Congratulations, South Africa

[rowan]

The Springboks rugby team were winners, not losers, at Cape Town on Saturday. Ireland may have recorded an historic 20-26 victory, and full credit to them, but in every other respect the match was a positive step forward for South African rugby.

New coach Allister Coetzee, a coloured himself, including ten non-white players in his squad, and five in the test XV against Ireland. That represents a third of the team and an increase of two non-white players in the starting lineup from the Springboks' last World Cup match.

Truth is, these fixtures really don't matter that much. On the Autumn tours in 2014 South Africa were also beaten by Ireland, but when it came to the semi-finals at last year's World Cup the Springboks were still standing, Ireland weren't.

The presence of non-white players is an investment in the future of South African rugby. The game has traditionally been the domain of the nine per cent white minority and during much of the Apartheid era excluded non-whites entirely. The legacy of this regrettable chapter in the game's history continues, and the wounds appear far from closed.

[Eugene Wrayburn]

Well done South africa for starting fewer people of colour than England did?

[rowan]

Fewer than NZ, France and possibly Australia too, I imagine. But give them time...

[Buggaluggs]

Fewer than NZ, France and possibly Australia too, I imagine. But give them time...

Hey. It's the result that counts...oh wait..

[rowan]

Nah, these games don't matter much. It's the ideal time to push through a transformation that is at least a decade overdue.
Although an increasing number of non-white players have been appearing in South African teams at all levels since the end of Apartheid, the national team and professional Super Rugby franchises remain dominated by the nine percent white minority fully a generation afterward. Not even the implementation of racial quotas, along with the recent appointment of a non-white coach, have so far reversed this trend. The South African Rugby Union has yet to return the good will Mandela and his government showed toward it two decades ago. Imagine the impression this makes upon the minds of the non-white majorty when they see their national sports teams performing on the international stage. And imagine the discouragement this serves to provide to the potential non-white player stocks. This lack of integration not only reflects badly on the sport in South Africa, but also on the international rugby community in general.

[zer0]

Soccer called. They want their attitude to international sport back.

[Lizard]

Every test match counts.

Before last weekend, every Irishman touring SA had to confront the fact that he was being asked to achieve something that no other Irishman ever had. That psychological barrier is now gone forever.* They might miss that should SA ever get to host the RWC again.

*Ok, maybe not forever. It took Wales about 50 years though to stop believing they could beat New Zealand.

[rowan]

Those records don't mean much either, except for the traditionalists who are locked into a mid-20th century 8-team international rugby community mindset. What matters now is the World Cup. The Springboks are playing a distant second (or third) fiddle to the All Blacks in the pecking order these days, and basically have been since the start of the pro era. The only chance they have to reverse that trend, in my view, is by tapping into the 91% non-white majority of the population. To achieve that they will need to break down some barriers. First and foremost, it cannot be encouraging to non-whites to continue seeing white-dominated teams on the international stage - winning or losing. What will help change their perspective is the appearance of more and more non-white players representing South Africa, & once they start seeing a national team which more accurately reflects the make-up of their nation, there will be more acceptance and the resentment may begin to dissolve. When that happens, the sky's the limit for South Africa. If the non-white majority ever get around to fully embracing the game, the Springboks may very well take over again. But that's not going to happen until the barriers are completely and utterly broken down, and that's inevitably going to involve some birth pangs.

Incidentally, I have a non-white South African colleague who despises rugby and always supports other teams against the Springboks. That's really disappointing to me. It's like the game in the republic has made no progress at all since the Apartheid era ended a generation ago.

[rowan]

South Africa will never catch the All Blacks until it fully integrates it's non-white majority.

Cape Town - Trade union Cosatu has welcomed the transformation in rugby and sees it as a move in the right direction in uniting the nation behind the Springboks.

In a press release on Wednesday, Cosatu stated that head coach Allister Coetzee should be supported and given time to integrate the new style of play that is needed from South African rugby, if the Boks are to keep up with Southern Hemisphere style of play.

The press statement went on to state that: "Members of the Springboks who had previously approached Cosatu to look into the lack of transformation, have signalled that there is a group of white players who want to see this integrated team and coach fail. This may be behind the bad performance of some of the players in the last two Tests (against Ireland). We should never underestimate the attitude of some rugby players and supporters, who are not supportive of this Springbok team and this transformation agenda. These players who sabotage the performance of the Springboks must be investigated and remove from the Springbok set-up.

"The coach must also not relent to the pressures on him; we stand and fall by a representative Springbok team that has all our players included. The days of reserving some positions for some white players must be gone forever and we must also not include foreign players any longer. We have enough talent in the country to put together great teams that can win our country the matches. The coach must not panic and start ignoring players who are part of the squad for imported players we want to see our squad on the field first before the squad is expanded to include others. Cosatu will continue to champion the interests of black players who were excluded for white players who were promised positions from their fathers and the Stellenbosch mafia. We want a team that includes all the players in South Africa, both black and white, with no more guarantees for old white players.

Cosatu added that it wants to see: "An end to the domination of M-Net of rugby broadcasting and that matches should be shifted to the SABC channels or shown during open time on M-Net, whose monopoly in South Africa is part of the old apartheid linked companies state capture. Rugby commentators should reflect the new South Africa and the black commentators defended against M-Net, while the old white commentators should be replaced by younger white commentators, as these old commentators still demonstrate apartheid prejudices.

"The referees and transformation funding and support leaves much to be desired and we want to see more urgency in all the junior areas, including schools and black clubs. The sponsors and businesses linked to SARU also need to be reviewed, so all communities get opportunities and not only the old white boys club."

Cosatu said it would be monitoring developments in rugby across the value chain and will be calling on SARU to speed up transformation at all levels.

http://www.sport24.co.za/Rugby/Springbo ... s-20160622

[Lizard]

Ironically, until the end of apartheid, South Africa was generally better than the All Blacks. It was only after that odious regime was overturned that the All Blacks became dominant.

1921-1981: 37 tests, SA 20 wins, NZ 15, 2 draws

1992-2015: 54 tests, SA 15, NZ 38, 1 draw.

I think that SA rugby will only return to its peak when no-one even thinks it necessary to identify a player by skin colour, let alone add up the totals of each skin tone.

[rowan]

South Africa dominated New Zealand until the game went pro and brought the largely ignored Pacific Island community on board. The Springboks will never catch up again until they also break down the barriers. This may be a painful transition, but a few decades down the line South Africa could well be back on top again. Keep going as they are, on the other hand, and they'll be lucky if they're still in the top 10.

[Lizard]

I think you are right that NZ benefitted from adopting a professional attitude earlier than SA. The Pacific Island talent pool also helped. But I'm not sure one caused the other.

Prior to the '90s, I would say the relative lack of All Blacks of Island origin was more to do with demographics than those players being ignored.

Immigration from the islands was negligible until the 1970s, making up less than 1% of the population in 1971. It was 5% by 1991 (and this doesn't include NZ born children of immigrants) so you would naturally expect to see more coming through the rugby ranks.

When talented Pacific players did come into the scene pre-90s, they were not necessarily ignored. Frank and David Solomon were All Blacks in the 1930s - a time when Islanders were so rare that Frank was selected for NZ Maori on the assumption that any Polynesian must be Maori (he was actually born in American Samoa). I've never heard of Bernie Fraser being regarded as any sort of trail blazer in the late '70s.

Perhaps more Islanders might have been All Blacks if they were considered for tours to South Africa. It wasn't until 1970 that they could tour, like Bryan Williams, under the dubious title of "honorary whites."

[rowan]

Pacific Island immigration began in earnest in the 50s and 60s and by the late 1970s there was certainly a generation of home-grown 'Pacific Island' talent coming through, but mostly in Auckland and Wellington where that was actually more incentive to go and play legally professional rugby league. Also, rugby's ongoing connection with South Africa at the tail end of the Apartheid era drove quite a few Polynesians away, I think, and league went from being pretty much a novelty sport in the 70s to a major rival of union in the 80s - to the point that by the early 90s they were taking all our best players. That's what I meant by ignoring them; more a case of ignoring the entire community rather than individual players. Of course, when the players did start to come through they were immediately snapped up. But it took a World Cup, transition to professionalism and end of the Apartheid era to bring them fully on board.

Meanwhile, just came across this recent story about 'Nasty Naas' - as Kiwis of sufficient vintage may remember him...

Pretoria - Springbok rugby legend Naas Botha’s estate has officially been sequestrated by the high court in Pretoria.
Hendrik Egnatius Botha, popularly known as Naas, did not appear in court to oppose the sequestration. Neither did he submit an answering affidavit to the court detailing his defence against the sequestration.
http://www.iol.co.za/news/crime-courts/ ... d_articles

[Lizard]

I'll give you "sufficient vintage", you cheeky young whippersnapper!

[rowan]

I'll give you "sufficient vintage", you cheeky young whippersnapper!

I was including myself, though I was just a kid in short pants at the time. Nasty Naas was a great player who terrified the All Blacks in 81 and helped destroy the Cav's in 86. I seem to recall he performed quite a few heroics in Currie Cup finals too, though there wasn't much coverage outside of SA in those days...

[rowan]

Any views on SA Rugby's new rule that only overseas-based players with more than 30 caps will be eligible for the Boks? Seems reasonable to me. I mean, you don't want to lose your up-and-coming talent to foreign clubs, but at the same time the players are going to chase the money anyway, so this at least seems like an attempt to meet them halfway. Maybe it'll catch on with the other Sanzaar nations as well . . .

[cashead]

30 caps is a bullshit half-measure band-aid over much more deep-rooted problems in governance.

[zer0]

Not sure that it'll really matter. Their quotas are set to rise, so many of their best future players will probably be long gone before they reach 30 SR caps, let alone test caps. From the link:

The document forecasts that 60% of full-time staff will be black South Africans by 2018.
The document forecasts that 45% of national players (male) will be black South Africans by 2018.
The document forecasts that 80% of national players (female) will be black South Africans by 2018.
The document forecasts that 60% of nationally accredited coaches will be black South Africans by 2018.

That RWC loss to Japan could just be the tip of the looming iceberg. Still. It could be worse. Just look at athletics.

The document forecasts that 100% of coaches will be black South Africans by 2018.

[rowan]

30 caps is a bullshit half-measure band-aid over much more deep-rooted problems in governance.

Agreed. South African rugby isn't going to check its decline until it fully embraces the 90% majority and the game ceases to be dominated by a 10% minority. There's no future in that.

[Ross. S]

Why does there need to be quotas? Its rediculous. Could you imaging the NBA and NFL announcing "The USA is 73% white, 13% Black (rough quotes from wiki), so our leagues must reflect this!"

I'm autistic so may by being naive but why not just pick the best person for the job?

[Renniks]

Why does there need to be quotas? Its rediculous. Could you imaging the NBA and NFL announcing "The USA is 73% white, 13% Black (rough quotes from wiki), so our leagues must reflect this!"

I'm autistic so may by being naive but why not just pick the best person for the job?

Quotas force money to go to the (underrepresented) majority instead of the minority.

In the future, you'd hope that infrastructure and process is in place that quotas aren't necessary, but currently there's a huge mismatch of who “the best players are” because of the money spent earlier in their lives.

[rowan]

Why does there need to be quotas? Its rediculous. Could you imaging the NBA and NFL announcing "The USA is 73% white, 13% Black (rough quotes from wiki), so our leagues must reflect this!"

I'm autistic so may by being naive but why not just pick the best person for the job?

Quotas force money to go to the (underrepresented) majority instead of the minority.

In the future, you'd hope that infrastructure and process is in place that quotas aren't necessary, but currently there's a huge mismatch of who “the best players are” because of the money spent earlier in their lives.

Indeed.

[rowan]

When South African rugby finally makes the big transition I feel this should be adopted as their pre-match dance: