“Article on Sport24”
Adnaan Mohamed
Sydney – Springbok coach, Peter de Villiers, says it’s not his fault if there are not enough black rugby players in the Springbok rugby team.
De Villiers was livid after a national coalition of black rugby clubs slammed him for a lack of transformation at Springbok level.
Asad Bhorat, secretary of the Transformation and Anti-Racism Rugby Committee (TARC) called De Villiers the “ultimate traitor”.
The Bok coach responded by saying that he is not shying away from his responsibility of transforming the Springbok team. He however believes the problem should be addressed at Super14 level.
“Transformation is definitely one of my responsibilities, but TARC should rather look elsewhere for the reasons for the lack of transformation in SA Rugby,” De Villiers said while in transit at Sydney International Airport.
Bhorat said the coach will be summoned to appear before TARC and Parliament’s standing committee on sports and recreation on his return from Australasia for failing to transform the team after proclaiming he would never pick fewer than 10 black players in his starting line-up.
De Villiers response was: “I can only pick black players who have proved themselves consistently at Super 14 level. There are many talented black players who are unfortunately not being given enough opportunities by their franchises. It makes my job very difficult when there are not enough black players coming through the system. How can I pick them if the South African Super 14 coaches are not interested in selecting them?”
The Springboks only had four players of colour in the starting XV during the Tri-Nations – Bryan Habana, JP Pietersen and Odwa Ndungane on the wings, and Zimbabwean-born Beast Mtawarira at prop.
Bhorat said in a statement that De Villiers had let his “ego be inflated by his winning streak” and had silently become “submissive” to SA Rugby by fielding an almost all-white team.
“The TARC and the sports portfolio committee have not criticised him up to now because we were giving him time and space. But no more. He will not be protected anymore,” Bhorat added.
De Villiers has fielded just three black players in his starting line-up and has only eight black players in his Tri-Nations squad.
“Sacrificing one’s principles is tormenting enough but betraying the trust of a nation hoping for change is another thing altogether.”
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It is this web site’s opinion that Peter De Villiers has done nothing wrong and that the criticism levelled against him by this faction is loathsome and unfair and we stand by him without reserve on this issue. How’s that for a strong Statement !
59@grootblousmile –
siesa!!
engels
en
afrikaans!!
jy drink weer vroeg nê?
61@Ashley – Ek drink vandag net hoesmedisyne…. hehehe
Sal net eers met my agent uitklaar of ek my foto hier mag plaas.
@Stan – Do you want to be nutless like your dog, a big man falls just the same as a small man when kicked in the goons
🙂
@Treehugger – 64
Ouch! Is there a hidden message, or warning in there? 🙂
59@grootblousmile –
Dis n goeie idee. Dit kan die sekuriteit ook verbeter. n Ou wat nie sy gesig wil wys nie het iets om weg te steek of hy is vrek lelik soos Andrew Walker..hehe
Hey up here in the Bosveld we dont do that.
It is down in the Cape and Natal where they use the dogs as live bait.
We do however use live illegal immigrants for crocdile hunting, but never dogs!
@Treehugger –
63@K9-MonsterLeeu – met jou paroolbeampte ook, asseblief.
Lol me to. Think mine of of old age thou. This blogging on a phone is so convieneant. Can do it on the go .
68@grootblousmile –
lol
@Ashley – Ashley…jy hoe nou nie vir ALLES te lag wat die webmonster sê nie 🙂
Party Politics of te not – EK STEM NOG STEEDS VIR DIE BLOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Reg ek het myself nou siek gehuil na saterdag nou is ek weer terug dag mense, en GO WP!!!!!!!!
72@bluepete – Dissie Party Politics nie, dis in Landsbelang !!
Blou….. dis so pragtine kleur…
@Pietman –
I have long supported the appointment of a national director of rugby.
Problem or resistance you will have with this however is you take power away from unions and they do not like this…
#51 GBS
I have noted your position and accept it as the official line of this site.
I agree 100% with the sentiments you express, GBS. It should be possible to differ with somebody and still respect them in the morning, hehe! Sadly, and based on the evidence of blogsites throughout the world, that seldom occurs.
It would be absolutely great if this site proves to be the exception to the rule.
Furthermore, determining when an individual has exceeded the new guidelines will require either a mindset sympathetic towards the blogger or alternatively objectivity akin to the wisdom of Solomon. I’m money and my hope is on the latter i.e. Solomon….
Lastly, I appreciate the efforts that you have made to establish such a wonderful rugbysite. The fact that you have done this out of your love of the game and with no financial reward in mind, places I believe, a responsibility on all bloggers here to reward you with emotional maturity when dealing with sensitive issues.
Groente
@fender –
Great post,I fully agree.
I guess it was only a matter of time before the TARC raised it’s head here on Rugby-Talk.
I have had the pleasure of Dr Bhorat’s company on a number of occasions, and whilst I believe that the TARC’s ultimate objective may be good, I question the methodology being used.
Our “coloured” club considers the word “transformation” to be something of a swear word, and would rather see Rugby Development taking place at grass roots levels across a far broarder spectrum than it currently does.
I am on record as saying various times that post 1995, SARFU were handed a golden opportunity to develop the game of Rugby as never before.
Imagine if straight after that WC victory meaningful development had taken place.
Today there would be absolutely 100’s if not 1000’s of “previously disadvantaged” players, coaches, referees and administrators more than adequately qualified to fulfil roles at ALL levels of Rugby football.
Suffice is to say that that opportunity was not fully grasped, and the development did not happen as it should have.
However, lighning actually struck twice, and after the WC victory of 2007, SARU had another (smaller) opportunity do start the development thing.
Sadly, for the most part this has not happened again.
Taken in this context, it then becomes obvious why organisations like TARC flourish and grow, and why people who would otherwise not have the time to listen to them actually feed them with ammunition to shoot at people like the current Springbok coach.
I personally don’t know all the answers to the long term development of the game of Rugby, but those of you who have access to the figures will know full well that the sport is actually regressing worldwide.
Those of us that actually believe that the sport is alive, well and growing would do well to actually investigate the true styate of affairs.
Here endeth the lesson.
Meeting all. Later.
@Scrumdown –
A start and simple and logical solution would be for people to bring sport, structures and equipment back to schools and in fact, make sport and sport’s participation compulsory as was the case in my days in schools.
Sport is simply not practiced in a school environment anymore – where do you think we are going to find the next generation superstars if this is the case? How else will kids be introduced to sport?
Unless of course you are lucky enought to go to one of the traditional rugby schools in SA.
76@fender – I might not have the wisdom of Solomon, but I was raised by the wisest man I ever knew….
So, I will strive for true objectivity, you can be assured of that.
All bloggers will be treated equally, my friends included…
It has been said, elsewhere, that we are an Exclusive site (excluding some) and that we have a Laager Mentality and belong in Orania…
Far from it, we are as Inclusive as they come…. with one important proviso though…. we’ll stand no nonsense, no Trolling !
@grootblousmile – OK
@Stan – @Stan – Am back Stan and on the notebook now so tell me where they are useing dogs as livebait as i rise out of the water like the women in Camelot with my old speargun in hand in pot them.
As people as bait i have no problem with that, as long its nasties
And kick in the goons, well thats just universal 😆
@Morné – @Scrumdown –
There we go boys, nice posts and very insightful.
Exactly why I welcomed this discussion earlier when Tripples posted the article.
So we can view all angles of the issue….
80@Morn̩ РMorne, I agree wholeheartedly about sport in schools, but we must all understand that this phenomenon is not unique to SA.
My daughter is taught by a former England U16 coach and manager who now lives in this part of the world. He says that the problem is far worse in England / UK than it is in other major Rugby playing countries.
The difference in UK is that Rugby is seen as a health and safety risk. This in itself is IMO a fallacy. I’ve always contested that if the sport is coached CORRECTLY, and referreed to the rules CORRECTLY, then disabling injuries should be almost non-existent.
However, the secret to success is not for me to pursuade people like bloggers on this site of that fact, it’s to pursuade the mother of the 12 year old kids that sees and reads only the horror stories.
I just think that the MAJOR Rugby nations, and for that matter the IRB are not doing enough to promote and develop the game.
As an example go and have a look at the Confederation of African Rugby (CAR) website, when I last checked (about a month ago) it hadn’t been updated for nearly a year and a half. Unacceptable.
@Pietman – Hi Pietman, I see on News 24 Carl Lewis has slammed our sporting body on the Semenya debacle saying they didnt handle it well.
Go check on Facebook, there is a group opposed to it.
@Treehugger –
@Stan – Wouldnt know how to do the whole Facebook thing.
Scrumdown, I see you reckon you are a wise man.
Two questions:
1) Did you ever read the Strategic Plan of the Bulls? It is on their website.
2) If you did read it, did you fully grasped it?
@Scrumdown –
Where England’s problem sort of sorts itself out too however is rugby is mainly run and administered through a club system that is not found in SA – here we rely on schools (or did).
There are a couple of things I would have loved to see implemented by SA Rugby (locally) and the IRB worldwide or in (rugby) developing countries (the 2nd and 3rd tier rugby nations).
Firstly I would like to see a focus to skills coaching which would also eliviate fears of safety in rugby where a 10 or 12-man version of the game is introduced. Still tackling (not tag rugby) but less emphasis on scrums and mauls.
I believe our kids are number 1 not effectively coached in the most basic of skills in rugby and also ‘picked’ depending on their physical profile at a young age before they reach puberty and maturity – this gives them a false sense of security in the game at a young age.
I would like to see this happen to age 14 at least (going to high school) but if it was up to me or personal choice, until they reach age 16.
Here they start playing the 15-man code as we know it, but with the junior laws as applies currently.
At this age kids are not only all versed in the basic skills of the game regardless of position specific selection that force this out of our coaching of them currently, but their physical profile is also more developed and they can start specialising in positions.
Secondly, apart from our traditional rugby school who are going great guns with proper structures and coaching in place, I would like to see an initiative for local clubs operating and facilitating age-group level rugby rather than schools who do not have the infrastructure or resources to do this effectively.
This will apply more or less to the current government school system where rugby is no longer practiced at school but a local club close by – still recognised by the school as an official extra curricular activity from which they earn credits if they compete but handled by more able professionals at clubs with the correct resources.
It would mean that 2 or 3 schools could join a ‘club’ under the club’s umbrella and colours competing against other club age group teams and also school teams still administered and managed by schools (the traditional rugby schools).
Just imagine what this could do for club rugby? Games from 10 in the morning at a club, making it the old family day thing again ending in the senior first 15 completing the day’s proceedings.
There are too many benefits to go into detail now about this but at least we would have a more measured way of not only ensuring we teach or coach our kids basic rugby skills at an early age with no fear of serious injury but also an introduction to a well managed, properly coached and administered environment from age 16 and up where they are simply managed through those structures to senior rugby and hopefully union representation for the cream.
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