“Article on Sport24”
Adnaan Mohamed
Sydney – Springbok coach, Peter de Villiers, says it’s not his fault if there are not enough black rugby players in the Springbok rugby team.
De Villiers was livid after a national coalition of black rugby clubs slammed him for a lack of transformation at Springbok level.
Asad Bhorat, secretary of the Transformation and Anti-Racism Rugby Committee (TARC) called De Villiers the “ultimate traitor”.
The Bok coach responded by saying that he is not shying away from his responsibility of transforming the Springbok team. He however believes the problem should be addressed at Super14 level.
“Transformation is definitely one of my responsibilities, but TARC should rather look elsewhere for the reasons for the lack of transformation in SA Rugby,” De Villiers said while in transit at Sydney International Airport.
Bhorat said the coach will be summoned to appear before TARC and Parliament’s standing committee on sports and recreation on his return from Australasia for failing to transform the team after proclaiming he would never pick fewer than 10 black players in his starting line-up.
De Villiers response was: “I can only pick black players who have proved themselves consistently at Super 14 level. There are many talented black players who are unfortunately not being given enough opportunities by their franchises. It makes my job very difficult when there are not enough black players coming through the system. How can I pick them if the South African Super 14 coaches are not interested in selecting them?”
The Springboks only had four players of colour in the starting XV during the Tri-Nations – Bryan Habana, JP Pietersen and Odwa Ndungane on the wings, and Zimbabwean-born Beast Mtawarira at prop.
Bhorat said in a statement that De Villiers had let his “ego be inflated by his winning streak” and had silently become “submissive” to SA Rugby by fielding an almost all-white team.
“The TARC and the sports portfolio committee have not criticised him up to now because we were giving him time and space. But no more. He will not be protected anymore,” Bhorat added.
De Villiers has fielded just three black players in his starting line-up and has only eight black players in his Tri-Nations squad.
“Sacrificing one’s principles is tormenting enough but betraying the trust of a nation hoping for change is another thing altogether.”
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It is this web site’s opinion that Peter De Villiers has done nothing wrong and that the criticism levelled against him by this faction is loathsome and unfair and we stand by him without reserve on this issue. How’s that for a strong Statement !
Hi Scrumdown and Morne,
I also believe that participation in a team sport should be compulsory in as much as language is a compulsory subject. Where better to learn a life skill such as putting aside self-interest in the pursuit of a common/team objective? Or to learn the art of managing diversity by being the captain of the team, etc?
Apart from this, and given the professional era in which we live today, sport is now a carreer opportunity. How will you know whether today’s little Piet will not be our next Matfield – with the remuneration package that goes with that – if he is not given the opportunity and quality coaching to go with it?
And then we also need to broaden our player base in all sports if we want to remain ahead of the other countries.
So line them up, I say…
Agree with PdV if there are not enough players of colour at top level then where does he find them to play?
Start at school level thats where. Then from there up. Eventually CC and S14 will bring these players of colour through.
Tell them PdV.
#91 Great concept, Morne.
@fender –
I always look for only one thing.
Continuity and proper infrastructure.
Some of our clubs are hardly well oiled machines, but with greater interest and involvement from SARU and unions this might change with an initiative like this.
Also, I believe the local communities will get a lot more involved with clubs, and since perhaps, because we have kids now at these places, they can regulate alcohol use (read abuse) here too with better security structures in place.
It can be a great learning curve/school for coaches to or want to be coaches who can start at age group level and be assisted by senior team coaches, not to mention referees.
Clubs have a more direct line to unions and SARU to ensure continuity not only in player development, but also assisting the promising coaches and referees to attend courses.
Ja, the clubs scene is due for an overhaul and our rugby and communities will be better off for it in the long run.
90@Morn̩ РMorne
Part of what you propose has already been implemented in JHB through the GLRU.
Each club registers a “Junior Rugby” division, to which all schools in the immediate viscinity should / must affiliate.
The schools rugby season runs for one term only, with the second term of the Rugby season being dedicated to Junior Club Rugby played (for the most part) at centralised venues.
The net effect is that the youngster effectively then stops playing for his school, and starts to play a level of “representative” Rugby where he is competing for his team place against kids from other schools in the area.
The system is still quite new and seems to be working for the “older” clubs.
The problem arises with the “development” clubs who have little or no funding of any sort.
In order to transport kids from U7 to U18 to a centralised venue costs a fortune. A burden that a club like ours just cannot afford.
A further problem that the GLRU has is that politically schools and clubs in Ekurhuleni fall in the Valke area, while in SARU areas they fall in the GLRU area.
This is further complicated with the Alberton and Germiston “white” schools playing their Rugby in the Lions areas, but the former “black” and “coloured” schools have to play in the Valke area.
As you can imagine it complicates matters. For example, the school where we play our home games is supposed to play their Rugby under the control of the Valke, while we play under the GLRU.
A high school in Katlehong, approximately 3 km’s from the club falls under the Valke, but a school in Alberton the same distance away falls under the GLRU.
It causes some heated debate that will continue in the near future. Obviously there is great scope for people that don’t particularly have Rugby’s best interests at heart to gain many political miles from the whole affair.
If you would like to hear more, let me know via GBS and I’ll gladly let you have some information regarding grassroots development programs currently taking place in and around JHB.
They’re not all bad, with some people doing some great work. I just feel that it shouldn’t be left to individual Unions to do ALL of the donkey work and fund raising. IMO SARU, as the “owners” of the world champions have a responsibility to the sport of Rugby to do more than they are / have.
@fender – 6 Speaking as an outsider & if I may offer a comment: the motive behind these statements may be political in nature, clearly I don’t know enough about the subject to judge. But if this forum does not post events of this nature that can have a bearing upon team selection then you run the risk of operating in a vacuum, which doesn’t make a lot of sense to me. I think this is especially true for non-Saffas who might not be able to make any sense of future team selections. I for one would like to know about the challenges that PDV has to operate under.
@Treehugger – 64 I thought violence was banned from this site too? 🙂
@Scrumdown – 85 Speaking of health & safety risks, we just lost our scrum half for the season (torn ACL) because he was playing that rough sport – American Football. When will parents ever learn? 🙁
@Treehugger – 86 I think the problem lies more with the IAAF. Their behaviour was inexplicable. Whatever the final outcome this young person’s life is ruined through no fault of her own. Sad state of affairs. 🙁
@Morné – 90 It’s true evidently that in the UK sport has been driven out of schools. My old school that was a hot bed for rugby no longer plays the game. Worse still they no longer have playing fields. Can’t help feeling that there is a correlation between this trend & England’s recent performances since 2003. My advice to SA keep rugby in the schools. There is room & a place for both school & club.
100@JimT – Helloooooooo Jimmy !
Yeah, what a lot of bollocks… pun intended !
Hehehe
@grootblousmile – Hi GBS, I expect you Saffas are still running on adrenaline eh?
Nice touch that the SA Prez came to meet the team. He must be an astute man to wear a prop’s jersey. 🙂
Scrumdown,
It seems the reason holding the system at the GLRU back is nothing more than the old boys club…
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