August Frederick Markötter
| Born | August Frederick Markötter 10 May 1878 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Died | 16 April 1957 (aged 78) Stellenbosch, South Africa | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| University | Stellenbosch University | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Occupation(s) | Lawyer, University Registrar | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rugby union career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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August Frederick 'Oubaas Mark' Markötter (1878–1957) was a South African rugby union player and national selector who coached Stellenbosch Rugby Football Club from 1903 to 1957. As coach he not only turned Maties into the world's largest rugby club but forged 50 of his players into Springboks and got nearly 150 of his players selected for the Western Province team. Eleven of the 1906 Springbok touring squad to Britain "had developed under him at Stellenbosch".
Markötter popularized the 3–4–1 scrumming formation which is now standard in rugby union, and thus created the position of eighthman as a loose forward. He has also been credited with entrenching the swing-pass among his players.
Markötter was "one of the most influential and significant personalities in South African rugby, which he dominated" between 1903 and 1957.