I was sitting bored on my day off, at home, watching whatever DSTV dished up as re-runs were as usual the norm. Anyhow as it is, I sat tweeting to a few friends when I came across an article written by a young black Sharks supporter, who I have on many occasions had the pleasure of chatting to on Sharksworld.

This young man happens to be a black man, but most of all he is a “RUGBY” lover of note, there is hardly a day that will go bye that he will not be online and discuss the sport he loves, be it on Twitter or on a blog.

If there is one thing I have seen from this young man, is that he is very honest in his opinions, he is actually a very good example of being a true rugby supporter. There are so many blogs one can visit and see people from all sides making total fools of themselves as they try to justify their knowledge or love for the game, but very few come across this honest.

I for one, feel that the more these kind of supporters come to the fore, the sooner the game we love will increase in popularity amongst all people and grow in South Africa.  The sooner this call for players to be included for the sake of their colour is stopped, the sooner all people in this country will unite in the name of Rugby.

There have been so many instances where players, for different sports codes, have failed when forced into teams because of their race or purely because coaching staff are not equipped to bring through talent at the right time of their careers, when spotted.

There are examples of this in quota systems, there are examples of young players like Gaffie du Toit and Dave von Hoesslin who’s careers were badly handled for different reasons, or Mfoneko Ngam who had a very short career because the powers that be thought it wise to include him when not ready for the highest stage, because of his skin colour.

When will people learn that this does more harm to the youngster than good? Having talent to play a game is one thing, but being mentally and physically ready is totally another matter! A sportsman should be groomed from young and this will never change. I am sure “Ludz”, as he is known, explains it best below. Even soccer suffers in South Africa and is in a poor state because the powers that be have no idea and have no clue how to grow sport in SA.

Article by Ludumo Nkabi:

I was born in 1993 on the 19th of January; this would make me 21 this year. I was born just 3 months before Oliver Tambo passed on and Chris Hani was murdered. I was only 15 months old when we had the 1st democratic elections in 1994. I am by birth not a born free (only those born in 1994 and after, carry that tag), however in terms of apartheid I have zero to no experience.

Hypothetically speaking I am pretty much part of the born free tag, not to discount anything for those my age, a little younger and a little older than me who have been affected in one way or the other by apartheid. I’m going to generalize for a second and say those born in 1990 and after are born frees as they have little experience of apartheid. One may wonder why I choose to highlight all these things. The answer is quite simple, I’m going to discuss a sensitive topic from my own perspective, if there are any inaccuracies, it might well be on account of my age. Transformation is the topic at hand; if you are sensitive don’t read any further!

Transformation recently became a big issue when the Minister of Sport, Honourable Fikile Mbalula came out and said all our national teams should comprise 60% players of colour effective immediately. This came as a bit of a shock for national sports bodies. Upon subsequent discussion, the minister did an about turn and said they would not enforce it, but warned that transformation must be accelerated. Now my discussion will revolve around rugby, I unfortunately do not know enough about transformation in context of the other sports, but my rugby knowledge is sound and I think I could have an input. I was opposed to the 60% enforcement from the get go, it was poor judgment from Mr Mbalula’s ministry. The idea had no merit because as it is, we don’t have 60% players of colour in our franchises. My biggest problem is how the ministry expects for the population numbers to be reflected in the national team.

Let me explain why I say so, do the names, Abongile Nonkotwana, Aston Fortuin, Jose Shaw, Jermaine Kleinsmith, Lonwabo Ntleki, Marquit September, Dayan van der Westhuizen, PJ Toerien, Andell Loubscher ring a bell to anyone? They have 2 things in common, they are brilliant rugby players of colour and all of them represented either Border or Boland at the u16 Grant Khomo Week and represented or will represent either the Bulls or Lions at the u18 Academy Week or u18 Craven Week. Border is the region with the most talented black players with their provincial junior sides easily meeting the criteria for racial representation; likewise Boland is the hotbed of exceptional coloured rugby players and easily meets the criteria. Where do the men I mentioned above come in? Well it’s simple; they have subsequently moved schools to finish their high schooling in regions which often struggle to get the sufficient numbers of quality rugby players of colour to get the required numbers in the provincial junior team.

Which begs the question where are the young rugby players in these provinces? First and foremost there is an overwhelming support for soccer in South Africa, it is the biggest sport in South Africa and it is traditionally the sport of choice in most black homes nationwide, soccer is without a doubt the biggest sport in the Gauteng province with Orlando Pirates, Sundowns and Kaizer Chiefs all based there. It is perhaps an explanation for the leanness of the black player base as their preferred choice might well be soccer. I grew up in a soccer home where all the men in my family prefer soccer to rugby or cricket; I’m alone in my preference of rugby.

It’s a problem that all provinces face with the exception of the Eastern Cape, Western Cape and the Northern Cape. Do we then expect the talent from these 3 provinces to make up the numbers for the other 6 provinces which lag behind or does the ministry invest more in growing the game at grassroots level in these 6 provinces? I’m thinking the latter is the best course of action, it’s imperative to plant the rugby seed into the youngsters at a very young age while they are discovering their interests. I feel until the governing body of South African rugby and the government invests in growing the game from grassroots level transformation, will continue to move slowly.

If they think running clinics with 11 year olds is grassroots level, they are very mistaken, at that age a boy has been playing street football for 6 or 5 years, they’re already into the culture of soccer and have been watching it for years.

I was having a conversation on twitter with a 2 gentlemen the other day; both of these men are from the Eastern Cape and were educated at traditional rugby schools. We stumbled into a discussion about transformation and I started to realize that us Eastern Cape born and bred black folk have an expectation of the national squad based on what we see around us in the Eastern Cape. We forget to bring the fact that the other provinces are not as blessed as our own province with quality black rugby players into consideration. It is unfortunately not that simple and the sooner we realize that, the better.

I have a few things which I really don’t like with people in rugby generally, the insistence of favouring certain players, you see it from all races as well. It is bad because it reflects badly on your knowledge of the game. There are plenty examples of it, for instance the outcry that Siya Kolisi was treated badly when he was dropped by the Stormers for Schalk Burger earlier this year, the reality of it is Siya Kolisi is a player of exceptional ability, but his form didn’t warrant him getting a starting spot at the Stormers. It’s something he should take in his stride and work harder to get back into the starting XV. This is a bad mentality which must change, it comes across to me as though there is a sense of entitlement, it is something that is going rub on the younger generation and we’ll have boys thinking they are entitled to positions based on the colour of the skin without putting in the hard graft.

The response to Scarra Ntubeni’s selection to the Boks last year was also an indication of white ignorance and why the q word will continue to undermine the ability of players of colour; Scarra may not be a conventional hooker both in terms of physique and the game he plays, but he’s a very good player who does the hooker basics very well and on top of that had a superb Currie Cup with Western Province. The response to his selection for the Springboks was nothing short of appalling, he being labelled the infamous q word cut deep; here was a black player with raw talent who had bided his time behind a Springbok hooker and had grabbed his opportunity with both hands and had punched well above his weight and put in some stellar performances for his provincial side culminating in him being awarded the Currie Cup Player of the Year at the SA Rugby awards.

It was particularly disappointing that a few knowledgeable journalists jumped onto that boat as well of him being labelled the dreaded q word. We were under no illusions with regards to his game time prospects with the 2 best hookers in the world both in the squad, his game time would minimal, if any at all.

The award served to remind those who had doubted him that he was a player with massive potential; at the age of 22 he had managed to standout in a competition with players of the highest calibre, players with much more experience. How so many South Africans, of which many, I hate to point out were white, could lament this selection instead of celebrating a player with so much talent being elevated to the national structures was something I struggled to understand.

Jan Serfontein had been elevated to the Boks based on lesser performances than those of Scarra, anyone who ever chats to me about Springbok rugby knows all too well that I was of the opinion that Jan Serfontein’s selection to the Boks was premature, yet Heyneke was lauded for prematurely elevating the 20 year old at the time to the Boks.

I hope no one gets my words twisted on this one, I felt Scarra was ready to get elevated to the Boks, with Jan I didn’t think so, but the mere fact that one was lauded and the other one criticized showed a lack of balance in our rugby views. One might say that that is just my opinion, but that is where the racial tensions in sport start and in this case in rugby. There needs to be a balance from everyone involved in our rugby.

JJ Engelbrecht and Raymond Rhule come to mind, both offensively are brilliant, JJ can hit gaps and give opposition defences a lot of trouble and Raymond is a fine finisher with jet shoes. The problem with both comes defensively; JJ has had glaring weaknesses on defence likewise Raymond Rhule. The Bok coaching staff backed JJ Engelbrecht in the structures of the national side despite his limitations, them not backing Raymond Rhule who had similar problem is the kind of thing that sends out the wrong message and the tensions start again.

The reality is we all have to take a look at ourselves with regards to the players we push for and support and look at whether our pushes are merited.

This season however has shown us that we’re headed in the right direction, the rise of talents like S’Bura Sithole, Tera Mtembu, Oupa Mohoje and Nizaam Carr who are all players with massive potential is good for the sport, born frees so to speak because all of them are born in the early 90s, it is in an indication that with the right guidance and being placed in the right structures, players are beginning to come through.

The rise of the Kings in the Eastern Cape will be imperative to achieving this, there is plenty of undiscovered talent that will be looked after at the Kings and will begin to come through. In that regard I applaud SARU for affording the Eastern Province Kings the opportunity to play in the Premier Division Currie Cup and they will eventually be in Super Rugby, also the implementation of the SARU ruling in the Vodacom Cup. It’s a positive move that will only serve to speed up transformation. A lot of black born frees are rising in rugby and that is what we should celebrate, we’re making progress. The onus is now on SARU and the government to take the game to the people, it needs to be an ongoing process from the 2 bodies that way 3 provinces won’t be expected to represent the demographics of 9 provinces at national level!