a tribute to the last ever springbok team

[Owen]

Boks racial debate reignited

2007-10-18 18:22

Thirteen of the team picked to start against England at the Stade de France are white' date=' even though whites account for barely 10%t of South Africa's 48m strong population.

[/quote'] so in short, so , to play in the Springbok team(or rule the country for that matter, you must breed like a f(*(*&ing rat...

Don't be shy, Cervelo. Tell us how you really feel.

 

 

Yes we can all blame the current government for their current policy's, but this is not new to South Africa. The previous government did the same. The difference is that now the current disadvantaged have a voice unlike the previously disadvantaged. The Habanan's of this world were not allow, never mind placed on a quota system of getting a bok jersey in the previous setup. For a person of a race group who simpliy never benefit from past or present government policy, will go on supporting what ever team is picked, be it for a darts team, a swimming team, a rugby team or soccer, what ever.

 

And that makes me proud to be a South African this weekend.

 

As for Cervelo, there are plenty ships, planes and roads leading out of South Africa. Best you pick one soon. For anyone to say what you said, needs to his head read. Shame on you.

[pastapouch]

Boks racial debate reignited

2007-10-18 18:22

Yes we can all blame the current government for their current policy's' date=' but this is not new to South Africa. The previous government did the same. The difference is that now the current disadvantaged have a voice unlike the previously disadvantaged. The Habanan's of this world were not allow, never mind placed on a quota system of getting a bok jersey in the previous setup. For a person of a race group who simpliy never benefit from past or present government policy, will go on supporting what ever team is picked, be it for a darts team, a swimming team, a rugby team or soccer, what ever.

 

And that makes me proud to be a South African this weekend.

 

As for Cervelo, there are plenty ships, planes and roads leading out of South Africa. Best you pick one soon. For anyone to say what you said, needs to his head read. Shame on you.

[/quote']

What is this current disadvantaged you're talking about??? there can't be  something like that in this country - pick a planee/ship/road for yourself.

AND YA, IT WAS a bad comparison, but its a direct comparison - we're more than you so we should be more than you in sports teams. Better example. The elite riders in cycling should start at the back because there are more fun riders. Let them put the guys in who belong there, on merit. And thats why Habana is there... Paulse  unfortunately not anymore. 

cervelo2007-10-19 07:05:23

[scotty]

Lets all focus on tommorow and our victory, i have it on good authority the following people amongst other are behind the springboks 

 

Mandella

The whole of 95 squad

Aussie coach John Connoly

Legendary wing David Campese

Virtually the entire French team (surprisingly )

And all the black's, white, coloured's and indians i saw in green today.

 

[nellie]

Newbie - would you please just do us and yourself a favour and shut up. Really...you don't know us and you do not know what our racial oppinions are. (and huh?? what's with the Argus/94.7/Epic question???)

 

he means we al race in races therefor we are all racists. Its a joke.

 

Oooops! Ja, lyk my dis 'n stadige Vrydag vir di? blond

 

Newbie - i apologise for my comments and i'm sorry.

[newbie234]

Don't mention it Nellie

[knersis]

Hier kom die bokke!

knersis2007-10-19 08:03:40

[butafly]

 

But - man...black people don't play that much rugby...as easy as that

 

Thats quite a brave statement nellie...  There are a LOT of rugby clubs that have players of colour playing for them. We just dont see it because they're not represented @ national level. Dont you find it funny that a lot of the guys currently in the squad had a father who was a springbok?

 

I fully understand our governments point of view. To the masses it appears VERY much as a "whites only" club/sport.

 

Hard to explain the following. The school near to my g/f house used to be an afrikaans primary with 2 rugby fields. Last year the education department decided to amalgamate them with another school nearby' date=' and bus in kids from the nearby township to this school. My g/f grandfather who used to coach rugby approached the new governing body to offer to coach them, but was laughed at and told they prefer to play soccer. 

 

But lets take another view, how many afrikaans schools of the past, or even current  do you know that offer soccer as sport. Surely there must be some white afrikaans kid that has soccer talent, but has been denied the opportunity to exercise this. I do not see any programmes to fast track  this imbalance at junior or senior level, nor any goverment intervention. I also do not see afrikaans parents making threatening noises, but rather accept their lot.

 

[/quote']

 

 

i agree . the solution is take sport out of schools and leave it up to clubs to organise. then we will see what sport is popular. its a miracle that Bafana had two (2) whites in their team on W'day considering the bias towards rugby at school level.  

[newbie234]

My view: the need for reform in South African sport is there but it will only happen with time and cannot be fasttracked through the use of the token black guy. Breyton Paulse, Bryan Habana, Chester williams, JP Pietersen, ricky January, etc are by no means token players. They are there because they are aongst the best and hopefully in the future more such players will come along.

 

What needs to be done is that sport is to be promoted in underprivelleged communities. I would have no problem with the government if they allocated more time and funding to previously disadvantaged schools than to other schools because the aim would be to equalise the infrastructure and by so doing give everyone the equal opportunity of donning the springbok jersey. So I think the government should focus on the grassroots level and work up from there, not start from the top down.

 

Sorry for the long post but just one other thing. I think it's unfair to compare the amount of black players in rugby with the amount of white players in soccer. If one were to look at the demographics of our country -and I know doing so does not give a good indication- then it would appear that soccer is more representative. All it needs is one white guy then we have the 90/10 split everyone is talking about. with Rugby we need 12 Black guys! so the situation between the two sports is not really comparable.

[Racing Hart]

South Africa

Talent before quotas: Zille

2007-10-19 19:03

Cape Town - Instead of trying to impose racial quotas on rugby, government should be looking at ways of nurturing young black talent for the sport, Democratic Alliance leader Helen Zille said on Friday.

In her party's weekly newsletter, issued the day before SA take on England in the rugby World Cup final in Paris, she said the Springboks' prowess in the international competition confirmed what should be self-evident.

"Sporting prowess depends on allowing the best practitioners the space and opportunity to manage the affairs of the sport."

Zille said many were looking to SA's sportsmen to boost the national morale.

"However, sport will not be able to make this contribution if government insists on interfering in its management and policy. Sport in SA has always been politicised - to its detriment.

"Consequently, it was disturbing to read that Springbok coach Jake White believes that tomorrow's side will be the last to be picked on merit.

"White contended in the British Guardian [newspaper] that 'a huge unspoken motivation' among the Boks to win is that, in future, 'massive political pressure is going to be exerted to pick a Springbok side based more on colour than on merit'."

Given the African National Congress track record of interference in the affairs of national sports teams, his remarks were hardly surprising, she said.

Zille said the state needed to confine itself to a "facilitative role", one that provided real opportunities for young players to rise through the ranks.

"Instead of imposing race quotas [in rugby], government should be nurturing young black talent by creating opportunities through bursaries, talent-scouting and better training and facilities.

"If racism stills exist at any level of the sport, it must be rooted out and offenders summarily replaced."

Zille wished the Springboks the best of luck for the final, and said she was confident the team would bring the cup home.