Rassie prioritizes Transformation

How's about prioritizing winning for a change?

This from The Telegraph - UK

Black and white reality of South African rugby

There is no sign for the Soweto Rugby Club, and the mud track leading to its ground turns into a quagmire when it rains.

It is a far cry from the gleaming stadiums of the world cup, and despite South African proclamations of unity behind the Springboks, race remains an over-riding issue in the sport that was a keystone of Afrikaner identity during apartheid.

“If you haven’t been called a kaffir you haven’t been playing in South Africa,” said Martin Hlongwane, Soweto’s dreadlocked scrum-half.

“It happens everywhere. If you hit somebody and they call you that, you know you have hit them in a very good place. Your true essence is exposed in moments of desperation so I’m thinking most of those guys are racist idiots.”

Nor is it just adults who use the term.

Moses Thole, 15, said: “They treat you like a piece of trash, man.”

It is a long way from the fairytale atmosphere of 1995, when the Springboks won the world cup for the “rainbow nation” on home soil, a year after majority rule began, and Nelson Mandela famously donned a green and gold jersey to present the trophy.

Most rugby players in South Africa are black - as are around 80 per cent of the population - but the Springbok team photo is unmistakably pale, with only two coloured players in tonight’s starting XV.

Provincial and professional Super 14 teams include black players, but their absence at the highest levels of the game has led to demands from the ANC government for faster change, whatever the sporting consequences, in the name of “transformation” - a catch-all justification for interventionist measures to deal with the legacies of apartheid.

Effectively in rugby that means quotas and reverse discrimination, to the anger of many.

“After the Springboks win the World Cup on Saturday, as they will, they will come back to a nation that is unwavering in its demand for transformation,” said Malusi Gigaba, the deputy home affairs minister.

“We cannot relent until the Springbok team is representative. Black people have a right too to participate in the Springboks and represent their country”.

Critics point out no similar plans have been mooted to ensure white representation on the all-black national football team, Bafana Bafana.

Helen Zille, leader of the opposition Democratic Alliance, accused the government of interfering in rugby in a way that would prevent sportsmen boosting the national morale.

“The fact is that government has meddled in too many spheres of life to push its race-obsessed policies over all other considerations,” she said.

Earlier this year reports said Jake White, the Springbok coach who has been subjected to political pressures, would be replaced after the World Cup, and that next year’s first team would have 10 black or coloured players.

The prospect of losing matches as a result was something Peter de Villiers, White’s putative replacement, accepted.

“There will be pain, but it is something we must go through to transform the team,” he told one newspaper.

Earlier this month SA Rugby (Saru) advertised for White’s successor to “take Springbok rugby into a new era”.

His objectives would be to “maintain a national squad capable of winning the rugby world cup” and to “champion the development process and implement Saru’s transformation policy”.

The successful candidate would need to be capable of “excellent diversity management” and possess “high stress tolerance levels”.

Fans are resigned to the prospect of the side, whether they refer to them as The Boks, Die Bokke, or Amabokoboko, deteriorating on the field.

“I think it’s the last time we’re going to win the world cup ever,” said George Moore, 23, a pilot. “We’re not going to have any chance in the future.”

But despite the discrimination they face, the Soweto players were adamant that Springboks should be selected purely for their abilities.

“If a guy is picked on merit I don’t have a problem with that, but he mustn’t be there for window-dressing,” said Mylie Kara, the senior side’s head coach.

Mr Hlongwane, 26, who is the CEO of a clothing company in his day job, believes the current Springbok side are not representative of South Africa and there would be eight black and coloured players were it not for racism.

But he added: “I think quotas are ruining the game.

For the sake of getting a black person in, they are just going to pick randomly, any Tom Dick or Harry.

They will not look for the quality of the player, they will just look at the colour of the skin.

“I don’t know why we have to speak about black players and white players, why can’t there just be South African players?”

Mozart

There is a problem here and that is that some players ae looking good recently.  Like Beast Nyakane is looking an improved player this year  and that may be part of the influence of Mitchell n Bulls on player performances.

However, Rassie is going bananas  here - it is not about individual players that excites him - it is how they compare with other players competing for the same position in the Springbok team.  If they are playing better rugby than the players  who "excites" Rassie are they going to be considered foe selection?

The "excites" statement is as nonsensical as Meyer's statement of he "knows what players are capable to do" forgetting that the same players were  poor by the tine of the utterance.

Kolisi has ben shit-poor this year - is that what gets Rassie excited!!!!!!!!!!!!