Ill-informed Parliament slams Jake
27 Jun 2006
The chairperson of parliament’s portfolio committee on sport has urged Jake White to quit as Bok coach.
SABC radio reported Butana Komphela as citing White’s failure to select black rugby players to play for South Africa in last Saturday’s Test against France, which the Springboks lost.
Komphela accused White of not being committed to the South African Rugby Association’s transformation charter.
“As he is saying he wants to go, we are saying as the committee in parliament, that he could have left yesterday so that progress could be made in rugby in this country.”
Komphela said White had been “stifling” the inclusion of black players into the team with the rationale that the existing team was already a “winning team”.
“Its not about a winning team. Its about a winning team that has the support of the country behind it,” said Komphela.
“We are battling, to make rugby to be a sport that has the general support of this country.”
Komphela’s remarks are absurd. And highly irresponsible when you consider who White has picked since taking charge of the Springboks.
During his stint as Bok coach, White has provided opportunities to several black African players, including Hanyani Shimange, Lawrence Sephaka, Gcobani Bobo, Solly Tyibilika and Tim Dlulane. He is also expected to select Chiliboy Ralepelle and one of the Ndungane twins, probably Odwa, for the Vodacom Tri-Nations.
Bryan Habana, Ricky Januarie, Eddie Andrews, Breyton Paulse, Ashwin Willemse, Conrad Jantjes, Bolla Conradie, Gurthro Steenkamp, Quinton Davids and Wayne Julies have also played Test rugby under White over the last two years.
When Rudolf Straeuli’s 2003 Springboks lost the World Cup quarter-final, Willemse was the only player of colour in the match 22. When White’s Boks beat the Wallabies at Ellis Park in 2005, nine of the 22 were players of colour.
Where White has suffered is with injury to players like Steenkamp, Willemse and a loss of form with the likes of Tyibilika and Januarie.
561 Comments
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28 Jun 2006, 14:39 pm
I am no where near his head.
28 Jun 2006, 14:42 pm
……..
28 Jun 2006, 14:45 pm
bungy jumping ….
28 Jun 2006, 15:00 pm
Bungy jumping???
28 Jun 2006, 15:03 pm
yes ozzie, a sport the ANC won’t interfere with
28 Jun 2006, 15:11 pm
Kingpin,
Behave.
28 Jun 2006, 15:19 pm
Kingpin,
Another post like that and we will put the daredevil on you.
28 Jun 2006, 17:36 pm
yes, Jake White should GO ASAP! his surname says it all. we all agree he has produced results but we musy ask ourselves how many South Africans supports overseas teams from the super 14 right up to test level? the percentage is huge and the reason will ALWAYS stay the same its because our coaches INSIST in picking WHITE players. We dont care of results now that will come WITH TIME but 87% of the people in this country is BLACK so we WONT SUPPORT SA unless they change to a black coack who picks MORE BLACK players and then transformation will really begin. Also if we employ a BLACK COACH the black players will have more confidence in the “hope of being selected”
so their overall play WILL IMPROVE! im sick of this PLEASE SOMEONE IN PARLIAMENT IM BEGGING YOU TO FIRE JAKE “WHITE”
29 Jun 2006, 00:13 am
Jake White should go because he has the wrong surname? The job can then go to Balie Swart?
29 Jun 2006, 22:45 pm
TheTackler,
What about Brian van Rooyen then?
30 Jun 2006, 10:40 am
It is such a pity to note how rugby is selfishly being claimed as a White Man’s game. While the overwhelming majority of rugby players are white and others(the non-white population) have to be satisfied with the crumbs (left wing; right wing and sometimes scrumhalve…err thats it. PLease note, my fellow South Africans, that Rugby is our game. All of us!!
While I strongly disagree with Mr. Komphela’s and “Hi’s” viewpoints, my disagreement is even stronger with regards to some of your claims. Jake is doing just a fine job, but to bring Andre Snyman in while we have excellent black wings who played S14 is an insult. And how did that boomerang..
This is not about politics, this is about making the game OUR game.
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