Of all the hard men in South African rugby, Duane Vermeulen will go down as one of the hardest.
Now, one of the most fearsome ball fetchers in the game is looking to fetch profits as he builds businesses for his life post-rugby.
Vermeulen has spent the past few years growing his business interests and now has ventures as diverse as farming, honey, wine and bubble tea.
Vermeulen even has plans to enter the commercial and residential property market. And that he is grounded is shown clearly by his acknowledgment that the push to succeed in his life came from the inspiration of his mother, Estelien.
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His dad died from cancer 25 years ago and Estelien took on multiple jobs to care for the family. Young Vermeulen, though, still had to look for sponsors for him to go on tour with his school.
“So it’s in our family to do this,” he says.
It is always inspiring to see someone triumph over adversity, or even tragedy, and Vermeulen is one such person.
But his story is also a message to talented sports stars not to put all their eggs in the playing basket and to plan for their future after the final whistle blows.
