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IN this morning’s edition of The Times, we published two opposing views on rugby’s standing with black South Africans. In the first, Nomfundo Xulu argues why she supports rugby, but not soccer:
I LOVE rugby and I’m a proud supporter of the Springboks. On my way to work on Friday, I was touched to see the number of people who are just as thrilled about our team as I am — people from different walks of life, some who probably don’t even understand the game, but know what it means to the nation. It was a moment of extreme jubilation for me, and maybe more so because I felt understood.
Let me explain. Being a black girl who’s never been a big supporter of soccer, I’ve always felt like I’m betraying my fellow black people with my love of rugby. I can’t begin to count the number of times I’ve been called a coconut, an Oreo and everything else for refusing soccer-stadium invitations. But I could not bring myself to lie about the fact that I just don’t enjoy the sport and its vibe.
And it’s got nothing to do with the people who are at the stadiums. It’s just not my kind of scene — or my kind of sport, for that matter.
For some reason or another soccer is branded as a predominantly black sport — maybe because the country’s most prominent soccer players are either black or coloured and not often white or Indian.
But either way, I can’t stand soccer and I have loyalty to prove to anyone.
But I must say I’ve seen a documentary from back in the 1950’s or even prior to that where a predominantly black SA rugby team was world-renowned. Maybe it’s because the documentary was in black and white, but I’m sure that’s what I saw, and I really was overjoyed to see that. It made me wonder if people are so stuck on apartheid that they don’t consider the country prior to that. And maybe I’m just naive, but I’m tired of the whole colour thing being a big part of everything we do in life.
I was disappointed when I heard some government official saying something about how sports, particularly rugby, should be “racially correct”. It’s not the fact that he said it but it’s the fact that he said it at such a crucial time for our rugby squad, which, as it is, has gone through so many political issues, despite achieving much more than any of our multi-racial sports teams.
I may not be politically correct in saying this, but I’d hate for our teams to have people of all races merely because of their skin colour and not their ability to perform on the field. That defeats the whole purpose of having a winning sports team.
I sincerely believe that if a team can bring supporters of any colour together (like the Boks are doing now), and still be a brilliant squad, it should not matter what colour the players are. As long as the nation as a whole can come together and share tears of joy.
I guess it’s the country’s way of stabilising itself after apartheid, a lot like BEE. But come to think of it, I would not want to be hired to make up the legislative numbers. I’d rather be hired because I’m damn good at what I do and I can learn and teach something.
I know the theory is that previously disadvantaged people were just that, disadvantaged. They (or am I meant to say “we”), never got the right education and as a result never got the chance to get good jobs. Fair enough, and I totally understand.
However, I look at some (I repeat, only some) BEE employees who feel that because of their skin colour they cannot be fired because they can just pull the race card. I look at the levels of laziness of these people these minority groups portray and how they spend time complaining about the salaries they get compared to the white members of staff, and maybe they are right, but more often than not they don’t have proof.
I’m of the opinion that whatever the apartheid era was, and whatever ways are being implemented to reverse the trauma, it seems as though the previously disadvantaged feel that the world and everyone who did not get a Bantu education owes them something.
I don’t blame them. I blame the systems being implemented and the fact that it seems we blame everything on apartheid.
In the second, Sunday Times soccer boffin, BBK (Bareng-Batho Kortjas) argues why he will not celebrate the World Cup victory:
FINALLY, it’s over. The Afrikaners from South Africa beat the English from England in a sporting version of the Anglo-Boer War called the Rugby World Cup 2007.
The battle ground, Stade de France, erupted in jubilation as the men in green and gold hoisted the Webb Ellis Trophy high.
They will return home to a thunderous welcome at OR Tambo airport by throngs of supporters with green blood coursing in their veins. A ticker-tape parade will follow and South Africans of all hues will line the streets to salute their heroes.
Jake White and his crew will probably stop over at former president Nelson Mandela’s home to present the trophy to him.
Most of those who line the streets will be black.
But they remain a minority in the national rugby team.
Call me a spoilsport, a party-pooper or whatever you prefer, and I will take the compliment.
I don’t recognise this team because rugby remains untransformed and sticks out like a sore thumb in reminding me of the bad old days.
The irony is that sport is supposed to unite us.
But with rugby, we rejoice as Desmond Tutu’s Rainbow Nation off the field while the sport remains an exclusive preserve of whites on the field. And this 13 years after Mandela united black and white.
People like Butana Komphela are wasting their time toyi-toying for transformation. There is transformation in rugby.
When South Africa were crowned world champions on home soil in 1995, there was one so-called coloured winger — Chester Williams.
This year, there were two, flying on the left and right wings in the persons of Brian Habana and JP Pietersen.
How can Komphela and his fellow toyi-toyers scream no transformation when Akona Ndungane was there and played in only one game of seven?
So, my answer to the war cry Niyabasaba yini na? [Are you afraid of them?] is not Hhayi, asibasabi, siyabafuna! [No, we are not afraid of them. We want them!].
My answer is: Yes, I am afraid of the Springboks. I don’t want them. They may or not have their Zulu haka, but they play not in my name.
It’s a sweet victory for some, but leaves a sour taste for some of us.
There’s 30million blacks and 2.5million whites, but for 15 years, since different racial bodies formed a unified rugby body, that unity is not reflected on the team.
So go out there, my fellow countrymen, and cheer a bunch of Afrikaners who were assisted by a sprinkling of so-called coloureds and one black for their amazing achievement of conquering the world.
I suppose congratulations are in order.
But I will pass on the celebrations, because I don’t belong in this thing, just like a colleague of mine told me on Saturday morning:
“You people are just not good enough.”
I took it to mean Ndungane was there for window dressing, maybe to make Mandela happy.Related posts:
I’m going to try and remain diplomatic here so all I’ll say is that BBK needs to quite simply get over it.
Next year will be the “Protea” side he dreams of.
BBK is an excellent example of a unity spoiler – perhaps a very unhappy childhood? I believe the best players were on the field – the result seems to agree. If the whole team was black and won, I would still be happy.
Cheer old chap, or focus on soccer! It might even make you a happier and more likeable person?
My view is that we should enjoy the happy hormones of victory while they last. Reality will reassert itself in the next couple of weeks.
Surely the composition of a national side should reflect the numbers of actual players in that sport as opposed to the population at large?
I’m not expecting to see any screams for the transformation of the national juksei team anytime soon.
Look at ice hockey and basketball in the US for comparison. All-white ice hockey team, virtually all-black basketball team. Nobody seems to mind.
However, if rugby is played amongst black communities, then you’d expect to see this filtering through eventually.
….. and athletics in the US. I don’t see any yanks grumpy because the champs are mostly black (read minority).
I believe the 2007 cup will motivate more blacks in SA to take up rugby and hopefully the BBK can then also enjoy the accomplishments with the rest of us.
(As an aside, what’s with his Surname – that sounds pretty Afrikaans to me? maybe that’s why he uses BBK? does sound an awful lot like the BTK killer though? …. probably not intentional 
)
Good luck to you BBK (Bareng-Batho Kortjas). With your attitude I don’t think it will be possible to have a united South Africa.
Well done Spingboks! You played for South Africa and we are proud of you!
Riley
I think these images have been colored in so much over the lines, they’re hardly recognisable anymore. In the one corner we have people who believe including more players of colour means lowering the standard of the game. In the other corner we have people who don’t associate with a sport that they feel doesn’t represent the make up of the population. We also have the fence sitters and those who don’t really care. Now throw all of them in a pot together and stir. And this is what we get. Confusion and Division. So we have people who truly believe that if you include players of colour the team won’t be strong. They truly, truly believe this. Why? Are they automatically discarding any talent these players of colour might have? And we have people who don’t associating with the springboks, ever as if these players are not south african – if we are to embrace each other in the new sa, is this not about accepting that south africans can be white too? Now we have circle that just goes round and round with neither side wanting to budge on their views always digging up something to “prove” their “points”. And what does this gain us in the end? A divided country, that’s all. *Both* sides need to know that *both* sides would have to change their views in order for this country to be truly united in sport. This is not a case of “but ma, he started first”. Put your egos aside and work towards building a united nation.
Bareng-Batho Kortjas
Are you so bitter and twisted that you cannot even enjoy your own countries achievements at a time like this. Thank god that you are the minority of majority!!
I didn’t see any Afrikaners on the field on Saturday or any Blacks or Colored for that fact… I saw South Africans holding the hopes of a nation high above their heads with pride and honor along with our proud President.
And all you saw were White Afrikaners… Shame on you.
African I like your take on this and I think you’re 100% correct. What people seem to miss is that we actually have a lot of black players in South Africa that are truly showing their class and I’m not talking about the 2 that appeared in the RWC Final.
I have full faith that we can field an almost entirely black back-line and be just as effective as the “Afrikaaner” team England faced on Saturday.
Where we do have an issue is with black forwards. This has always been an issue and I don’t see that many talented black forwards coming through the ranks just yet.
My concern with BBWhatever is that he’s missing the point completely just for the sake of creating controversy. To me it’s in bad taste and defeats everything that was achieved in us winning the RWC.
Maybe because I’m a pale-male I just don’t get it but as someone who is part of this new democratic society I say it’s time to move on. Let’s use the goodness of winning something as prestigious as the RWC and try and bring some unity back into this country.
I am tired of this us versus them attitude…
it’s funny I don’t hear any one complaining about Bafana bafana squad, with their poor perfomens, with more black people. May be its time we put more whites on soccer, so that we can get better results.
Please for the South Africans of all colours It is time to move ON If some black Africans can give one country in the world where the role model exist to inforce the coulor issue in any sport they must go and live their stupid ideas their. You are the biggest Racists in the world. What a lot of rubbish to even think of the Rugby team in a colour frame . I AM A PROUD SOUTH AFRICAN THANKS TO THE BOKKE! “Stand up and be counted” Something for Bafana Bafana to copy?
Bareng-Batho Kortjas comments are absurd.
It takes a life time of playing rugby to become a Springbuck. From the earliest grade 1 games, through tough schools rugby(craven week- Under13 and Under 19) then Varsity rugby ,then Under 21, then provincial, then currie cup, then super 12 and then when you get there you build your muscles for another 4 years and then you can play for the bokke. (Work it out… its about 18 years of training from the age of 7)
Some guys dont want to do this and short cut using the political way and guess what?. They get hammered by a massive front rower or lock and cant play anymore. (See how many black rugby players we lost this year in the super 12)
I certainly would not want to play againsts the likes of Bakkies Botha, Os Durant, Victor Matfield or Skalk Burger without knowing I’m physically capable to play. And it doesnt matter if you are pink,black,green or white you have to be able to take the blows…
The world cup win should get a whole new generation of kids to start playing rugby.Hopefully they start playing Under 7 rugby soon.
My bet is that the bokke, if chosen on colour, will join Eastern Province who seem to have disappeared off the map after its racially divided selection policies.
Bet you too… if we select a new coach to select on colour he won’t make December 2007, why not pay Jake White a salary like we pay the coach of the Bafana Bafana soccer team, who I dont think has won a game in years?
Hope you understand, Bareng-Batho, and come have a drink with me someday.
“Brian Habana” for President.
And the spiral continues .. no-one wants to be wrong or be the first to reconcile without another senseless attack on the other. We’ll never be united as long as we have people who think like this “I’m tired of racial issues so *they* must stop or *they* need to … ” “It’s not me, it’s *them*”, “*they* need to include more people of colour but *they* don’t want to”, “*they’re* not good enough” “*they* can play *their* own sport” … still the same old “but, ma he started first” No-one wants to be the first to reconcile with taking a last stab at the opposition. Seriously, this is so non-productive. Let’s rather try to be a part of the solution and not the problem.
BBK. Transformation….. what a messed up word.I promise you that any black rugby player would rather be chosen on merit, than on the colour of his skin! Akona Ndugane only played one game because there were 2 other BLACK wingers that were better than him! I dont mind an all black springbok team, as long as that player is the best in his position in the country.
Oh and if transformation is so high up on your agenda I sincerely hope that you will write just as strongly as to why we dont have more white players in the bafana squad.
SHAME ON YOU!!!!!!!
Why dont we stop playing the race card if you go to war you need to win if you go into a game you need to win Bafana Bafana stopped winning when Clive Barker was removed and since then they have gone backwards supportters are in decline because players are just no good so now we want to do the same to rugby then no country team to win this country is going backwards not forward.
Interesting to note that the arguments against Mr. BB are very academic and civilized. I can understand how some gentlemen can still have chips on their shoulders, but it’s great to see how easy it is to contradict someone when they are quite simply wrong.. and bitter.
THANK YOU to the opposition for not sporting the usual, typical, foul-mouthed opposition that so often comes from the average American.
At the end of the day, you may have affirmative action on your side (and perhaps, very little else,) but you’ll never have the true spirit that exists in the real public of South Africa.
Have a nice day, and try to be a little more progressive.
BBK’s comments are indicative of an antagonising force which will effectively prevent South Africa from ever becoming a truly integrated democracy.
Regardless of the past, why can’t we just be happy when a talented “South African” team competes and wins at an international level?
If you follow BBK’s logic then it means that black people will never be satisfied when a predominantly white sports team wins, white people will never be satisfied when a predominantly black sports team wins, Indian people will be divided if they are not properly represented etc etc.
If this is truly the case, then it essentially means that very little progress has been made since 1994 and the so called “rainbow nation” is a myth.
Maybe we should allocate our emotions in accordance with representivity. Same race = happiness. Different race = unhappiness. We then weight our emotions accordingly (not sure how many points disabled players will get) and see how we feel.
While I fully understand the need for BEE to reverse the imbalances of the past and ensure economic transformation to prevent a Zimbabwe type overreaction (business and farm grabs etc.) in years to come…
Sport however is different…
The politicians are not being honest. How many black and white kids are playing rugby at school, I admit don’t have the figures from the Education Department, but that ratio is basically the ratio of future Springbok teams… Do you legislate and force the kids to play or do you inspire them to play, to be like Habana or Pieterson? (the prize not just fame but financial security)
Sport is basically entertainment. Sportsmen’s salaries are paid for by the public who watch on television and and at the grounds. Winning teams have good revenues (Sharks, Bulls) bad teams (The Mighty Elephants) less good. Mess with that and you kill the goose that laid the golden egg. Forced transformation / intergration of the Super 14 of national side will simply not succeed. (unfortunaly it will take a few years of “Parliamentary selections” for them to finally leave sport and who plays it (and who watches it) to the individual.
If the government want full transformation in rugby they need to put their money where their mouth is and build rugby facilities in every township, pay for decent coaching, clubs etc. while maintaining a winning culture in the national side to inspire the kids to play. The kids must want to play rugby, that is the real trick, to break the apartheid culture of “soccer is for blacks, rugby is for whites”, and that, unfortunately for the politicians can never be forced on people. If the Government wants it, they need to pay for it and understand that world class sportsman are not that plentiful (ask Wales, Scotland & Ireland)… It will take time, but just maybe the investment and patience will be worth it.
As a bourgeois white male, I would love to cheer for a whole team of talented back guys thumping England in years to come. I could happen, but it unfortunately won’t…
this is ****. i am not white and i play rugby and love it. just because you dont share the passion as much as other non-whites it doesnt mean that your feelings are the only ones that count. you shouldnt disrespect other peoples feelings. i enjoy soccer too but i dont watch as much or play it because i dont find it as enjoyable. maybe if our soccer team did something great then they would deserve props as the bokke have. dont get me wrong. i enjoy soccer too but you must respect that they have worked really hard and went all out. dont go against people because you dont feel the same as they do. no need to go against other people BBK. dont be childish. be proudly south african man. we are together in this.
I have no attachment to South Africa whatsoever beyond that of an interested observer.
If the SA rubgy establishment implement the non-white quota rule, there can be nothing other than negative consequences, both in the rugby sphere and in society. Promoting players on the basis of non-merit in a sporting context is ludicrous. The best players (which are currently mainly white – cf. the world champions!) will leave for Europe, spend 5 years in the EU, and pick up passports for themselves and their families. (It’s their living after all.) I wonder if the ones who are already leaving have acted after sensing which way the wind is blowing.
At the symbolic and wider level, it would be reflective of distingushing between people on the most crude, superficial – and deeply unconstructive – lines. This will lead to further division and disharmony, which will reflect itself socio-economically.
SA really does need real men and women like Tutu and Mandela to stand up and think of wider societal interests first, and not themselves. The ANC don’t appear to fit the bill. I know acting unselfishly is a tough call – humans everywhere are egocentric. It seems to be fundamental to human nature. (This is why, for example, the world is going to struggle to deal with the consequences of global warming.)
But for SA – the stakes are huge. It may be worth the sacrifice.
Unfortunately I think that there is a much bigger picture going on here with the powers that be.
I truly believe that they see the current face of SA Rugby as ‘whites’ that are still succeeding despite the odds. I don’t think that they will stop until the Springbok emblem is dropped along with everything ‘white’ in SA Rugby.
Oh how I would love to proved wrong.
Hehe. You have to admire people like BBK for airing their enlightened viewpoints… just as Hendrik Verwoerd and Hitler did.
Africa for the Africans (erm, sorry, I mean Black Africans) and Europe for the (Caucasian) Europeans, eh? Seems perfectly harmonious to me.
*giggle*
(I rather suspect, however, that trolls come in all colors…. just like gentlemen, sportsmen, and other human beings.)
I have the notion that a transformed society in South africa means that blacks will become white and whites will become black, as far as their respective rights are concerned, in the future South Africa, and i wonder if there are many people in this country that share this perception.
I suppose it was both idealisitic and naive to assume that a transformed society meant one that was free of racial segregation. A society that was built on the unfettered talents of the nation as a whole,now liberated to reverse the past effects of apartheid, and build a new nation. But alas , we are just working at restoring apartheid where the majority rules and opresses the minority.
So inevitably their will be a black rugby team repesenting South africa, as there is a black football team, and the whites will be removed from visible society, as can be seen in government,and they will fade from business, a result of BEE.
And they will be left, as they are now, the greatest promoters of “ubuntu” ,the nightjars of south africa, calling to all those who may still hear – good lord deliver us, for we were wrong, and we know it, but we love africa, for africa, and we would never harm her.
This is not about two perspectives on rugby. It is two perspectives on dishonesty, pain, anger and eventually the fear of a people.
Are we honest in what we say? Isn’t both those who argues for a “representative” team and those who argue for a “meritious” team equally hurt by the past en equally afraid of the stranger they have to share a true reconcilled society?
I sense, though don’t share (being white), the pain and anger of someone that suffered under apartheid and it’s messages of being inferior and second-hand. But I also sense and share (being white) the fear and anger of those who now recieves a message that they are unworthy of representing their country.
True transformation at rugby should start with strategies, systems and programmes that could produce rugby players of all nationalities – we should strive to improve Namibian players, re-build Zimbabwean Rugby and get Botswana of Kenya into the World Cup. Rugby is the language.
But healing of the pain and the anger of the nation will only begin when we can celebrate our small victories together (and this is what the RWC is – small). We can only do it if people like BBK shares his pain and those who feel afronted by it starts to listen. We can only praticipate in it if BBK can somehow listen how rugby is a way of living the passion for our country.
But, we are all afraid of the story that we will share. So let us continue with the blaming.
Look out for some sharp letters in The Times tomorrow. And I want to run some of these comments in our paper on Wednesday …
This is not about apartheid, these are two clear examples of black people in the new South Africa. One the glass is half full, lets move forward and build, lets celebrate our success and create more, the other is sour grapes lets spoil a good thing that I don’t want to feel a part of anyway, give it to me for free I deserve it attitude that finds a spot right up there with Robert Mugabe’s idea’s.
Yes ok BBK lets force the whites out, then destroy it and move on to the next thing. If you are so supportive of rapid transformation then move to Zimbabwe and try and find food.
Mr. BBK is clearly upset with something in his life and fails to see that sports transformation will take 20 – 30 to show results. Inpatients is what has caused Zimbabwe to fall, you cannot force it. Rugby is a culture from grass roots up, new talent is expose more and more, RWC07 will snowball and black talent will soon flow over.
BBK, read the letter from Nomfundo Xulu she is a South African, you are depressed hand break on this new era, its your attitude that fails to let go of the past and build the future that slows down the process. Its your words that generates hate and kills the idea of a rainbow nation.
I am pointing my finger and I am laying the blame the BBK’s of the country is the problem. The Nomfundo’s of the world are what creates success in life, her attitude inspires and creates unity. BBK your lack of vision will leave you a sour and miserable person invested with hate for the rest of your days, long after apartheid and transformation is over.
Hi Everyone!!!
Well done bokke. Ai BBK what can I say all we have as SA citizens are each other and the sport we can watch to keep our minds of crime and corrupt politics, whether it’s soccer, rugby cricket, as a white south-african I enjoy them all. It’s up to us as normal citizens to prove to the rest of the world (who so by the way think that S.A. will fall apart like 99% of the rest of africa) that we are and will be great country for decades and centuries to come. Don’t let the few racist views get you down and they are still there in the minds of a few sad people in the country. Remember the three R’s: Respect for self; Respect for others; and Responsibility for all your actions. God bless.
Goose
I was not so into rugby until the start of this years world cup. I think the last time that I did watch was in 1995. This year, I’ve watched all the springbok games in the RWC. The guys were great.
I like to be called a “new generation” South African, I am a black South African. Transformation is good, it will happen, but forcing it in sport will be the worst choice ever made. I completely agree that we have to build our nation of future rugby players from a young age at grass routes level. It will definately take a long time probably another 20years. Patience is a virtue. We have come very far as a nation since the fall of apartheid. Rome was not built in a day. If we force transformation in sport, which has truly shown to unite a nation, we will become divided. I sat in a bar watching the RWC final, and at the start of the game I saw a black waitress and a white bartender holding hands singing the national anthem…I just thought..WOW. How far we have come. BTW, did anyone else notice how all our Bokke always sang the National anthem so patriotically with passion. They were the only team I noticed to have ALL the players sing their National Anthem properly with such passion, they knew every word!
I appeal to all South Africans to let us, the “new generation” enjoy this new South Africa in peace. All this politics is choking us and brings up memories that we don’t even remember. We just want to enjoy what our country has to offer. Isn’t that exactly what we wanted?
I am Ray Hartley, the editor of The Sunday Times in South Africa.
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Sarah Britten
October 22, 2007 at 12:45 pmSo, using the logic of BBK’s argument, we shouldn’t support Bafana Bafana either? They don’t reflect the demographics of the country thirteen years into democracy.