Springbok coach Peter de Villiers on Monday criticised the role of television producers in the citing and subsequent suspension of Bakkies Botha.

Here’s the dreaded video material:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-DQ29ycLkU[/youtube]

The topic of Botha, banned for nine weeks for headbutting All Blacks scrumhalf Jimmy Cowan in the opening minute of the test in Auckland, inevitably came up in Monday’s press conference with De Villiers and he raised the subject of television’s influence in the judicial process.

“Television played the replay over and over again, TV basically took over. They have too much influence. No one saw how Bakkies was pulled back by Cowan just before the incident. If TV had been more just and honest, then it would have been a penalty before and nothing else would have happened,” De Villiers said.

It was obvious trouble lay in store for Botha when three replays of the incident were shown on the Eden Park big screens moments after his tussle with Cowan. But the preceding offence when the scrumhalf grabbed the lock’s shorts and prevented him from chasing the kick he had just charged down was not shown again at all.

The fact is, the host broadcaster’s producer has the power to decide what gets replayed and what does not, thereby having a powerful say in what is brought to the citing commissioner’s attention and what is not.

De Villiers stressed that he was not in any way condoning what Botha did.

“It was not the right thing that he did, but there was provocation. And then to see that replayed over and over again, no one understands how that affects the players,” he said, referring to a strangely subdued display by the Springboks when it came to the physical clashes at the breakdowns, collisions and the tackle.

De Villiers was asked by a New Zealand journalist whether Botha’s latest trouble with the law made it impossible for him to be chosen for the Springboks again.

“If I had to fire you everytime you did something wrong, you would never have a job. If the shoe fits then you must wear it … If you do a few wrong things, it doesn’t make you a criminal,” the coach growled.

While Botha basically dug his own grave when he decided to scone Cowan from behind in open play, the length of his sentence was negatively affected by some injustice from the past.

When the Bok enforcer was unjustly suspended for two weeks during last year’s British and Irish Lions series for a “reckless charge” into a ruck that was subsequently shown to be perfectly legal, one of the main concerns was that it would stand against him when he offended again.

But this latest suspension is the 30-year-old’s third in little more than a year and the Springbok management should perhaps consider sending Botha to anger management classes or some sort of life skills programme along the lines of that which former Springbok captain Morne du Plessis mentored cricketer Herschelle Gibbs in.

This incident divided a lot of South African supporters. On the one hand the camp that made up their mind that Bakkies is a thug. The other side is the old hard , mostly ex-players who had the chance to settle their fights in a match without the spotlight of the Television cameras.

The thug group had the easy road, the evidence is overwhelming, no one can argue against that stupid head butt in the open by Bakkies.

The hard play group , and yes there is a lot feels that Rugby is slowly made a soft game. Think about it how many of us have  sneaked in a punch or two in the game. That was always part of the game. This is not only my view read what other rugby supporters had to say  about this article on Supersport-

The hell with all of you calling Bakkies “dirty”! You’re the same sissies the All Blacks have degenerated into. Bakkies is an old-school, real rugby player who very rarely actually breaks the law. Problem is you have marketing experts running the game now who just want to present a clean image of rugby and the old-school Bakkies does not fit into their Hyundai 3D HDTV nufan-friendly image. This is a conspiracy to remove him from the game!

It annoys me to see people commenting that Bakkies should never play for the boks again. None of you have ever been in his situation. The adrenalin and emotions of a rugby game runs to a persons head in the moment. I don’t, for a moment suggest his actions are excusable or unpunishable, but I think an analagy is necessary. Think of every time you have become angry in traffic and threatened terrible drivers or taxi’s from your car suggesting what you would do if you had the chance. Bakkies was provoked and reacted which he shouldn’t have done, but he’s stil a great player, wonderful person and deserves another chance in the SA side.

Lets be honest here what bakkies did was a huge mistake, however south african players always fall victim to the tv broad casters and especially we seem to be penalized alot more and harshly by the IRB disciplinary committee than any other countries. Bakkies still has the talent to be a bok, and his rough style has worked for him over his career, he makes a big difference when he plays well, except when he takes it too far as he did in this last game. How ever I think he needs to remain in the squad because he is a leader along with the other senior players like victor, dupree etc and even if he doesnt play he provides a physiological boost to the other players. I think its also worth taking a look how the ref didnt see what bakkies did untill he saw the replay and then gave bakkies a yellow when clearly it should have been a penalty, clearly the tv replay has a big influence on the ref.

Not all that long ago Schalk Burger was a victim of the oversees broadcasters and got sighted and banned left right and center, now they are all gunning Bakkies, sure, head butting is not on, but somethings need serious changing in the world of rugby as well! The citing commissioners should all be neutral to begin with, this is not the first time our players have received extremely harsh bans to begin with, whilst the opposition receive half the time for similar incidents.
To refer Bakkies previous incidents is also not entirely right, especially considering the chap whose collar bone he broke in the Lions tour admitted afterwards he saw nothing wrong with what Bakkies did to begin with, make one think a bit??? Yet some foreign commissioner went and banned him there and now that is part of what continuously follows him around.
Nice break for Bakkies now, maybe a good thing with the world cup in mind, he will be a lot fresher than some other players!