When Cecil Rhodes was defining the ideal candidate upon whom to bestow one of his Oxford scholarships, the old imperialist could have had Clive van Ryneveld, a future recipient, in mind: a scholar and a sportsman – dashing centre three-quarter, stylish batsman – of outstanding personal qualities.
In his last will and testament, revealed after his death in 1902, Rhodes – a firm believer in the supremacy of the white race – wrote that the awards should go to candidates to whom a “fondness of and success in many outdoor sports such as cricket, football and the like” should count as much as academic attainments and scarcely less than “their qualities of truth, courage, devotion to duty, sympathy for the protection of the weak, kindliness and fellowship”.
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