Wahl Bartmann, who featured in eight Tests for the Springboks, and enjoyed iconic careers with Transvaal and Natal, is still renowned as one of the most fearless and abrasive South African rugby players of his generation.
The hard-as-nails flanker became a cult hero for Transvaal during the better part of the decade in the 1980s, forming an integral part of the union’s success as they won the Lion Cup twice in 1986 and ’87 and played in two Currie Cup finals during the same seasons.
During this ‘amateur’ era, he formed part of the Transvaal side of ’86 that famously beat the New Zealand Cavaliers (the unofficial All Blacks side), while he also somewhat ironically featured for a World XV side against his beloved Transvaal at Ellis Park.
A year later he captained the Transvaal team to a special victory against a touring Springbok outfit, further adding to his multi-faceted legacy, which included forming an incredible combination with loose forward teammate Jannie Breedt.
The duo played together in 52 matches for Transvaal and often bamboozled the opposition with a unique two-man driving maul where he more often than not broke away to score.
In the special year of 1986 for Bartmann, he earned Springbok colours in four games against the touring New Zealand Cavaliers.
There is no doubt Bartmann would have enjoyed a prolific Springbok if not for the international ban imposed on South Africa due to Apartheid.
It meant the next time he featured for the Springboks was when South Africa was readmitted to international rugby, when he played against both the official All Blacks at Ellis Park and the Wallabies at Newlands in 1992, followed by two Tests against France in what would be his final appearances in the green and gold.
During that stage of his career, Bartmann had made the move to Natal, where he also featured prominently and regularly captained the coastal side during a five-year period in which he was part of the team that won the Currie Cup in 1990 and 1992.
Bartmann was voted SA Rugby Player of the Year for two consecutive years in 1990 and 1991, and when he eventually hung up his boots just before the game began to turn professional, he had firmly established his legacy as one of the most iconic South African rugby stars.
Wahl Bartmann has also been hugely successful off the field
Now 61 years old, Baartmann has ben involved with the Fidelity security services group for decades, and remains the long-serving CEO at the company that’s described as “Southern Africa’s largest integrated security solutions provider and the industry leader in protection innovation”.
As highlighted by BusinessTech during an interview in 2021, “Bartmann has been with the security firm for in excess of 30 years, having taken the (CEO) reins in 2005. He oversaw the acquisition of ADT, the security business belonging to US-based Tyco for approximately R1.9 billion in 2016, and is in charge of a business that employs over 50,000 people.”
In 2016, the South African of the Year Awards saw him named as the ‘Business Innovator Of The Year’ in recognition of his work in moulding a small security company into a leader in the security industry.
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