Paul Darveniza

Paul Darveniza (1945–2024) was an Australian rugby union player who represented his country in the Australian men's national rugby union team, the Wallabies. Playing as a hooker, he claimed a total of four international rugby caps for Australia. During the 1971 South Africa rugby union tour of Australia he was one of seven Wallabies players (the "Anti-Apartheid Seven") who refused to play the whites-only South African Springboks team and voiced their opposition to the continuation of sporting ties with apartheid-based South Africa. After his sporting career Darveniza served as a consultant neurologist at St Vincents Hospital, Darlinghurst for more than 50 years.

Paul Darveniza

Birth name	Paul Darveniza
Date of birth	(1945-09-19)19 September 1945
Place of birth	Brisbane, Queensland
Date of death	11 June 2024
Place of death	Sydney, New South Wales
School	Cranbrook School, Sydney
University	University of Sydney
Occupation(s)	Consultant neurologist
Rugby union career
Position(s) Hooker International career Years Team Apps (Points) 1969 Wallabies 4 (0)

Early life and education

Darveniza was born on 19 September 1945 in Brisbane, Queensland. His father, Zvonomir, was a dentist of Croatian descent. Following the separation of his parents, Paul Darveniza lived with his mother, Audrey Wella Darveniza-Barns, and periodically visited his father who was then practising in outback Queensland.

Moving with his mother to Sydney, Darveniza attended the Cranbook School, where he excelled in cricket and rugby. He then studied medicine at the University of Sydney and gained a residency in neurology at St Vincents Hospital, Darlinghurst, the place where he would later practice for most of his medical career.

Rugby union career

Darveniza was a "a tough, robust and durable hooker".[CLASSIC WALLABIES] After leaving school, he played rugby for the Eastern Suburbs District RUFC but in 1965 he transferred for the Sydney University Football Club ("University") team, for which he "played over 100 first-grade games for University, including the premiership-winning finals in 1968 and 1970".

He played rugby union for New South Wales from 1967 until 1969. In 1969 he was selected to be a player for the Australian men's national rugby union team, the Wallabies. After playing Wales at the Sydney Cricket Ground, he joined the Australian Tour to South Africa, during which he played three more tests. During that tour, which lasted three months, he saw the effects of the "ruthless" apartheid system "both in everyday life in South Africa and within the rugby stadiums themselves", declared "their opposition to the continuation of sporting ties with the South African Republic". He and six other Wallabies – Jim Boyce, Tony Abrahams, Terry Forman, Barry McDonald, James Roxburgh and Bruce Taafewho – declared "their opposition to the continuation of sporting ties with the South African Republic". Dubbed the "Rugby Seven" and the "Anti-Apartheid Seven", their non-violent action was an "unprecedented stance in refusing to play against the Springboks". The seven of them were involved "in the 1971 campaign to 'Halt the Tours' – the South African cricket and rugby visits slated for later in that year."

Medical career

In 1975–1979 Darveniza undertook neurological studies at Queen Square Hospital (now: National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery), in Queen Square, London, graduating with an MD degree, and then post-doctoral research under Marshall Warren Nirenberg at the National Institute of Health, Washington DC.

Returning to St Vincent's Hospital he was appointed as a consultant neurologist whose specialties included "clinical neurology, muscle diseases, myaesthenia gravis, and movement disorders".

Honours and awards

President Nelson Mandela awarded Darveniza and his fellow members of the "Anti-Apartheid Seven" the South African medal named the Medal of Freedom.

Final years

Darveniza died of blood cancer in 2024.

Further reading

• Larry Writer, Pitched Battle: In the Frontline of the 1971 Springbok Tour of Australia, Melbourne: Scribe Publications, 2006.

External links

• Paul Darveniza's research works at ResearchGate