‘I was a political pawn’
26 Oct 2010
In an exclusive interview with SA Rugby magazine, Luke Watson talks to GAVIN RICH about the mistakes he’s made, his controversial Springbok call up, and the move to Bath that has reinvigorated his career.
Luke Watson has unfinished business. He wants to wipe the slate clean after his controversial time in South African rugby by returning after his stint in England and making a positive contribution to the game in his homeland.
The cynical may raise their eyebrows and shake their heads dismissively at those words. The Bath captain would probably anticipate it. He knows he made enemies before he left for the new chapter in his career, and he understands it. Without wanting to make apologies for what went before, he now understands why many people back home don’t like him. If he had his time again, he would do things differently.
The former Western Province and Sharks player has never been afraid to say it how he sees it. There are many issues he has spoken out on in the past that he still feels deeply for. But after almost a year away from the role he was cast into almost from birth as the son of political activist Cheeky Watson, he now sees things differently. He is honest in his appraisal of where some things went wrong.
The relaxed openness and sincerity with which he spoke over the phone from his base in Bath was certainly a far cry from the fidgety, edgy exterior Watson presented to the media in 2007 when he was selected as unwanted player No 46 in Jake White’s national squad and again when selected in less controversial circumstances in 2008.
Back then Watson put across the message that he wanted to talk even less than he wanted to be there. In face-to-face interviews, he tended to stare into the middle distance, as if there was something else on his mind, with his words spat out in a fast, nervous manner. Unless you were part of his inner circle, it wasn’t easy to warm to him.
To be fair, it may not only be the thousands of kilometres that now separate Watson from his past that has ignited change in the 26-year-old. Even in 2009, when he was playing his last Currie Cup season for Western Province, Watson started coming across as a changed person.
At the time, Cape Town rugby scribes attributed it to the realisation that his duties as Province captain demanded that he be more personable. But Watson reckons his last months at Newlands coincided with the arrival of a newfound maturity.
He got married, he started to look at life in a new way, and the move to England was an expression of his desire to experience something that would force him to embrace a broader view on the world and life than was being afforded by the deeply principled political roots of his upbringing.
‘Being a newlywed was part of the reason for the move to Bath. I don’t mean this in a negative sense, but I wanted to get away from family and friends, and it was something my wife and I decided between us,’ says Watson. ‘It wasn’t a case of me wanting to run away. I have never been one to shy away from problems and I’m not afraid of conflict. I have lived with adversity all my life, and if anything, the perception that I might be running away was something that made me reluctant to leave South Africa.’
Watson hasn’t regretted the move. When he arrived in England it was the first time he was accepted and embraced for who he was and not on the basis that he was Cheeky Watson’s son. It was an interesting experience.
‘It was really weird. It was the first time I’d arrived somewhere without feeling I had to have my guard up and needed to defend myself. I was brought up in an extremely hostile environment. As a kid you view everything you are told as the gospel truth. I used to get bullied when I first started school and I never understood why. It built up a defence mechanism in me.
‘Given the environment I was confronted with, I became defensive. I had the feeling people were against me. I was sometimes right about that, and I was sometimes wrong about it.
‘When I arrived at Bath there was none of that. It confused me at first. I was so used to having to battle with people, to defend myself, and suddenly I didn’t have to do that. But it was a refreshing change, and it has shown me a lot and allowed me to grow. There are no excuses for me at Bath, I have been accepted for who I am and my past hasn’t been an issue at all.’
Being in a more receptive environment than he was in back home has allowed Watson time to reflect.
‘I’ve changed a lot as an individual since I’ve been here. Being away from South Africa has given me a chance to breathe, a chance to see things from an outside perspective,’ says Watson. ‘It has given me a chance to take a good hard look at myself and what has gone before, to distinguish between what is true and what is not true, what is hype and what is propaganda.
‘The feelings that have driven the way I’ve acted have been feelings I had from a young age. I grew up in an environment that was very different to that experienced by other white kids of my age. I had certain beliefs installed in me from the outset.
‘I would hope that over time I’ve grown up, matured. There are still things I stand by, and maybe if I’d done things differently I wouldn’t have learnt as much as I have, but if I had my time again, I would do many things differently. I can now understand why so many people back home disliked me.’
One of the things Watson would do differently relates to his call-up to White’s Springbok squad in the World Cup year.
‘I do regret now that I went to the camp when the coach didn’t want me. I was as wrong in doing that as Jake was in publicly criticising Schalk Brits and me for no reason. But I did things back then that weren’t always my choice. I was made to feel that I had to attend the camp as part of a cause, to satisfy the people who had pushed for my inclusion.
‘In reality I was a political pawn. I felt that my intentions were noble, that I was advancing some cause, but I also knew I didn’t want to be there any more than Jake and the rest of the Springbok players wanted to have me there. In hindsight it was wrong, and while I was cross with Jake for the things he said, two wrongs definitely don’t make a right.’
Watson says he was disappointed when he heard that Springbok captain John Smit, in his autobiography, had referred to him as the cancer in the team that undermined the first Bok Tri-Nations campaign of the Peter de Villiers era. But even though he clearly thinks Smit went a bit far, his mood towards the captain is a conciliatory one.
‘In all fairness, from my side, the way I look at it now, I can see where John was coming from. I didn’t want to be there, and John knew it. That knowledge must have made it difficult for him and the rest of the team,’ says Watson. ‘What I don’t buy, though, is that I was the cause of the Bok losses that year. That doesn’t make sense. How can one guy derail an entire campaign? It wasn’t as if I was even an important member of the squad, I was only a reserve most of the time.
‘I don’t think I was a massively disruptive influence then, but there were things I disagreed with, and it’s another issue that, were I to have that time again, I would approach differently. I am much more mature now, and though I will never apologise for calling a spade a spade and fighting for things I feel strongly about, there are a few questions I have to ask myself.
‘Was I the positive influence that I should have been? No. Was I constructive enough in my approach? No. I shouldn’t have been there, my mindset was all wrong.’
Watson’s leadership credentials and ability to inspire others have never been questioned, but his appointment as captain of Bath earlier this year should have confirmed it to any remaining doubters. Springbok assistant coach Gary Gold knows many people who are part of the Bath set-up, and he says the way Watson has been accepted there as a leader should be seen as a massive tribute to him.
‘There are some really experienced and potentially difficult older guys in the club, and yet I hear from people that I’m connected with, and from Butch James, who plays there, that Luke is really enjoyed and respected by everyone at Bath,’ says Gold.
Gold reckons Watson has been misunderstood for much of his career, and believes he can make a massive contribution to South African rugby if he returns after the next World Cup. For his part, Watson would love to do that.
‘I do feel that I have unfinished business in South Africa, and I am really passionate about the country. It relates to what I said earlier about not being constructive enough before. I would like to go back at a later stage in my career and make a more productive contribution to the game there. I would like to be a good role model for younger players, to offer something positive.’
From a playing viewpoint, Watson is convinced that even at 26, his best playing days are still ahead of him.
‘The move has been a step forward for me as a player, I have learnt so much. The captaincy challenge has been interesting too. At WP I was leading a team made up mostly of youngsters, but here I’m leading players like Lewis Moody and Danny Grewcock, guys who have a lot of Tests for England under their belts.
‘Rugby is less cut-throat and brutal here. You’re allowed to have one or two bad games every now and then without being totally written off and ridiculed. But I also find that there’s a much greater reliance on strategy here, and it has been good to experience that.’
– This article first appeared in the October issue of SA Rugby magazine.
332 Comments
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26 Oct 2010, 12:14 pm
Puke the EP hero. Viva!
Viva!
Aluta continua!
26 Oct 2010, 12:20 pm
48. Black Panther(Black Panther): so clearly you can’t even formulate your own thoughts on why he said those things yet you spew forth and call the guy “puke”, no amount of inflection or attempts at toilet humour can hide how much of doos you are in this instance
26 Oct 2010, 12:29 pm
Luke went for a drug test before the rugby season :
Doctor – “How often do you masturbate?”
Luke – “About 4 times a week.”
Doctor – “Do you think you can stop?”
Luke – “Why?”
Doctor – “Because I’m trying to examine you!”
26 Oct 2010, 12:30 pm
Transie.
The reason is immaterial.
If someone says he wants to vomit on the new SA flag because its existence can be correlated to a statistical increase in farm murders, that does not change the fact that he will alienate a lot of people to whom the flag has great significance.
The same applies to Watson’s comments regarding the Bok jersey.
26 Oct 2010, 12:34 pm
Dud? Lol. The dud that was named Currie Cup player of the year last yr at no.8 and SA Super 14 player of the year in 2006 at openside. He is such a dud, Bath made him captain. Why not check out the Premiership stats, they are pretty good but I am warning you they might make a few Dutchmen on this blog…Puke!
26 Oct 2010, 12:35 pm
45. GUNTHER(GUNTHER): LOL
26 Oct 2010, 12:36 pm
it’s good that he can see that he was used as a ‘political pawn’, his father had his own dreams, aspirations and visions, luke should’ve had his own! ending up being in a Bok camp where the coach doesn’t want you and only staying there because you’re carrying a noble torch your dad had carried before was a big mistake.
children of “freedom fighters” don’t necessarily also have to be freedom fighters too
26 Oct 2010, 12:37 pm
54. Tacitus(Tacitus): and i reckon the bok jersey means soooo much to Black Panther?
26 Oct 2010, 12:39 pm
Great to read this article and see some maturity from Watson, and a realisation from him that he made some mistakes – it takes a man to admit this and I respect and appreciate that. I think he is one of the most misunderstood people in SA rugby and it is nice to read an article that has a sympathetic tone compared to the vitriol that usually eminates from the press.
Let’s just take a few steps back, let’s look at our history and try understand Waston and his family in this context. They fought against Apartheid, and his dad Cheeky sacrificed a potential call up to the Springboks because, on principle, he wasn’t prepared to play in a team that didn’t pick the best South African players, black or white, and was a strong symbol of Apartheid to many black South Africans. Instead, he defied the group areas act and went to play rugby in black townships, and showed solidarity and also showed black South Africans that all whites aren’t evil and happy to benefit from the spoils of Apartheid.
I have huge respect for this stand that cost him personally and his family and I will continue to respect him and his family for this. They copped tons of abuse for this from white South Africans and got abused unfairly and inevitably defense mechanisms were developed that made Luke perhaps a bit too abrasive in defending himself. He has made mistakes, but he has acknowledged this. He has a lot to give South African rugby, where there is still some way to go in terms of reconciliation and sorting the hurts from the past. I would love to see him come back and lead a truly multiracial Southern Kings team, where I hope that his history and understanding of our past would help him to mentor young black players to become truly great Sprinboks!
For all of you who are on your high horses, moaning about reverse racism in rugby and spewing forth hate-speech about Watson and his family, where were you in the eighties? What were you doing to fight against a truly evil system that destroyed lives and turned 80% of our population into second class citizens? What did you and your family sacrifice to fight against Apartheid? Oh – nothing? Well then maybe your comments should be slightly more thoughtful and reflective of a history that still weighs on us.
26 Oct 2010, 12:40 pm
maybe black pants just doesn’t rate luke.
**** happens.
maybe he is a double agent.
26 Oct 2010, 12:41 pm
57. Transie.
Luke was a victim.
Jake was an arse-wipe.
Sure, Luke made mistakes. But who among us has not.
26 Oct 2010, 12:43 pm
Good luck Luke! You are a great rugby player and time to concentrate on the game. A lot of people living in glass houses on this site.
26 Oct 2010, 12:45 pm
I see ABSA has ended their 11 year sponsorship of the Sharks stadium.
Strange time to do so, just before the Currie Cup final at that very venue.
If Standard Bank or FNB want to suddenly score a few hundred thousand new customers, they should take over where ABSA left off.
26 Oct 2010, 12:49 pm
Same ol’ same ol’
26 Oct 2010, 12:52 pm
55. jerry1(jerry1): bring the stats buddy, we don;t believe you, you need more people!
26 Oct 2010, 12:52 pm
57 Transie – agree, sometimes it is better for kids not to be freedom fighters as well, but sometimes it is too deeply ingrained, too deeply part of who they are… I hope that Luke will be true to his promise of being more constructive when he comes back. Now is the time for building, not ONLY fighting against perceived injustice and unfairness.
26 Oct 2010, 12:54 pm
63. Tacitus(Tacitus): yeah Standard Bank who has are going to retrench 2000 staff members can afford to sponsor the Sharks
hehehe SASOL is a better bet but i’m not sure…
26 Oct 2010, 13:00 pm
60. gunther(gunther): not rating a guy is fine, deriding him on comments one is clueless about is ridiculous and stupid, like Tackler going on about how the Maori team is racist when all new zealanders know and appreciate the uniqueness of their situation. doos-like behaviour period!
26 Oct 2010, 13:03 pm
63. Tacitus(Tacitus):
good riddance to absa fn mofos, they must with draw from rugby altogether and maybe try to implement some quotas in football.
26 Oct 2010, 13:12 pm
Transie @ 52
*sigh*
yes, youre right, I just plucked ‘Puke’ right out of the air.
Theres a stiff breeze here at the moment.
26 Oct 2010, 13:12 pm
Luke the Pawnstar
26 Oct 2010, 13:21 pm
Gunther at 60
I commended Puke when he played well vs Bulls 1-2 seasons ago. He was a good provincial player but, IMO, not Bok-standard. Esp with SAs incredible depth in the loosies dept.
And after watching him play for Bath this season, after the match, I said he had been poor. Because he was. It was in the context of “G10 – look away now”.
And I bet Ive seen him play more this season, on tv and Live, than Keos own Moral Guidance Counsellor and Keeper of the Record, Transformation. And yet he is the one questioning my right to an opinion because Im not a Safa ?
26 Oct 2010, 13:25 pm
We all face situations that we do not like. It is how you react to them that counts. Luke, you failed there.
You were young. You are forgiven. Just like I forgive Malema. Wait, Juju ain’t that young!
26 Oct 2010, 13:26 pm
69. FOREVERRUGGA
I thought ignorant farks like you were gone for good on this site, relic from the past, is RT that boring
26 Oct 2010, 13:30 pm
Blackie
I’ve seen Bath play three times on TV this season (I’ve got a mate that playes for them) so I follow them reasonably closely along with S(ABARBARIANS)aracens.
He seems to carry the ball and offload quite well.
His work rate in other areas does not seem to be what it was.
I am told his well respected as skipper especially by the younger guys at the club.
personally I think his time as a bok has come and gone. he should have been picked in 2006. every year that passes makes him less of a contender.
He still has a year left on his contract, I doubt he would come back having just been made skipper so I would expect him to renew. mind you with schalk likely to leave the stormers after 2011 who knows?
26 Oct 2010, 13:42 pm
f*ck absa & f&ck Ramos
26 Oct 2010, 13:45 pm
72. BLACK PANTHER(BLACK PANTHER): read the first part of my post properly doos! The 2nd part of my comment refers to your comments on him puking on the Bok jersey and NOT how you rate him as a rugby player…you can fool some
26 Oct 2010, 13:55 pm
Tacitus @63
Posted this just now.
Something not quite right here. Why would ABSA not want to renew their sponsorship with an outfit like the Sharks.
Just like Vodacom wouldnt relinquish their partnership with the Bulls and WP right now.
Wouldnt be surprised if Mike Sutcliffe and his band of merry m onkeys at the Durban municipality have added pressure on ABSA to stop the sponsorship to try and force the move to Moses Mabida.
Unless they’re only giving up that portion of the sponsorship which allows them naming rights to the stadium. Lets hope it is this, bring back Kings Park I say.
As you say, there is a huge opportunity for FNB and Standard Bank to pick up some extra customers.
I’ll promise you one thing, if i had even one account open with ABSA at the beginning of the year, it would closed right now.
26 Oct 2010, 13:59 pm
Let bygones be bygones. All I ask is that selection be based on merit.
When Ratel is fit, this guy hasn’t got a chance. I mean guys like Stegman, Vermuelen, Alberts and Daniel don’t have caps yet!
You want to make a contribution Luke? Then show us you DESERVE to be picked.
Performances in a watered down NH league don’t impress me much.
26 Oct 2010, 14:00 pm
Gunther
now there y’go, was that so hard ?
I commented here about 1 game when he was really poor, passing behind the player, slipped 1 or 2 tackles. And I was in Bath for a 40th that took in a game vs L.Irish. Despite that, he’s not a bad player, just not a very very good one. But then I happen to think Big Joe is/was an immense player and I was shouted at for being a bitter-Kiwi for that too….go figure.
Ive got no beef with Puke. But when any player is dumb enough to say he would ‘vomit on the jersey’, for whatever reason, he cant expect alot in the way of sympathy. And shouldnt get any.
I certainly have more time for Puke than I do for Jake White, if that is the context you are looking for.
26 Oct 2010, 14:01 pm
74. XhosaKid(XhosaKid):
is that the pot calling the kettle black? u useless f uk
26 Oct 2010, 14:01 pm
@ 78.
Well lets hope it works. The Sharks move to Moses would be awesome!
I for one am not getting season tickets until the move is completed.
26 Oct 2010, 14:03 pm
78. John Galt(John Galt):
hear hear….down with absa!!!
26 Oct 2010, 14:04 pm
69. FOREVERRUGGA(FOREVERRUGGA): Hey, hey… slow down tiger… All Fatty von Zeuner wanted was for the “pace of transformation” to quicken somewhat…
I have been assured that transformation is not about “quotas”… I have also been assured that transformation is many things, but not easily definable…
I have heard it is:
- “disorder to order”
- “a process for good things to happen”
- “where all supporters support the team”
If you have questions about, or try to define transformation you are to be immediately viewed as “suspicious”…
But what ever you do, never ever say quotas are a part of Transformation… They are totally unrelated…
Blaady spaai!
26 Oct 2010, 14:04 pm
82. Ratel Brussow(Morne Steyn is under-rated):
where you gonna braai at moses madiba
26 Oct 2010, 14:07 pm
Quota’s belong in the Currie Cup.
Not in international competition, ie S15 or Boks.
Is this not the answer. Give players of colour more opportunities at domestic level and reap the rewards in higher levels?
I mean how long must Kabamba sit on the bench?
Anyway, just a thought.
26 Oct 2010, 14:08 pm
84. Heavens Game(Heavens Game):its all one ball of sh ite to me all rolled into one and called a pretty name but we all know its about oppression of the minorities.
26 Oct 2010, 14:08 pm
78. JOHN GALT(JOHN GALT): well some of the clubs affiliated with the Natal rugby union have in the past couple of weeks accused the Sharks of being ‘racist’. Now i don’t have all the details as the Sharks president said this was a private matter and that they won’t fight this latest battle in the media.
26 Oct 2010, 14:08 pm
Sharks are going to roll over for the impregnable WePee at Kings Park Stadium, not ABSA Stadium now…
26 Oct 2010, 14:10 pm
@ 86. On the lawns there or why not on the King’s Park fields, its just over the road FFS.
26 Oct 2010, 14:11 pm
88. TRANSFORMATION(TRANSFORMATION): “accused the Sharks of being ‘racist’” – surely you mean “untransformed”… Even I understand that then… I think.
26 Oct 2010, 14:12 pm
@82
I would be all for a move as well, Moses Mabida is world class.
Provided the revenue stream achieved at Kings Park is matched at Moses, which it cant be because of the lack of suites and boxes.
This is where the municipality farked up roayaly. They ensured that the Sharks Rugby union were left out of the design phase of Moses. All the designers had to do was add a few more boxes and the Sharks would have been happy to move, they had already said as much.
Instead Mike Suckdick went on and gave the go ahead for the current design without the Sharks approval.
Now the municipality are trying to force the Sharks to move only they cant because of the lease still in place.
Typical short sighted behaviour by the ANC d*ckwads at the durban municipality.
26 Oct 2010, 14:16 pm
90. Ratel Brussow(Morne Steyn is under-rated): ooh ja on that 10m2 patch of lawn. Also Surely the Kings Park fields will be no more, suttie wouldn’t leave it as it is surely, ffs.
26 Oct 2010, 14:19 pm
74. XHOSAKID(XHOSAKID): Comments like this make me want to puke. No-one owns this site or subscribes to a common political agenda. The point is the comments often turn into colour or politics very quickly. The RT guys wanted to talk rugby and made a site. Simple.
This self appointed moral guardians of this site don’t talk for me. And you don’t talk for Keo either. Accept it or f’ck off.
26 Oct 2010, 14:27 pm
10. Tacitus(Tacitus):
Why am I not suprised you favour the Republicans? You both have a lot in common, you attempt to influence people through a systematic campaign of half-thruths and lies, but still always take the moral high ground.
Name me one policy of the Democrats that is so horribly wrong (with real proofs mind you, not just your ramblings and mis-directions) and what the Republicans propose for the same issues that will work better.
26 Oct 2010, 14:28 pm
@ Transformation
Yes the complaint was headed by the continuosly shitt stirring chairman at the Jaguars rugby club, Martin Wiseman. Complaining about lack of progress wrt trasnformation.
Funnily enough, this came the week after the Sharks annual sponsored rugby tournament in Kokstad I think, for the grassroots rugby clubs in the outlying regions.
The tournmament was attended by both the Sharks CEO, Pete Smit and this other guy and was hailed as a great tournament. Some guys playing in the tournament were asked to attend the Sharks academy or coaching clinics in Durban to see if there was more potential for improvement.
26 Oct 2010, 14:33 pm
94. JockBok(JockBok):
well said!!
26 Oct 2010, 14:35 pm
Where are the blokkies to respond to comments!
26 Oct 2010, 14:44 pm
98. DAWN(DAWN): They were stolen, Roy left the office door open last night. Keo is going to be heartily p1ssed when he gets back from his jolly.
26 Oct 2010, 14:48 pm
99. JockBok(JockBok):
Site is going to the rottweilers.
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