriet who played one season for the club in 1958?

Yes I remember the name Lotriet.
Also sold green ‘uns around Durkar area in 60s.
Used to buy them from YEP office on Wood St.
Then from Unity Hall when office moved . Started off with couple of dozen , shouting ‘green uns’ in street , then built up a regular round selling 10 dozen or so.
Good earner for teenager and did it right up to going to university in 1970.

A bit off topic, the manager was called Pete Imrie from Crofton his assistant was George Horncastle from Kirkthorpe who lived across the road from me, I was the office boy there and funnily enough Pete sent me round Durker on a Sat night to establish the sale of the paper as it relied upon advertising, not a big area to cover and didn't take long to establish a couple of dozen regulars, the good thing was I was allowed to keep the money on top of the pittance they paid me.

Gert 'Oupa' Coetzer was one of the true greats to have played for Trinity and a gentleman by all accounts. I feel very privileged to have seen him play in the number 5 shirt which he made his own. One of those few players who got you really excited whenever he touched the ball. RIP Gert and thanks for some wonderful tries.

Yes, I remember him little wayne. A contemporary of the afore mentioned Dorrington. He was on the wing as I recall.

I hawked The Green Un around Flanshaw with my mate. We picked them up on Saturday tea time from the YEN office in The Springs. When we'd had enough we would dump the papers over a wall and go and do something else.

Too young to comment on the great players of the 60s, but my Dad speak fondly of the players that pulled on the shirt during this era.

RIP Gert

Very good and informative half-page article about the late, great Gert (Oupa) Coetzer in Today's League Express. For those who weren't around at the time, an ideal insight.