Lives in Cricket No 32 - Eric Rowan

99 eldest son. ‘My dad was an avid gambler,’ said Eric’s daughter. ‘He was at the races every Saturday and often Wednesdays too. He loved them. We owned racehorses and my dad was very involved in the racing fraternity. Until his accident in 1983 he was chairman of the Newmarket Racecourse in Alberton. He knew everyone from the jockeys, trainers and bookies up to the nobs of the racing community. He used to take me to the famous Durban July Handicap which was such a wonderful experience for me.’ Eric’s racing interest also extended to greyhounds and he owned a few until the sport was banned in South Africa. Gambling was a huge part of Eric’s life, often to his detriment in his daughter’s opinion. ‘He loved to play cards,’ she said, ‘and many an evening the game was on until the wee small hours of the morning. It was usually Johnny Waite, the doctor Gerald Stein and the butcher Ronnie Carr, and “Disey Doll”, as he fondly called me, would prepare and serve them snacks.’ Waite had learned early about Eric’s love of cards. When he was first picked to play for Transvaal the captain asked him to get to the ground early. Waite thought this was to allow Eric to pass on some advice or encouragement, but when he arrived it was to make up the fourth so they could play cards. Eric also loved getting out of the city into the bush. Di remembers being taken to Kruger National Park on many occasions, especially to see all the Burchell’s zebras. ‘Black and white,’ she wrote, ‘just the same as the famous Jeppe colours and also my dad’s strong personality. There were no grey areas. You were either in or out, an attitude which often landed him in hot water.’ In August 1983 Eric was leading an incredibly active life for a man of 74, involved in many different areas and being, in his daughter’s words, ‘his usual controversial self’, but that month his life changed irrevocably. Around six in the evening Eric had gone to meet one of his friends, Gerald Stein, at the steam baths in downtown Johannesburg, something they did regularly to discuss their racing tips for the next day. They were there alone and Gerald left to have his usual massage. No one is quite sure exactly what happened, but Eric was found lying on the floor close to the outlet pipe where the steam was at its fiercest. He was rushed to what was then the J.G. Strijdom Hospital, an institution renowned for its burns unit. When Di arrived she found her father conscious and the only words she can remember him saying were ‘Disey Doll, your old dad is finished’. A Life Beyond Play