Kitch Christie facts for kids

George Moir Christie, known to everyone as Kitch Christie (born 31 January 1940 – died 22 April 1998), was a famous South African rugby union coach. He is best known for leading South Africa's national rugby team, the Springboks, to win the 1995 Rugby World Cup. Kitch Christie was an amazing coach because the Springboks never lost a single game while he was in charge from 1994 to 1996. They even set a record with 14 wins in a row! After he passed away, he was honored in 2011 by being added to the World Rugby Hall of Fame.

Kitch Christie's Early Life

Kitch Christie was born in Johannesburg, South Africa. His father was from Scotland and his mother was from England. He went to school in Edinburgh, Scotland, at Leith Academy. He also studied at the London Institute of Electronics.

His nickname, "Kitch," came from his school friends. They named him after Don Kitchenbrand, a South African footballer who played for Rangers in the 1950s.

Starting His Coaching Journey

After finishing his education, Kitch Christie returned to South Africa. He joined the Pretoria Harlequins club as a player. He played as a flanker, which is a position in rugby.

Even though his playing career wasn't very famous, he started to develop his coaching skills at the Harlequins. This club became very important to him. He coached them to win many trophies. He also helped choose players for the Northern Transvaal team. For a short time, he coached the Glenwood Old Boys team in Durban.

In 1980, Kitch Christie spent some time in the United States. He coached the Chicago Lions club in Chicago. He was there for less than three months, but he made a big difference. He led the team to win their regional championship.

Coaching Transvaal Rugby Team

In 1992, Kitch Christie got a big opportunity. Louis Luyt, who was the president of the Transvaal rugby union, asked him to coach their team. Louis Luyt would later play a very important role in Christie's career.

At Transvaal, Christie became known as one of the best rugby coaches in South Africa. He led the team to one of their most successful periods ever. Transvaal won the Currie Cup two years in a row, in 1993 and 1994. These were their first wins in that competition since 1972. They also won the first-ever Super 10 title in 1993.

In 1993, the Transvaal team won all four competitions they entered! Their captain was Francois Pienaar. Many players from this successful Transvaal team, 13 of them, later joined Christie's Springbok team that won the 1995 Rugby World Cup.

Leading the Springboks to Victory

In 1994, Louis Luyt became the president of the South African Rugby Football Union. The Springboks' coach position became open in mid-1994. The previous coach, Ian McIntosh, was let go after losing a series to the All Blacks.

Louis Luyt was sure that Kitch Christie was the right person to take over. Christie had shown great success with Transvaal. So, in October 1994, Christie accepted the offer to become the Springboks coach.

Christie took over at a very important time. The 1995 Rugby World Cup was going to be hosted by South Africa. This was the first major competition for the Springboks after they were allowed back into international rugby. This happened because apartheid had ended in South Africa. Christie had only nine months to get the team ready to compete for the World Cup.

He started his international coaching career with two wins at home against Argentina in October 1994. Then, the team had a successful tour to Europe in November 1994. They beat Scotland and Wales.

The World Cup campaign started perfectly. After a warm-up win against Samoa, the Springboks beat the defending champions, Australia, in the first match. This important game was played at Newlands in Cape Town. Christie believed winning this game was key to having an easier path in the tournament.

The Springboks continued to win their other pool matches. They had a tough game against Canada in their final pool match. Then, they defeated Manu Samoa in the quarterfinals. They won a very dramatic semifinal game against France.

South Africa's reward for beating France was a final match against New Zealand. New Zealand had an amazing player, Jonah Lomu, who was scoring many tries. He had scored four tries in their semifinal against England.

The Springboks' strong defense was ready for the challenge. They managed to stop Lomu from scoring any tries in the final. In fact, he never scored a try against South Africa in his whole career. The match ended in a 9–9 tie after 80 minutes. This meant the teams had to play extra time. South Africa won the game 15–12.

This victory in 1995 was very special for South Africa. It touched people far beyond just rugby fans. One of the most memorable moments was Nelson Mandela, wearing the captain's number 6 shirt, hugging captain Francois Pienaar after the win. This famous scene was even shown in the movie Invictus.

Kitch Christie's last game as coach of the Springboks was a win against England. This game was played at Twickenham in November 1995. By this time, his health was getting worse. He had been battling leukemia, a type of cancer, since 1979.

Francois Pienaar, the captain, wrote in his book about a team huddle. He said Christie joined the huddle and stood between him and James Dalton. Pienaar recalled, "The usual end to such a Springboks huddle is for the players to squeeze each other and shout 'Bokke'." He added, "James and I squeezed the coach and discovered later we'd fractured two of his ribs. He never said a word."

In March 1996, Christie had to step down as Springboks coach because of his health. Andre Markgraaf took over from him.

Kitch Christie coached South Africa in 14 test matches between October 1994 and March 1996. He won all 14 of them! At that time, this tied the record for the longest winning streak for a coach. This record was held by Fred Allen, who coached the All Blacks in the 1960s. Later, another South Africa coach, Nick Mallett, broke this record.

Later Years and Legacy

After leaving his role as Springbok coach in March 1996, Kitch Christie's health improved for a while. He was finally able to achieve a long-time dream. He became the head coach for Northern Transvaal for the 1997 Super 12 season.

However, his health problems returned. He couldn't travel with the team to Australasia early in the season. A few weeks later, his condition worsened, and he was hospitalized. It was during this time that he was sadly fired as coach by the Northerns' president, Hentie Serfontein, while he was in his hospital bed. Christie said he was fired "like a dog."

By the end of 1997, his health got much worse. He went to the U.S. to get special treatment. He was able to return to rugby for a short time in early 1998. He worked as a technical adviser for the Falcons team. But his condition worsened again. He entered the hospital for the last time on Easter Sunday of 1998.

Kitch Christie passed away on 22 April 1998. He left behind his wife, Judy, and his son, Clayton. He also had two daughters, Catherine and Caroline, from a previous marriage.

See also

In Spanish: Kitch Christie para niños