Former Zimbabwean Rugby Player Wellington Charlie Shot Dead in South Africa
Former Zimbabwean rugby player Wellington Charlie was shot dead in an apparent targeted killing in South Africa on Friday, SportsCast has gathered.
50-year-old Charlie was working as an airport engineer in Johannesburg. Foul play, in connection to his duties, is heavily suspected for the fatal shooting.
A classy flanker, Charlie was schooled at Prince Edward School in Harare and played for the famous school’s first team in the early 90s, captaining the side in 1992.
He went on to play club rugby for Old Hararians in the Zimbabwean capital city and earned a handful of caps for national youth teams before his career in the aircraft industry took priority over sport.
Charlie played in an era when Zimbabwe had abundant loose-forward arsenal, a tradition that has been carried to this day. He often had to compete for places with fellow back-rows like Charlton McNab, Paul Mitchell, late Mordecai “Bhuru” Mwerenga among others. Charlie, however, was overlooked due to his smaller built and was not capped at full international level.
The highlight for Charlie’s career was probably playing for a Zimbabwe Select side that lost by just three points to a powerful Australia Under-21 side at Police Grounds in Harare in 1995. Spearheaded by legendary Wallabies fullback Matt Burke, the bulk of that touring youth side went on to win the World Cup with Australia in 1999.
