{{Short description|South African rugby union player}} {{Use British English|date=August 2013}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2023}} {{Infobox rugby biography | name = Fred Smollan | image = | caption = | birth_name = Frederick Cecil Smollan | birth_date = {{birth date|1908|8|20|df=y}} | birth_place = Uitenhage, Cape Colony | death_date = {{death date and age|1998|2|8|1908|8|20|df=y}} | death_place = Johannesburg, South Africa | height = | weight = | position = Flanker | amatyears1 = 1930–38 | amatteam1 = Wanderers RFC | amatapps1 = | amatpoints1 = | ru_amupdate = | years1 = | apps1 = | points1 = | ru_clubupdate = | province1 = Eastern Province | province2 = Transvaal | provinceyears1 = 1929–30 | provinceyears2 = 1930–39 | provinceapps1 = | provincepoints1 = | ru_provinceupdate = | repsevensyears1 = | repsevenscomp1 = | ru_sevensupdate = | repteam1 = South Africa | repyears1 = 1933 | repcaps1 = 3 | reppoints1 = 0 | ru_ntupdate = | occupation = businessman | school = Grey High School, Muir College | website = www.smollan.co.za }}
'''Frederick Cecil Smollan''' (20 August 1908 – 8 February 1998, Johannesburg) was a South Africa international rugby union player.<ref name=ESPN>{{cite web|url=http://www.espnscrum.com/southafrica/rugby/player/4125.html |title=Fred Smollan: Profile| publisher=ESPNscrum|access-date=24 April 2010}}</ref>
==Career history== Fred Smollan was born in Uitenhage, South Africa in 1908 to David Smollan and Mathilda Goldwater, the second of four brothers.<ref name="kmbro8">{{cite web|url=http://www.kmbro.org/Family_Histories_p08.htm|publisher=kmbro.org|first=Donald|last=Wiseman|title=Kehilat Middlesbrough Newsletter and Archives|access-date=8 August 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140819090506/http://www.kmbro.org/Family_Histories_p08.htm|archive-date=19 August 2014|url-status=dead}}</ref> Educated at Muir College and later Grey High School, Smollan was only the second Jew to represent {{nrut|South Africa}} in rugby union, after Morris Zimerman.<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.sajewishreport.co.za/pdf/2009/july/10-july-2009.pdf| title=Jewish rugby players of yore reminisce about 'The Game'| publisher=South African Jewish Report| page=14| first=Moria| last=Shneider| date=10 July 2009| access-date=8 August 2012}}{{Dead link|date=December 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> Smollan played club rugby for Wanderers RFC, regional rugby for Eastern Province and Transvaal and played three times for South Africa in 1933.<ref name=ESPN/><ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.thewanderersclub.co.za/pdfs/briefhistorywanderesrugby.pdf| title=Brief History of Wanderers Rugby Football Club| publisher=thewanderersclub.co.za| access-date=8 August 2012| archive-date=7 April 2018| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180407115942/http://www.thewanderersclub.co.za/pdfs/briefhistorywanderesrugby.pdf| url-status=dead}}</ref>
His three internationals were all against Australia on the team's 1933 tour of South Africa. Although he would receive no further caps, he faced international opponents again, facing the 1938 British Lions as part of the Transvaal team. Transvaal defeated the Lions 16–9, with Smollan scoring one of the tries.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.lionsrugby.com/thetour/593.php?section=report&fixid=62047|title=Transvaal 16 v 9 British & Irish Lions|access-date=8 August 2012|publisher=lionsrugby.com|archive-date=19 August 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140819085437/http://www.lionsrugby.com/thetour/593.php?section=report&fixid=62047|url-status=dead}}</ref>
In 1931 he set up a business Smollan Holdings, initially as a sales agency. With the outbreak of World War II he served in North Africa. He married Molly Amelia Raphaely in Johannesburg in 1943 and after the war returned to run his business which he built into a public company.<ref name="Smollan_Group">{{cite web |url=http://www.smollan.co.za/ |title=A Global Fieldmarketing Leader – Smollan |access-date=14 February 2013 |archive-date=15 February 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130215204339/http://www.smollan.co.za/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> Smollan and Molly had two children, Doug (b. 1945) and Katherine (b. 1948).<ref name="kmbro9">{{cite web|url=http://www.kmbro.org/Family_Histories_p09.htm|publisher=kmbro.org|first=Donald|last=Wiseman|title=Kehilat Middlesbrough Newsletter and Archives|access-date=8 August 2012}}{{Dead link|date=December 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> Smollan Holdings expanded to become the Smollan Group, a multinational company which now employs 34,000 people and outsources marketing services across the world.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.smollan.co.za/content/about-us|publisher=smollan.co.za|title=Smollan Group "About Us"|access-date=8 August 2012|archive-date=19 August 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120819081206/http://www.smollan.co.za/content/about-us|url-status=dead}}</ref> Smollan remained as its chairman until shortly before his death.<ref name="kmbro9"/>
==Honours== In 2024, at the South African Jewish Board of Deputies' 120th anniversary gala dinner, he was honoured among 100 remarkable Jewish South Africans who have contributed to South Africa.<ref name=gala>(28 November 2024) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jorzdQVRhI 100 Jews who have contributed to South Africa] SABJD. Retrieved on 1 February 2026.</ref> The ceremony included speeches from Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis, and Smollan was honoured among other rugby union players such as Joel Stransky, Cecil Moss and Alan Menter.<ref name=gala/><ref>[https://www.sajr.co.za/story-of-tenacity-board-honours-great-south-africans/ Story of tenacity: Board honours great South Africans] ''South African Jewish Report''. Retrieved on 1 February 2026.</ref>
==See also== *List of select Jewish rugby union players
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * {{ESPNscrum|4125}} * [http://www.smollan.co.za/ Smollan Group] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100326164430/http://www.smollan.co.za/ |date=26 March 2010 }} * [https://web.archive.org/web/20120306000103/http://www.rugbyrugby.com/news/story_211209190400.php The Glory of the Game] about the Ten Jewish Springboks. * [https://ruggaworld.blogspot.com/2006/01/rugby-personalities-jewish-springboks.html Rugby Personalities: The Jewish Springboks]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Smollan, Fred}} Category:1908 births Category:1998 deaths Category:Jewish rugby union players Category:Jewish South African sportspeople Category:Rugby union players from Uitenhage Category:Rugby union flankers Category:Rugby union players from Johannesburg Category:South Africa international rugby union players Category:South African rugby union players Category:Eastern Province Elephants seasons Category:Lions (United Rugby Championship) players Category:Alumni of Grey High School Category:20th-century South African sportsmen