Natives are restless again – Tranformation

It is a long and drawn-out subject, almost as old as sporting culture itself. Its protagonists have recycled their arguments so much that the colours have long faded; its antagonists holding to the “anti-reverse racism” card dearly – brandishing it confidently like a policeman would a warrant of arrest.

Some dread hearing and reading about it, skip the page at the mere mention of the word in the headline. Others, believe it or not, dread having to bring it up but they know that raising the issue is the only influence they have if they want the issue to go away.

It sounds crazy, but that’s the nature if the Catch22 of South African sport.

Itembelihle Comprehensive teammates before a game against Molly Blackburn High School in Uitenhage. Rugby is hugely popular among black people in the Eastern Cape, but gets little official backing Picture: CARLOS AMATO

The transformation in sport issue will not go away until a deliberate attempt is made to empower players of colour in sports such as rugby and cricket.

Over the last month, after the talk shop that was the “Transformation Indaba”, I’ve come across some insightful pieces of writing that I wish more people could see. They aim to uncover why, after so many years of national unity, the levels of black representivity (plus black total pool of players still developing) are still at an unsatisfactory level.

We know that our rural and township schools don’t have gyms, cricket pitches, rugby polls, even rugby balls. It is a monumental struggle for black kids to make it to Springbok/Proteas level if they did not go to schools such as Grey College, Grey High (PE), Dale College, Bishops, Paul Roos, Affies and the like. Of course, some have done it before and hats off to them.

But there are few explanations for some of the nuances that tend to lead to scepticism, if not annoyance, in the black spectator. Being on twitter, you get to receive this scepticism first hand when, say for example on a Wednesday morning, a Springbok starting XV is picked. In it a tortured Francois Hougaard, playing at wing, wishing, hoping to play at his natural position, scrumhalf.

And the camera zooms onto the bench to find an obedient Lwazi Mvovo, also hoping, waiting, wishing for a chance to get into that number 11 jersey. Why pick a No 9 at 11 when you have a No 11 on the bench, I ask?

Will the transformation debate ever go away? For the sake of our sport, I hope so but until then, enjoy some excerpts on the matter:

1. Why are the Boks so white? – Lloyd Gedye, Mail and Guardian
    

   White people and affirmative action. It seems so simple, yet so many white South Africans are still grappling with it.

    

A case in point was when ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe last week made certain comments about the number of black players in the Springbok team.

Mantashe was recently quoted in a Sapa news story as saying that there were several black rugby players good enough to play internationally and they should be selected for the team by Bok coach Heyneke Meyer.

The context of the comments was the conclusion of the South African Rugby Union’s transformation indaba last week.

One has to ask the question: Why did it take Saru 20 years to launch such an initiative? After all, the Springboks have been back in international rugby since 1992.

But getting back to Mantashe’s comments, they naturally caused a public outcry from white South Africans across the country as they scrambled to accuse the ANC leader of being racist.

A quick scan through the comments under the story, which was run on the SuperSport website, provided ample evidence of the vitriol that followed.

“Make everything black, let’s paint the field black and the ball too and let’s not allow whites to attend the sport, I swear this country can pull anything into a race war, what does it matter what color the players is, watch the sport and support the country,” said one ignoramus.

“Why are there so many black players and no white players in Bafana?” cried another, with what has become an all too regular response of white South Africans who cannot accept the need for affirmative action in sport.

But what infuriates me the most is that the players whom Mantashe wants to be selected, such as Lwazi Mvovo, Siya Kolisi, Elton Jantjies and others whose names have been mentioned, such as Gio Aplon and Juan de Jongh, are all in the running for a Springbok berth on merit.

They are great rugby players who have excelled at different times for both their provincial teams and the Springboks.

These are not quota players; they are fully fledged Springboks who have earned their place among the elite of South African rugby.

click here for full article

2. The development of representation – Clayton Redford
    

   I admire the fact that SARU is committing to the development of the game in South Africa but I can’t help but feel that we are looking at the problem in the entirely wrong way. Granted, SARU may do a great deal in the short-term future regarding development, but if one is to look at their track record the probability of failure is unavoidable.

    

To illustrate my concern, I put together the following statistics with regards to representation. I guarantee this will open your eyes.

*Taken from Stats SA’s 2011-Population estimate

The above table represents males from the three race groups which traditionally make up our rugby playing population. I specifically broke it up into the age group which plays rugby professionally, i.e. Ages 20-34. For the sake of comparison, I simplified the race groups into ‘White’ and ‘Non-White’. What this now gives us is a cross-section of the population which could, potentially, play professional rugby.

  *Currie Cup squad lists taken from SARU’s website.

In stark contrast, the overwhelming majority of Currie Cup players are White, 78.28% to be exact. Ask yourself this question, how does a mere 6.89% of the potential rugby playing population account for an astounding 72.28% of the Currie Cup playing population? To add to this, a great deal of the non-white players do not even start on a regular basis.

 click here for full article

3. Why Ntini is disillusioned – Firdose Moonda, The Times

For more than a decade as an international cricketer he carried the hopes of the majority of South Africa’s population. Most of the time, he did that alone. He was even expected to continue doing it when he no longer played at the highest level.

Weeks after his retirement, Ntini was named a Cricket SA ambassador. He was going to receive assistance to start an academy in Mdantsane township, in Eastern Cape, which would become one of the best breeding grounds for black African players. None of that has happened.

With that in mind, whether or not some of the fault lies with Ntini, it is understandable that he has become disillusioned.

Development structures are producing black players. Evidence of that can be found on Corlett Drive, where the Highveld Lions fielded four in their most recent One-day Cup match against the Knights, but higher up those players are not being recognised.

Imagine if that had happened to Ntini. (click here for full article)