Rassie latest: World Rugby’s racists nail Siya for speaking up
A white coach stands up for his black captain against a white referee and World Rugby fines the black captain and tries to take the white coach out of the game with an immediate ban. The bigots at World Rugby should be cancelled, writes Mark Keohane.
Forget the attack on Rassie Erasmus for a moment and digest what World Rugby’s paid for consultant independents ruled against Springbok captain Siya Kolisi for stating he felt disrespected when asked the question if he felt disrespected for the way in which Australian referee Nic Berry treated him in the 1st Test between the British & Irish Lions and Springboks in Cape Town.
World Rugby has accepted an ‘independent committee’s’ recommendation to ban Rassie Erasmus from all things rugby for two months and from any interaction with the Boks till September, 2022. It has also agreed that Siya Kolisi was wrong in telling his truth.
Nic Berry, who got 26 decisions wrong in 35 minutes of ball in play, continues to officiate in Test matches.
The prejudice, the bigotry and the obvious bias.
Was World Rugby not watching what was going on in English cricket this week?
In a week when all of English cricket is being shamed and disgraced for inherent racism that the racists can’t even recognise is racist behaviour, World Rugby’s very white and very northern based white leadership, led by the former British & Irish Lions and England captain Bill Beaumont seconded and merited a finding to be delivered publicly three days before the world champion Springboks happened to play England at Twickenham, in a match all of England rugby have describe as the biggest of the year.
The timing is obviously predictable. The bias and prejudice is as obvious and, in this one moment of absolute white supremacist stupidity, World Rugby has shown itself to be an old boys club that will continue to promote prejudice and racism. The club must be cancelled forever.
This is what I tweeted on 15th November
Don’t be shocked if @WorldRugby sends out a findings statement on @RassieRugby hearing a day before Sat #springboks v @EnglandRugby Test …just to add disruption to @Springboks
— Mark Keohane (@mark_keohane) November 15, 2021
World Rugby keeps on insisting it is anti-racism but at the first challenge, World Rugby happily supports a finding that punishes a world champion black international captain and rewards a white match official who treats white and black captains differently and then takes out the white coach who stands up for his black captain.
White Australian referee Nic Berry was disgusting in his disrespect towards Siya Kolisi, as he was his patronising interaction with Kolisi in that first Test. Go and watch the match and you can’t but be offended. He gets rewarded with continued match appointments in Test rugby. Kolisi gets fined for answering a question at a press conference.
World Rugby had four months to address the complaints of Rassie Erasmus and their counter argument of him bringing the game into disrepute. They waited until three days before the Springboks play England at Twickenham to release their findings.
Obviously, it will be appealed.
Obviously, this will be a nonsense judgement that will be challenged in the highest courts, but for the next three days Bill Beaumont and the English hope it will be enough to derail the Springboks preparations for England.
How crass of Beaumont and how shameful of the white World Rugby leadership.
They should be cancelled and in an ideal world the Springboks would be on a plane home on Thursday morning.
World Rugby is outdated in everything it does, as is the notion that incompetent or prejudiced match officials can’t be challenged.
SA Rugby’s leadership of Jurie Roux and Mark Alexander will not tolerate this.
It is a time for the Springboks, the current world champions and the world’s No 1 team, to give World Rugby the two fingers.
Either Rassie runs the water on Saturday and the appeal process takes its course or the Boks should be home before Saturday.
Wednesday night’s World Rugby release was disgusting, but not nearly as disgusting as the finding of an all-New Zealand bunch of consultants who fined a black international captain for speaking out about his experience against the bias and obvious prejudice of a white referee.
And with that, the white South African coach who refused to accept how his captain was treated and how his team was prejudiced by either incompetence or blatant cheating.
Watch the match video and be the judge.
Also on www.keo.co.za
