The return of quotas?
10 Jan 2008
Saru’s public admission that Peter de Villiers is not only a rugby appointment suggests more politicking could be felt in the coming Super 14.
Transformation is no new concept, but words like quota have become taboo. Regan Hoskins clarified Saru’s stance following the World Cup last year. “I have always been against quotas, and (in 2008) we will have no quotas in any of our competitions.”
When the five coaches of 2007 were ‘encouraged’ to include more black players at Super Rugby level, the response was far from adequate. ‘Encouragement’ involved two black players in the starting line-up, meaning that out of 75 starting players, 10 were of colour. This in turn told when Jake White selected his first Springbok squad in May, and ultimately his World Cup group in August. White was limited to the players supplied on the Super Rugby stage.
Will anything change with the appointment of De Villiers?
The new Bok coach has said he doesn’t want to change much in the way of playing structures, and is committed to picking the best available team. It follows that to keep the administrators happy and stay true to his own principles he needs more black players exposed to Super Rugby on a regular basis.
Can De Villiers trust the Super 14 coaches to do the best they can? Obviously injuries need to be taken into account, but if Saru issue a mandate to play a specific number of black players, doesn’t that make the national coach’s job easier when the time comes to live up to his patent political obligations?
There is no point debating the rights and wrongs of a quota system. Regan Hoskins expressed his desire to be honest about De Villiers’s appointment as one for more than just rugby reasons. If this is to be considered the first of many transparent moves by Saru, the next logical step is strict guidelines concerning the inclusion of black talent in matchday squads.
The alternative is more behind the scenes chaos and public contradiction. Late changes to starting XVs due to unhappy politicians at both franchise and national level have abounded since the quotas were ‘officially’ discarded.
De Villiers will meet with Frans Ludeke, Naka Drotske, Eugene Eloff, Rassie Erasmus and Dick Muir on 14 January. What changes will really be made when the panel discusses the issue of transformation? Call it what you want, quotas, directives or targets, but Saru have talked up a big game as far as transformation is concerned and have in the past admitted that it needs to happen from the bottom up. Will this bluster translate into something more concrete on the Super Rugby stage, or will De Villiers be in the same position Jake White was a year ago?
By Jon Cardinelli
118 Comments
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10 Jan 2008, 16:43 pm
Supa…
Is jy ernstig? 50% wenne! Die ou het ‘n boek gelees wat vertel van under promise and over deliver!
HKGK!
10 Jan 2008, 16:44 pm
World champions and we have realistic or low expectations??..no matter how you look at it.
its the ABs who have more to prove then us.
10 Jan 2008, 16:46 pm
Is al die torre nou weg?
10 Jan 2008, 16:51 pm
Tinus
Jip – ek het hom self op East coast dit **** se – Darren het hom geinteview.
10 Jan 2008, 17:50 pm
You never know guys, having De Villiers as coach could mean an end to quotas. There could well be less pressure now.
10 Jan 2008, 17:51 pm
Supa,50%?
Nou wat wil hy bereik daarmee?
10 Jan 2008, 17:58 pm
Solank die 50# verlies wat hy beplan nie teen Italie en Namibia is nie, maar teen die ABs, dan kan hy dalk stadigaan die ding doen
10 Jan 2008, 18:02 pm
Agreed Big Hit.
Pietman, I think he’s just being cautious, doesn’t want to promise too much. Remember that EVERYONE is now going to be gunning for the Boks.
Also, Peter de Villiers is probably worried about a large exodus of players to Europe, predominantly from the inland unions…
10 Jan 2008, 18:18 pm
#109 – why the inland unions??
10 Jan 2008, 19:07 pm
PdV kan beslis nie slegter doen as Strauli, Harry, Williams of Markgraaf nie. Maar daai 50% ding pla my ook, dis nou tyd dat ons ‘n slag die AB’s op hul tuisveld wen, en ons moet daai 49-0 score ook nog verwyder uit die rekordboeke.
10 Jan 2008, 19:09 pm
Exodis? Its alreay begun. Toulon v Narbonne has no less than 7 South Africans in the game!
10 Jan 2008, 19:19 pm
umbhoxo
Worrying signs those.
If it were only white players, it would have made PdeV’s life easier.
But that’s not the case, it seems.
10 Jan 2008, 22:07 pm
Tacitus there is a flaw in your logic.
Yes, the averagge black man is smaller, and maybe only 1 in 10 is the same size as his equivalent white guy. But that is not to say that there are NO big black guys. In fact there are some really big black guys. And even if only 1 in 10 is big enough, that is more than teh equivalent white playing population.
We just need to get them into schols where rugby is played.
10 Jan 2008, 23:44 pm
quota’s a side. which black players can honestly compete if u compare the team and say they not quota’s????the black players deserve there place on merit.
in the front row mahjati, chilliboy and steenkamp?
locks????? rito ???
loosie: luke watson, floors , lobberts?
scrumhalf: januarie( hoffman is better than both bolla and januarie???? )
not much outside that talent pool
van der linde
smits
botha
botha matfield
burger
smith
kankowshi
du preez
james
steyn
fourie
habana
pieteren
jantjies
11 Jan 2008, 07:40 am
stormers604
Lets wait until the end of the S14 to decide which black players are good enough or not.
If we had to select a Bok team on merit now there might not even be place for a guy like Ruan cos his last 2 games for the Boks were dismal.
Maybe this season’s S14 will bring out the best in guys like Delport, Bobo, Chavangha, Mujati, Steenkamp, Adi Jacobs, Murray, Jantjes, Lobberts, Chilli, etc…
We will just have to wait and see.
11 Jan 2008, 08:48 am
Kankowski. More like kak-kowski. Most over-rated player since Bobby Skinstad.
11 Jan 2008, 11:15 am
the demolition job on the springboks has just begun!! Enjoy it while it lasts
11 Jan 2008, 20:50 pm
Here we are in a new year and still talking about poxy quotas and racism and gender benders in our rugby.There`s more racism now in sa under the darkie`s rule than ever there was under the whitey`s rule.If i do not want to sit next to black man just because he is black i will be called a racist, if i do not want to sit next to a white man just because he is white will i still be called a racist.To vundu and 16 inch black you two need to grow up and take the giant chips of your shoulders because you two seem like a real pair of tossers.
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