Transforming the way we think
15 Oct 2012
MARK KEOHANE, in his Business Day newspaper column, writes that the story of the Kings should be about hope and not ridicule.
The South African Rugby Union has never believed in the Eastern Cape as anything but an irritation to professional rugby but also a corporate cash cow in the name of development.
If any within the current administration refutes this then I challenge them to publicly apologise to the region for the way in which entry to Super Rugby was finalised and to apologise for making the Kings hated among a certain sector of provincial South African fan because they replaced a South African team, in the form of the Lions.
Saru’s apathy to the Eastern Cape needs to consistently be challenged. It has always been this way since professionalism in 1996. Saru, when convenient, uses the Eastern Cape as the missing link to a rugby rainbow nation but those with the responsibility within Saru have never had the heart and intent to make it the link. Instead all love for the Eastern Cape has been commercially and politically motivated.
It is disgusting. It has always been disgusting. It won’t easily change.
The Kings, on Super Rugby entry, should have been the good-news story of unity. It should have been fully endorsed because in a united rainbow nation it is very necessary to have a team from within the Eastern Cape in Super Rugby’s biggest southern hemisphere tournament. The Kings, representative of rugby in the Eastern Cape, should have been the missing link to show the game has finally transformed, not in black playing numbers, but by way of the thinking among administrators, supporters and the media in South Africa.
The backlash, resentment and resistance to the Kings suggests there is more than one link missing in a united South Africa and a united South African rugby structure.
Equally disturbing is how so many supporters refuse to see the significance of the Eastern Cape within the context of a healthy professional South African rugby international presence.
The administration has never surprised me. They have neither the intellectual capital nor the charisma (as individuals or a collective) to inspire. The game’s growth needs pioneers and instead the conveyer belt only produces pensioners, if not by age then certainly by way of enthusiasm and aspiration.
The administration of South African rugby has allowed for an emotional distaste for the Kings among supporters that is misplaced.
The Kings have not replaced the Lions in Super Rugby. They were given introduction to the tournament in place of the South African team that has been the worst performer in Super Rugby in 2012. Not historically, but only this year.
The Lions supporters really have to blame their players, coaches and the Lions administration that the Lions were the ones to make way. The Lions were the architects of their own demise, however temporary it may be.
Saru’s leadership, throughout the last year, have allowed for the resentment from those supporters to fester into something ugly. Not once has a voice within Saru preached perspective and done it with conviction. The platitudes have been that the Kings would play Super Rugby because it was best for South African rugby; that the decision was about transformation and had to be made.
What a cop out.
Transformation is in the way we should be thinking, not in how many black friends we have or how many black players the provincial or regional or national coach selects.
Transformation should be about the right kind of change and not change for the sake of change.
The Kings, as an entity, should have reflected the change of thinking in South African rugby but it has only reinforced how little has changed in the thinking within the game in this country.
Alan Solomons, formerly as EP head coach and now director of rugby, has done an unrivalled job with the EP Kings when you unemotionally consider what he has transformed about Eastern Province rugby in the last four years.
Those who disagree with me will do so on emotion and by way of not having been privy to the transformation, as a rugby entity, from four years ago.
Before you rant and accuse me of being on the Kings payroll, take a drive or get on bus, train or plane and sit with Solomons and do your own analysis of what has been achieved over the last four years.
There is so much vitriol aimed at the Kings because of Saru’s refusal to endorse change and absolute conviction that Sanzar would accommodate a sixth South African team.
The vitriol should be at those who govern our game, not the Kings, who on Saturday won the Currie Cup First Division in a titanic struggle against the Pumas.
To borrow from an American president, those within South African rugby should ask not what the Kings can do for them but more what Saru, as the custodians of the game in this country, could have done for the Kings.
Currently they have done nothing but set them up for Super Rugby failure and sadly they’ve hoodwinked so many supporters to embrace the prospect of this failure because they’ve made the Kings the bad guy, the Lions the fall guy and stood tall as the good guy.
Think about it …
942 Comments
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15 Oct 2012, 19:15 pm
@rangerman-229:
Good on your mom Rangerman. But your oldman taught you well, for the masque does unwittingly come down every now and then.
15 Oct 2012, 19:17 pm
@ahasaid theclown-532: Did you seriously get banned again??
15 Oct 2012, 19:17 pm
@ Trans I can’t believe the kuk I read here
Luckily the strike is over now I have to work
15 Oct 2012, 19:18 pm
Skop really needs to get laid. No one person can be this angry and uptight for so long.
15 Oct 2012, 19:19 pm
@PissAnt-540: could be I’ve overstayed my welcome lately.. the entrenched sentiment actually is rather to uphold the last bastion of dwindling supremacy at all costs around here.. the ravaging race war is actually hotting up.. not simmering down .. and the lines are being drawn across the divides as to who stands where along the sands of unrelenting last line of defenses… that why you will find more and more the grey areas being whittled away till the stark divisions between the black and the white,, the left and the right.. become clear as uninhibited daylight.. even in pseudo styled so called ‘intelligent’ realms like around here.
15 Oct 2012, 19:21 pm
@Peter Mkata-551: pity they can’t see it themselves.. as much as they try pretend otherwise.. it sure as hell ain’t very hard to fool oneself if one really tries to achieve it.
15 Oct 2012, 19:21 pm
@Dawn-550: You are partially right.Although the real villains are gone they have,mostly, successfully passed on the baton to their off-spring,hence the antics of people calling themselves the Boeremag etc etc.Only trup’s conduct will determine how history will judge him.
15 Oct 2012, 19:21 pm
@Paws-236:
‘Suspect Watson clan” _ can you enlighten us why they are suspect? Would it have been better if the Kings were led by someone other than the member of the Watsons? Would you have prefered that they were quiete during the apartheid era?
Admit that they have done very well so far. With some luck they will do the impossible next year!!
15 Oct 2012, 19:25 pm
@stormersboy-552: you got a better reason for changing nicks?
15 Oct 2012, 19:25 pm
Trup has got nothing to do with this, idiot.
15 Oct 2012, 19:26 pm
@charo-246:
You are probably the only honest man on this site. I am proud of you. You and Juju, would to see you breaking bread. LOL
Lewe nog die Herstigte Nationale Party? is that the Reformed Nats.
Can remember their leader Jaap Marais.
15 Oct 2012, 19:27 pm
@ahasaid theclown-545: Easy one Skop. I wouldnt kill another human over someone else’s ideology. We have an inherent sense of goodand evil but people get indoctrinated in various ways of which apartheid was only one particular example.
I’d place more blame on the brits to be fair if one considers their world wide colonisation and destruction of local tribes…..what makes SA different to the US, Oz or even NZ? Should they not all give back what they acquired by war/trade, or is it simply not going to happen because the indiginous folk is in the minority?
15 Oct 2012, 19:28 pm
You can’t say that for sure unless you are accessible to trup or are you???
15 Oct 2012, 19:29 pm
Let me rather shut up before I get in trouble
15 Oct 2012, 19:29 pm
@trupisero-562: Why should we blame the Brits for the evils of a bastardised race???
15 Oct 2012, 19:31 pm
I don’t put nothing past nobody.. ever, there a whole lot of pseudo little bullshitters floating around here who like to think of themselves as enlightened non racist evolved and intelligent ‘educated’ boertjies.. strip away all that falsified pretentiousness and what you will find is outright dyed in the wool absolute racists who but for circumstance would do exactly as their forefathers did for almost the exact same reasons…
15 Oct 2012, 19:34 pm
You don’t need to shut up,but rather face your naivety head on.In the year 2012 we get black school kids being racially abused by white kids born after the fall of apartheid.
15 Oct 2012, 19:41 pm
@wnbb-557: The have mostly passed the baton on? Fark me thats a nice generalization! The boeremag trial bears some uncanny resemblance to the Rivonia trials don’t you think? One man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter no? In every society you will find extremists on both ends of the spectrum. Should everyone inbetween be tarred with the same brush? Should all white Norwegians be classed as neo-nazi anti-everything because of Breivik?
@wnbb-565: Which race would you be referring to now?
15 Oct 2012, 19:41 pm
Lets all relax and concentrate on the matter ahead….. Pork Chop Varkies to be put in place again next weekend and then a proper North – South derby to decide the bragging rights!
15 Oct 2012, 19:41 pm
@transformation-514:
Has rugby not evolve enough for teams to able to buy out players’ contracts? What of these players that leave for overseas clubs, whilst still contracted to their unions?
As for not wanting to come to the Kings… most of them would be daft for not wanting to come down here. I’d rather go where I had an opportunty to play then hang around a place where I had litle or no chance of playing. To answer your last question… I suppose it’s not, but I won’t apologise for that sentiment. These racist coaches you’re talking of are exactly the reason why am for a majority black team, to dispel, once and for all, the myth that black players weaken the team… That being said, will support the team either way, as I have throughout the season.
@rangerman-520:
Unfortunately we don’t have many SR quality black scrumhalves, tighthead props and locks, so that wouldn’t work… Besides, that would mean no place for Steven Sykes, Luke Watson, Cornell Du Preez, SP Marais, the Greek and the other players on my wish list, Lourens Adriaanse, Ligtoring Landman, Martin Muller and Willie Le Roux at Griquas, plus Conrad Hoffman at the Sharks.
15 Oct 2012, 19:43 pm
On the issue of transformation in rugby…. Has SARU ever investigated why these black players are good enough for the baby boks and provincial age group teams but not for the CC and SR?
In the last ten years we’ve won two u/21, (2002 and 20005), two u/19 (2003 and 2005) and one u/20 IRB wc’s. The 2005 teams in particular make for a sad story. Those teams were laden with black players… Those players, aged between 26 and 28, should be in their prime, yet the majority are watching their white counterparts playing starring roles in SR, CC and the boks, while they are languishing in the first division or club rugby. What has happened between then and now?
15 Oct 2012, 19:43 pm
@SpringbokSarah-299:
That is 101 stuff for your prejudiced brain.
15 Oct 2012, 19:43 pm
@wnbb-567: And that’s one way traffic I suppose? No such thing as a black racist eh? You’re on a slippery slope my friend.
15 Oct 2012, 19:45 pm
Why do the Stormers let Peter Grant get away with pitching up late every season? Is he such an awesome talent that his tardiness must be accommodated? I’m not convinced. At all.
15 Oct 2012, 19:46 pm
Mxhosa 100% agree
15 Oct 2012, 19:47 pm
@mxhosa-570: No man, how can you want to import a bunch of dutchies to come disturb the heritage nd right of the black okes to play SR?
15 Oct 2012, 19:47 pm
This site is a microcosm of South African society.
We have only been a “free” society for 18 years and I feel the tide has already turned up north.
The novelty of this “new” South Africa has worn off.
Nelson Mandela, was an International role model for all to follow but he no longer is a public figure.
“We have tried to accomodate YOU PEOPLE for these 18 years but it is not working”. “You are everything we expected/feared you would be”
15 Oct 2012, 19:49 pm
@trupisero-562: I tend to largely agree with you .. I find the sometimes snide and insincere ‘Englishman’ often far more inherently racist than any Afrikaner who is far closer to the cutting edge of the issue.. The Brits were very clever at removing themselves from the direct conflict of the situation and hiding behind a false facade of self congratulatory ‘emancipator’ status.. while leaving others to fight the war of alienation at the coal face in the trenches..at the forefront of the conflicts.
Good and evil can be generalized in terms of what some would classify as more or less humanitarian.. but there were and are some incredibly humanitarian and very altruistic Afrikaners in this country.. so inherently they for the most part do come from a pretty liberal kind of belief system and altruistic structure deep in their group root psyche and conditioning.. only perhaps the ultra need for a self determining survival within a very stark and directly threatened fear of insecurity at being overcome with mass assimilation into the whole and ‘loss of culture’ perhaps drove the policy makers toward insular and divisive and ultimately ‘racist’ ideology.
It is still a fear based conditioning nevertheless and only a very few ‘enlightened’ individuals could venture out of the closed circles of group identification and protectionism.. hence the Beyers Naude’s and Van Zyl Slabberts of the volk.
15 Oct 2012, 19:50 pm
@The very reverend J. Jones-574: He should stay in Japan,reverend.We can’t have this going on ,year after year.You are either committed to the Stormers cause or not.
15 Oct 2012, 19:52 pm
@phil72-569: That sounds good to me ,phillip.
15 Oct 2012, 19:53 pm
This Kings Saga reminds me of Affirmative Action and the complaints thereof.
Either you take affirmative action, or you take a society where black people remain in poverty. And if you take the latter, dont complain about crime because crime is what poverty generates.
Likewise the Kings is a step towards transformation in rugby. It gives black communities players and a team to support. So similar to the above example, you either accept transformation in rugby or you squander the opportunity to bring communities together.
As South Africans, we should know better than anyone that sport has an incredible power to bring people together. Where once there was tension, sport can create unity.
I for one, embrace transformation in our country. As a white South African, I would prefer a day to come when crime and racial tension are not major issues anymore.
Not only that, I cant wait to see some of the crazy good talent come through from our black communities.
We need to embrace change because it is the only constant.
15 Oct 2012, 19:53 pm
@wnbb-580:
Now……. What would happen if…… The VarkieSharkie rugby development had to run dry? Not to hard to imagine. Kings to retain their Grey High and selbourne talent and the cheeters to create a better plan to keep the Grey college boys…….What then? Would they go and scratch around with the Pretoria boys high team?
15 Oct 2012, 19:55 pm
@mxhosa-571: Good question. Whilst not everyone will progress through the system, black and white alike, there seems to be a greater propertion of black guys falling out the system.
Could it really be that all the CC and SR coaches are inherently racist, and one would have to include AC here, or do the enforcement of demographically representative teams at age group levels have something to do with it?
Are there any stats on how many black, white or coloured players there are at school level? Offhand I’d guess this will have something to do with it.
15 Oct 2012, 20:00 pm
@ahasaid theclown-578: O fark, I’m gonna have a drink and sleep – we actually agree on something(and I understood what you typed without having to skip every 2nd profanity)
15 Oct 2012, 20:01 pm
@the authority-581:
The day that white South Africa realises that they will NOT dominate world rugby and beat the AB’s on their own and accept the fact that they need their non white brothers to help them, that day will be Bok Rugby’s watershed moment.
15 Oct 2012, 20:02 pm
@trupisero-568WRONG TRUP!! How the hell can the minority fight for something that doesn’t belong to them.To compare the Rivonia trial with the Boeremag one is shocking in the extreme.The Boeremag’s struggle is only about a return of an evil ideology based on total disrespect for others different to themselves,whereas the Rivonia trialists fought for the rights to be recognised as human beings and taking possession what was rightly theirs.Maybe you are right to blame the Brits…..for handing the country over to minority.
15 Oct 2012, 20:03 pm
@phil72-582:
Do you actually believe that rugby development at the Sharks are based on recruiting players from Grey Bloem and Grey PE?
15 Oct 2012, 20:03 pm
@phil72-582: The Grey College boys were lured to Bloem in the 1st place from elsewhere.
15 Oct 2012, 20:04 pm
@LoanShark-587:
Yes!!!!!!!!!
15 Oct 2012, 20:06 pm
@phil72-589:
PE boys and Bloem boys make up about 70% of their squad?
15 Oct 2012, 20:07 pm
@trupisero-583: the black kids are not afforded the same kind of promotion and skills development as the white kids.. not by a HUGE chasm of divisive and prejudicial alienation.. it is time to swing that around and that is why EP Kings should be embraced for the very potential of that happening in this country for the good of the whole and not for a very limited and privileged few in the top echelons of the white traditional school systems.
15 Oct 2012, 20:08 pm
@mxhosa-570: i reckon we need to move past the point of trying to prove anything to blinkered coaches & supporters who are stuck in the past. i won’t hold back matthew taylor smith or shane gates because i want to show up sime doos that a black player can play 12 or 10.
all have a home here.
i’m glad you still support the team regardless
15 Oct 2012, 20:09 pm
@ahasaid theclown-578:
hi skop,
just to be absolutely clear, are you sure absolutely sure you have been banned? why ever would the censors target you of all the people on here? i seen worse written.
perhaps you’ve gotten your login/password wrong and should try it again? you know, cAPS lock and all that.
15 Oct 2012, 20:10 pm
@phil72-582: I don’t know about that now ,phil,but what amazes me is that this so-called great rugby province can’t develop their own talent.They have raped and pillaged right through the lenght and breath of SA in their pursuit of rugby talent.You would expect those powerful Zulu boys to make excellent props and forwards,but it seems the varkies give a shite about rugby development.They would rather buy the cream of the other provinces and pass them off as their own home-grown talent.
15 Oct 2012, 20:11 pm
@phil72-590:
Yes, they get lured to KZN with the potability of being part of a world class franchise. We nurture them, train them and develop them into world class players.
15 Oct 2012, 20:13 pm
@ahasaid theclown-559: Plenty. I do it all the time.
15 Oct 2012, 20:14 pm
@i_love_u_bakkiesbotha-593:
15 Oct 2012, 20:15 pm
@wnbb-586: what part did you not understand? What one person sees as fair and just the next views as unfair and unjust. Thats the point of the comparison. The fact that you actively asociate yourself with one viewpoint precludes you from having any comprehension of the other side, and vice versa.
Some people believe that educating females is contrary to divine rules, others believe its their right to be educated. If you associate with the former would you possibly comprehend the rationality of the latter, even as ridiculous it may sound?
15 Oct 2012, 20:15 pm
Evidence
15 Oct 2012, 20:16 pm
@trupisero-576 and 583:
Black players have a right to play anywhere in this country, not just for the Kings. Unfortunately, most of them never seem to progress past the age group teams at other franchises.
There is no such thing as demographically representative teams at age group level, otherwise the baby boks team would have had more than 3 black players in their startiing xv.
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