‘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, 17:15 pm
Now North Korea is a great example of a Communist Nation… Far better than Uncle Sam and Chingchongchi land – much more pure… You have your own set choice of haircuts – asking why there are only 12 different hairstyles will provoke suspicion…
Similar to asking questions about “transformation” in Azania it seems…
26 Oct 2010, 17:15 pm
@ Gunther
That’s quite a choice. Probably Garboyle, as Oprah, i am certain actually has a *****. And it’s a big one……
And there will be NO hardening of anything…..
26 Oct 2010, 17:16 pm
199 overstay you welcome
26 Oct 2010, 17:17 pm
198. STORMERSBOY(STORMERSBOY): Your apparent “Transformation”…
26 Oct 2010, 17:18 pm
Or make disparaging remarks about McCaw in public?
26 Oct 2010, 17:20 pm
201 was booked to go there last August but something came up, if you want an eye opener check out the annual Mass games nothing else like it, although a jet setter like yourself will probably be in St Tropez playing ling ling qi…
26 Oct 2010, 17:21 pm
205 that’s treason, death by lethal injection
26 Oct 2010, 17:21 pm
201. HEAVENS GAME(HEAVENS GAME):
Have you actually been there?
26 Oct 2010, 17:22 pm
That’s where natural disasters come in. Science says that every system has a carrying capacity. The carrying capacity of earth has been exceeded and as such, some purges occure to regulate the population size. Could it be why we’ve had so many naturalm disasters of late?
26 Oct 2010, 17:24 pm
@ HG 204. No, no personal transformation, still an egoist at heart, but in order to be successfull, you need a certain amount of order and consistancy. Hence my opinion of an appropriate political system.
Just remember (not you HG), Democracy is also an incorrect term to apply to the “one man one vote” system.
We do not vote on the laws, we elect officials who then vote in parliment. The original “Democracy” in Greece actually consisted of the Demos or town voting on each resolution and law, a true ‘one man one vote”. Each person took their turn to serve and help, and in turn was given a “say” in how things were run.
You just have to look at how floor crossing transferred the political balances in South Africa to see that what we have is at some times, very far from the concept of democracy as it was invented.
26 Oct 2010, 17:24 pm
Pompies2, earth is a self-contained system, a living organism, that self-regulates. Humans have become parasites, so the system is trying to redress the problem…you’ll see a lot more disease epidemics in the years to come.
26 Oct 2010, 17:25 pm
208.no,the village idiot is stuck in some obscure english village all of his life.i don’t think anybody take this bloke seriously on this site.
26 Oct 2010, 17:25 pm
174 Tac
If two people go out and hunt for food, and one hits a deer with his arrow, while the other gets nothing, what law of nature dictates that the successful hunter should give a quarter of his deer to the unsuccessful one?
What law of nature says I cannot beat the hell out of you and take the deer you shot? Only I don’t beat the hell out you, I vote you out.
26 Oct 2010, 17:27 pm
212 thats a very good post
26 Oct 2010, 17:29 pm
212. bluejay(bluejay):
Sort of like Pretoria?
26 Oct 2010, 17:29 pm
You have Communism, Capitalism and Transformationalism.
Transformationalism is the ultimate step…The Xanadu of -isms.
Many on this thread are Transformed, some are being Transformed and many are Untransformed…
Even the leading representatives of each ism may need some “Transformation”…
Capitalism = Obama, he definitely needs transformation, not everyone supports him… (Transformation is when your team has everyone’s support Transformation definition no. 57)
Communism = Kim Jong Il, he also needs some transformation – the “process for better things” (Transformation defn no. 414) has clearly not ended
Transformationalism = Malema, he is perfect. To ask why is to invite suspicion, so don’t!
26 Oct 2010, 17:32 pm
208. BOKHORING(BOKHORING): Yes, I have been to Azania, and I can assure you that the process of Transformation is going at a frantic pace…
26 Oct 2010, 17:33 pm
Luke, it seems, has been appropriately transformed…….
26 Oct 2010, 17:35 pm
210. STORMERSBOY(STORMERSBOY): Now democracy is not about voting it is about laws?
You have not completed your “Transformation” yet… You are to be treated with “suspicion” as soon as possible…
26 Oct 2010, 17:39 pm
Um, no, I’m just adding to my “careful what you label” thesis.
I’m unashamedly untransformed. I would expect you to treat me with extreme suspicion as a Wee Pee supporter.
26 Oct 2010, 17:40 pm
218. STORMERSBOY(STORMERSBOY): Luke was Transformed before leaving to the UK with a mission to subvert any last vestige of Empire and Colonialism…
He may need to go through a small process of re-Transformation upon his return, he may have picked up some impure thoughts… Only then will it be appropriate…
26 Oct 2010, 17:42 pm
220. STORMERSBOY(STORMERSBOY): Looking outside in the only supporter that are to be viewed with suspicion are those who do not support WP on Keo… You are truly Transformed then…
Viva!
26 Oct 2010, 17:45 pm
Outtahere. I am nearly Transformed for the day… May be back later for a dash of Transformation… The pace must quicken.
26 Oct 2010, 17:49 pm
211. WP TILL I DIE(WP-FOREVER): “earth is a self-contained system” – last time I looked at a picture of the solar system I saw that the Sun (needed for sunlight for photosynthesis) was not really part of the Earth’s system… I may be wrong… I have been wrong many times…
Outtahere…
26 Oct 2010, 18:01 pm
this thread lost the plot along time ago debating things they know nothing abt
promoting america’s failed form of capitalism shows little appreciating for economic thought
26 Oct 2010, 18:21 pm
188. ET(ET):
Your limits of patheticness know no boundaries Elliott.
You actually see a struggle for mastery of the Keo realm, and more pathetically, you think you have won it.
There is no here or there, and the struggle is in your head. You crow as if it actually means something, but the reality is a few guys got fed up with arguing with muppets like you and formed their own site. That’s it, nothing more, no big plan, you are far too insignificant for that and sites like this are for passing time.
That you see it as something else is obvious, but I’m going nowhere. I come here for a read and a bit of a laugh, I actually dislike no-one, apart from you of course. You think it matters, take it all so seriously, but everyone is just laughing at you from behind their an online personna. But this is actually all you have.
And why would I deny having a beer or two with GBS? A fine fellow of a man if you ask me. That you would project your BS theories into this is sad. It simply says more about you and your feeble mind than it ever would about me. RT is too Afrikaans for me, makes it hard to follow the chat. But good luck to them. Again, that’s it, nothing else, no grand plan. Except in your head of course.
I prefer Keo because it’s a bit more diverse and laughing at you is quite fun. I’m going nowhere mate, until I switch of my PC and log on again next time I fancy it. It’s the internet, it’s not real life dickwad. And you thinking there is some plan or that it actually matters is consistent with your own deleuded views of yourself.
26 Oct 2010, 18:57 pm
164. stormersboy(stormersboy):
I think this was the closest post to the truth. It is all about power in my opinion, so leaders sense the mood of the country and sell whatever ism gets them into power. At the end of the none of the leaders actually follow the ideology they use to get elected.
Right now transoformationism will get you into power in SA not that it will be implemented as it should be, from the grass roots.
26 Oct 2010, 19:24 pm
Laughing!!! What a siily joke!
It is the likes of me and those that I post to that do the laughing at sad, rejected, dejected, and again now, not so collected Sacks/Jocks, like you.
All we clearly see is fuming under the collar(no laughing matter) at the facts brought to light here.
I simply let the facts do the walking and talking of your utter lack of credibility. The dishonour is solely yours as you associate with S.A’s own version of mini-me Hitler or Goebels for that matter, such is the level of control.
26 Oct 2010, 19:25 pm
Good that Luke can be honest with all, but surey he could have seen this coming
26 Oct 2010, 20:01 pm
Is that it? A few insults, a bit of smoke and the odd mirror. That’s your best shot? Lol, you have nothing but supposition and a desperate desire to put me down.
I’ve told you already, I’m not fuming, I’m laughing at you. Now let’s see what else you can manufacture. Or will you just ignore me again because really, you’ve got nothing.
26 Oct 2010, 20:28 pm
225. PAPOOSE(PAPAOWN): “promoting america’s failed form of capitalism shows little appreciating for economic thought” – LOL. That is the funniest thing I have read today… Whats even funnier is that you are being completely serious… LOL…
You are truly Transformed… Now run along to uncle Josef’s mausoleum and whisper it in his ear… Quickly, Transformation at pace…
26 Oct 2010, 20:41 pm
226. JOCKBOK(JOCKBOK): Hey Ned, take a deep breath and relax that phoefie valve before it bursts… ET is doing his experimental bobbejan skit and he seems to have got you…
Didn’t know you were a Mormon though… Jeez… How many wives? Have you got a couple up there in Gambia?
As a Mormon, consider yourself totally untransformed but since you have come back to the WePee Goebbels bosom of Keo the Transformation might take hold soon…
26 Oct 2010, 20:44 pm
232. HEAVENS GAME(HEAVENS GAME): Forgot the smiley… Heres a
and a special :capeflatssmiley: for you 
26 Oct 2010, 20:47 pm
227. ZINZAN(DIGGER): Do you know what transformation is… Have you got a definition there somewhere?
26 Oct 2010, 21:13 pm
232
Damn I’m captivated as I watch the cricket in Dubai but I just checked to read this absolute screamer and laughed so loudly my wife exlaimed “what the hell is wrong with you”.
That guy has now really sprung a leak and will surely kill you if he could now lay his grubby paws on you.
I DO NOT expect a better laugh this day, surely?
26 Oct 2010, 21:15 pm
234. Heavens Game(Heavens Game)
That depends on the colour of your skin in SA.
For whites:It is reverse racism.
For blacks:It is the policy or correcting the wrongs of the past, read apartheid policies.
Off course like all things the extremest voices are the loudest but transformation is supposed to level the playing ground and give all SAfricans equal opportunity in jobs, sport and so on. I would provide a link to the government web site but I am sure you can google that.
26 Oct 2010, 21:17 pm
236. Zinzan(digger):
Forgot to add, for politicians it is a populist means of getting into power and deflecting scrutiny of their corrupt ways.
26 Oct 2010, 21:23 pm
drinks with the Head Mormon-in-Charge? Very un-Transformed…
26 Oct 2010, 21:23 pm
232. Heavens Game(Heavens Game):
I knew a Morman once when I was at school His name was Ernie, went a bit doolally with all the abuse he used to take. Ended up playing guitar in a heavy metal band, long hair, tattos, the works. Turned out to be a nice guy when you didn’t have to slam the door in his face.
26 Oct 2010, 21:28 pm
236. ZINZAN(DIGGER): Eish, thats straight answer and about the closest I have got to some sort of definition of transformation in 2 whole days… Are you mlungu? If so, and the fact you have a nic Zinzan may count against your credibility somewhat… Only the transformed or transformers may have anything authoritative to say about transformation… any otter source must be treated with suspicion…
26 Oct 2010, 21:31 pm
238.
Transie,
So you read that post to you and XhosaKid?
Good for you.
You can never be too sure who you speak to here. May well turn out to be Hitler re-incarnated in that land north of the River Thames.
26 Oct 2010, 21:38 pm
239. JOCKBOK(JOCKBOK): Lol… Brandon Flowers and the Killers are Mormon and they are fairly good rockstars… Alice Cooper is supposedly a Mormon too… But then again the Osmonds are also Mormons… I suppose the Mormons are a diverse bunch, and just (un)lucky that they can have more than one wife…
JB, I hope you realise that post 232 was a bit of humour… This RT Keo thing deserves a bit of ridicule… Don’t take it too seriously, I certainly don’t…
26 Oct 2010, 21:40 pm
235. ET(ET):
The evenings must just fly by in your house Elliott.
26 Oct 2010, 21:46 pm
242. Heavens Game(Heavens Game):
No problems from me matey. I just won’t be dictated to by a facist bully boy like our Elliott. I am his intelectual superior and he finds it a bit hard to take that I see through his facade.
I never knew the Killers were Mormons though. Quality band and quite often on my playlist. Where did all this Mormon talk come from anyway?
26 Oct 2010, 21:47 pm
Are we talking Mormons or Morons?
I am confucioused.
26 Oct 2010, 21:48 pm
238. Transformation(Transformation):
We had a very nice chat about rugby. Heck, I’d even let you buy me a drink
26 Oct 2010, 21:50 pm
245. gunther(gunther):
Have you seen the Bill Maher movie ‘Religilous’. Made me wonder if there’s a difference?
26 Oct 2010, 21:52 pm
Jockstrap
You would enjoy a drink with transie.
He is the new GBS on the block
26 Oct 2010, 21:55 pm
244. JOCKBOK(JOCKBOK): The Mor(m)ons of the Rugby Tabernacle… A story once posted by yours truly a while back… Sharks Lover hated me for a little while, but we made up through the spirit of the Shark…
Yeah, Killers are decent. Flowers has released a solo album “Flamingo” quite recently – absolute Aural crack… Especially “Crossfire” and “Only the young”…
Another decent “youngster” rock band are KOL (Kings of Leon)… Also just released a decent album “Come around Sundown” – more subdued than “Only by the Night”…
26 Oct 2010, 21:55 pm
Shiyte!! I missed the storm, I knew this was shaping up nicely when I left, just had too much on my plate….
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