Durban - Durban photographer Steve Haag has beaten 700 photographers from 60 countries to win a 2022 World Sports Photography Award in the rugby category.
Haag’s winning entry features Springbok flank Franco Mostert being hoisted into the heavens by his teammates in a lineout during a Test match against the British and Irish Lions last year.
Mostert soars imperiously above the Lions against the stark backdrop of an empty grandstand, reflecting the sad times of spectator-less rugby during the pandemic.
Haag was born in Cornwall in England and came out to South Africa in the 1990s to play rugby for Durban’s Crusaders club, as a robust lock forward.
He married a local woman and settled in the city of sun and surf, and has never left.
The 56-year-old initially had a career in security before moving into the action of a different sort — sports photography.
In 2018, Haag was awarded the Sports Photographer of the Year award in South Africa.
He has branched out from rugby into other sports and has covered football and cricket World Cups, national swimming championships, and even a beach volleyball World Cup.
Haag is sponsored by Durban-based sports betting company Hollywoodbets and their jersey sponsorship of English Premiership club Brentford has resulted in him covering a number of games involving the west London club.
A vastly experienced “snapper”, Haag has travelled the globe to cover over 350 rugby Test matches, four Rugby World Cups and three British and Irish Lions tours.
The top entries can be seen on World Sports Photography Awards website: https://wspa.awardsplatform.com/gallery/glVeylNr
IOL Sport