Top goalkeeper, unstinting benefactor and close friend of Sir Stanley Matthews among many others of the soccer famous, Phil Snoyman died in the early hours of Sunday morning at the age of 81 after suffering a stroke 48 hours earlier.
He was one of the renowned Snoyman family of 10 brothers and a sister who formed a soccer team of their own and solved the problem of what to do with Gertie by placing her in goal.
More renowned as goalkeepers, however, were Phil and Lubbe Snoyman, who both enjoyed distinguished careers between the posts for Johannesburg Rangers when they aroused in the 1940s and 1950s the kind of popularity now reserved for the likes of Kaizer Chiefs.
The late Lubbe Snoyman will be remembered as one of the founders of professional soccer in South Africa in 1959 along with Viv Granger and had the reputation of being the unluckiest goalkeeper not to represent South Africa.
Phil Snoyman succeeded his brother in the Rangers goal and played alongside great South African players of the calibre of Gordon Falconer, Cliff Jacques and Morrie Jacobson.
Matthews, dubbed ”the wizard of dribble” and to this day regarded as one of England’s greatest-ever soccer players, described Phil Snoyman as ”my closest, most loyal friend” during one of his many visits to South Africa.
But, more than anything, Phil Snoyman will be remembered for his outrageous generosity in which he would have taken the shirt off his back to help all and sundry.
The fish lunches at his tyre business in Malvern were something of a legend and attended by top sportsmen, officials and journalists of various sporting codes.
He was also the brother of Hymie ”Fish” Snoyman — a legend in South African sporting journalism in his own right. And of the original 10 brothers and sister soccer combination, only Sam, Ruben and Joe remain.
Phil Snoyman will be cremated neat Port Shepstone in KwaZulu-Natal, where he had spent the last couple of years in retirement with his daughter Lynn and son-in-law Ken. — Sapa