Thinking 'Out of the Boks'
I have always perceived sport as a means to make a positive social impact on one's communities and country. This past Sunday Allister Coetzee informed his newly selected Springbok squad that they would need to find their own way from the airport to the Springbok camp. This meant that they had to ask ordinary citizens of society for lifts to their destination and resulted in Springbok players being transported on the back of bakkies and even police vans. As it appears, they also needed to do some sort of good deed as evident of the pictures posted to various social media platforms. Some visited local rugby clubs coaching young kids and others went to assist in the kitchen of a local hangout, Mzoli's in Gugulethu township. This is certainly not the norm. It evolved into an effective PR campaign and is in essence what sports at that level should be about - a team for the people and the people for the team.
Over a course of six years Allister Coetzee coached the Stormers, a multi-racial and multi-cultural team, therefore his team selection was no surprise. During Peter De Villiers' tenure as Bok coach the Springboks had a practice session at Tygerberg RFC's grounds, Florida Park in Ravensmead – a predominantly coloured community. This resulted in the stadium filled to capacity during this practice session as local fans swarmed to the stadium to see the Boks practising. Normally practices would be at one of the elite schools of Cape Town such as SACS or Bishops. Each coach has his own management style but what is needed is an 'out of the Boks' approach, as my good friend, Marco Jacobs, jokes on a recent Facebook post. The impact of this decision was immediately felt on social media as the reaction of fans was overwhelmingly positive.
As powerful as the Springbok brand is in South Africa it still manages to alienate members of the rugby community. The crux of the 'Springbok emblem issue' is that it is a brutal reminder of a white-only owned institution that survived the redress of the new South Africa. It is a reminder of the years of rejection and isolation felt by the players of colour. The excuse that the Bok purists use is that anyone who oppose the Springboks do not support nation building and cannot let go of the past. Even though there has been no recourse for the injustices of the past, those who were isolated are now once again shunned for expressing their feelings toward the Springboks.
Is it as simple as just moving on? As a co-presenter on a sports show with Peter Daniels at Radio KC, we interviewed SARU legend Randy Marinus a while ago. Randy Marinus captained the Proteas that played against the All Blacks during their tour in 1976. The match against the Proteas was historic as it was the first time an All Black team played against a non-white team in South Africa.
On 27 March 2013, SARU handed Springbok blazers to Randy Marinus and other fellow black captains of their national teams under different rugby governing bodies. He shared with us that he could not wear the blazer of a team he never played for and ended up giving it away. When asked why, he said, “I did it as a matter of principle”.
Now to some he may come across as stubborn or arrogant but when taking a deeper look one realises that his painful past experiences and the wrongs he faced were never resolved and dealt with – not even acknowledged and therefore he could not accept a symbol of hurt and degradation which is what the Springbok blazer meant to him.
Randy Marinus' contribution to South African rugby history was as remarkable. However, should he pass away today, none would know who he was unlike the late oom Nelie Smith who played for the Springboks. New Zealand rugby scribe, Terry Mclean, started his piece on the match with the following:
Cuthbert Loriston, the 63-year-old high school principal who was president of the South African Rugby Football Federation, which fielded the proteas, said that for 300 years his people, the Coloureds, had been treated as sub-human by South African Whites. Coloureds were only permitted to become human by arrangement, he said. (“He was very bitter,” John Stewart remarked.) Well, this was one of the days of arrangement.
Mclean further concludes:
“It is a sad fact but the white South Africans (definitely me and the people I had contact with in 1976) did not realize how the apartheid situation looked for outsiders. Here, the All Blacks were playing a group of people who in their own country would not be regarded as equals and judging by their ability to communicate and the quality of the rugby they played not inferior to anyone else they’ve met on tour. Yet the people were regarded as sub-human and not allowed to play rugby in the provincial championship
The sad feature was that the Proteas had enough ability to play tidy Rugby efficiently and effectively. They were amazingly quick. Eddie Gillion and Charles Williams moved to quell those attacks by Osborne and Purvis with shattering speed. Ronnie Louw behind them was genuinely quick, too, and as fullback would be greeted with joy by many New Zealand provincial selectors”.
Such commentary sounds familiar as ironically Garth April recently had the New Zealand commentators raving about his incredible ball skills and evasiveness. It is clear that South Africa needs emancipation from the past. Alister Coetzee summed it up nicely when he said “Our diversity does not make us weaker. It makes us stronger and it is something that we must embrace”.
What most people do not know about Alister Coetzee is that he played under SARU but was denied the privilege to represent the Springboks. He could have been bitter about this but chose instead to make a positive impact which resulted in bringing a team closer to the people. A new day has dawned for South African rugby. There will be the sceptics amongst us and rightfully so. I am not trying to convince anyone to believe in change, the coach or the Springboks because we have been bitten by the “change monster” too many times.
What can hope can then we have? I cannot sell you hope this time around as in this process we must do some deep introspection to find what each of us can contribute to this process of “change”. But if a man that could never display his talent on the biggest stage due to the politics of apartheid is willing to change, we can also try to change. We reached that point as a country where we have to make the decision, how ever hard it may be. Will we remain in self-imposed isolation? Will we still resist change? Or will stand together and rebuild so that we can become as strong again.
Few can relate to the pain of those left desolate by segregation in sports. Those who had a love and passion for the game. Who bare the scares not only of the stuts marks of rugby boots running railway lines across their back, but also the invincible scars of being classified 'not good enough' by a politically imposed system called apartheid. If you ask most they will opt for the fair contest any day to decide who the better team or player is. As South Africans, the echoes from the past haunts us but the prospects of a level playing is dawning on us. It is both exciting and challenging times that awaits us but in the words of Ralph Waldo Emerson, “What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us”.
Description of SARU
SARU formed part of SACOS(South African Council on Sport) “No normal sport in an abnormal society”, the non-racial governing body for rugby in South Africa that aligned themselves with the anti-apartheid movement.
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