Brendan Venter

Brendan Venter (born 29 December 1969 in Johannesburg, South Africa) is a rugby union footballer who played at centre and also coached for London Irish. He is a qualified MD (physician).

He was red-carded in the 1999 World Cup for stamping against Uruguay in the group stages, he was replaced by Pieter Muller for the rest of the tournament. The springboks were knocked out in the semi-finals, defeated by Australia.'

He has 17 caps as a Springbok rugby player, representing South Africa between 1994 and 1999.

History
As per the following [redacted] interview with Karen Hebert of BMJ Careers (see ):

Brendan [Venter] started off playing rugby for South African schools. He said that even then his studies came first. "I was a good rugby player at school. I saw it as a tool to get a degree--my parents weren't very wealthy. I decided that if I made it as a rugby player it would be a bonus but that even if I didn't it would pay for my studies and I could become a doctor. Brendan went to the University of the Orange Free State to study medicine and play rugby. After too much partying in his first year, he just scraped through his exams. "I had a real reality check. I had to decide if I really wanted to be a rugby player or a doctor. So when I went back in my second year there was a complete change in attitude, and rugby took second place. I was determined to be a good doctor and felt that I had to give my studies priority in order to achieve this."

The Rugby World Cup took place in 1995, and after this rugby turned professional. However Brendan still continued to practise as a doctor: "I was very lucky. Although we were professional, training in my province only started at five in the afternoon. So I had the whole day to work as a GP in my own practice as well as doing afternoons in anaesthetics. The rugby training was really my stress relief."

In 2001 Brendan came back to the United Kingdom with his wife and two children to coach and play for London Irish. "I was very analytical as a player and had always wanted to try out my ideas as a coach." Concurrently he has continued to fit in GP locum work as well as dealing with his team's medical needs.

He believes that medicine helps him be a better coach: "When I am faced with a coaching problem, I fall back on the principles I was taught as a doctor. I have learnt that sometimes it doesn't matter how much you know, how committed you are, how much work you put in. Sometimes there are variables that you can't predict. Medicine taught me to accept that there are some things I can't change."

He admits that when it comes to the crunch he would always choose medicine over rugby. So when his contract with London Irish runs out...he has decided to retire from rugby and return to work at his GP practice in London.

Quote
"My passion is medicine, but I feel that if you don't have other interests you will smother your passion. Develop your other interests or you will burn out. And allow yourself time to do what you love."

Brendan Venter