As with most debates about transformation, Sports Minister Fikile Mbalula’s decision to revoke the privileges of four sporting federations to host international events for failure to meet agreed transformation targets has divided the country, mostly along racial lines.
On the one side are those who vociferously argue that the “government should stay out of sports” and how “merit” should be the only determinant of who is selected to the national teams.
On the other hand are those who maintain professional sports bodies and national selectors have not done enough to give black players a fair chance to prove themselves on the sports field.
It also came as no wonder that the affected federations included Athletics South Africa (ASA), Cricket South Africa (CSA), Netball South Africa (NSA) and the South African Rugby (Saru).
The reality is that our major sporting federations have merely paid lip service to the need for our teams to transform while they have continued to treat transformation as a catchphrase to utter whenever the need to appear politically correct arises.
Those who resist transformation use the hackneyed excuse that there are not enough black players to make the national team or even the provincial teams. This is nonsense and the various reports produced by these very professional bodies prove this.
This grouping has sought to effectively equate black participation in rugby and cricket, particularly, as dumbing down of standards. Nothing could be further from the truth. Just watch the Craven Week teams in action to see how transformed those teams are. Even Saru’s own strategic transformation plan of 2015 showed the majority of rugby players, at school and club level, were black and that 84% of South Africa’s under-18s teams were made up of black children.
This has been the case for the past few years – where black players are fairly represented at the lower levels but this trend is reversed at the professional level.
One would be foolish to think that the inherent talent of those players suddenly evaporates when they are in line to turn professional. While the grassroots is transformed, it is the gatekeeping at the professional level that has killed many promising careers. Everyone agrees that transformation should not begin at the national level, but should start at the lower level.
But there is no shortage of talent in this country from which fully representative national teams can be picked.
And to prove the hollowness of the “grassroots debate” Dale College, which is largely made up of black players, remains one of the top rugby playing schools in the country. I can bet my last dime that only one or two of those young players will make it to the professional leagues.
Mbalula may be given to theatrics and grandstanding but this is not about him. Let us put him aside for a moment. It is rather about the future of sport in this country.
In this instance, the very same federations are the ones who, last year, signed the memorandum of agreement to transform our teams, but they have failed to live up to their promises.
It is equally disingenuous to seek to drag the national soccer team into the transformation debate – with some claiming that the Bafana team was untransformed.
This argument is devoid of any logic as a cursory glance of the previous Bafana squads will show how well Bafana has fared in the transformation stakes.
If you don’t believe me then the statistics are there to prove it. The Afcon winning Bafana team was led by Neil Tovey, with Clive Barker as coach.
That was in 1996, a mere two years after democracy. No so long ago, Dean Furman wore the captain’s arm band representing his country.
In fact Bafana has – since readmission to international sports in 1992 – had more white players than the Springboks have had black African players. The same goes for the Proteas.
Black players are not asking for favours but rather a fair opportunity to play.
All players should get a fair chance to showcase their talents.
Black players aren't asking for favours but rather a fair opportunity to prove themselves
On the one side are those who vociferously argue that the “government should stay out of sports” and how “merit” should be the only determinant of who is selected to the national teams.
On the other hand are those who maintain professional sports bodies and national selectors have not done enough to give black players a fair chance to prove themselves on the sports field.
It also came as no wonder that the affected federations included Athletics South Africa (ASA), Cricket South Africa (CSA), Netball South Africa (NSA) and the South African Rugby (Saru).
The reality is that our major sporting federations have merely paid lip service to the need for our teams to transform while they have continued to treat transformation as a catchphrase to utter whenever the need to appear politically correct arises.
Those who resist transformation use the hackneyed excuse that there are not enough black players to make the national team or even the provincial teams. This is nonsense and the various reports produced by these very professional bodies prove this.
This grouping has sought to effectively equate black participation in rugby and cricket, particularly, as dumbing down of standards. Nothing could be further from the truth. Just watch the Craven Week teams in action to see how transformed those teams are. Even Saru’s own strategic transformation plan of 2015 showed the majority of rugby players, at school and club level, were black and that 84% of South Africa’s under-18s teams were made up of black children.
This has been the case for the past few years – where black players are fairly represented at the lower levels but this trend is reversed at the professional level.
One would be foolish to think that the inherent talent of those players suddenly evaporates when they are in line to turn professional. While the grassroots is transformed, it is the gatekeeping at the professional level that has killed many promising careers. Everyone agrees that transformation should not begin at the national level, but should start at the lower level.
But there is no shortage of talent in this country from which fully representative national teams can be picked.
And to prove the hollowness of the “grassroots debate” Dale College, which is largely made up of black players, remains one of the top rugby playing schools in the country. I can bet my last dime that only one or two of those young players will make it to the professional leagues.
Mbalula may be given to theatrics and grandstanding but this is not about him. Let us put him aside for a moment. It is rather about the future of sport in this country.
In this instance, the very same federations are the ones who, last year, signed the memorandum of agreement to transform our teams, but they have failed to live up to their promises.
It is equally disingenuous to seek to drag the national soccer team into the transformation debate – with some claiming that the Bafana team was untransformed.
This argument is devoid of any logic as a cursory glance of the previous Bafana squads will show how well Bafana has fared in the transformation stakes.
If you don’t believe me then the statistics are there to prove it. The Afcon winning Bafana team was led by Neil Tovey, with Clive Barker as coach.
That was in 1996, a mere two years after democracy. No so long ago, Dean Furman wore the captain’s arm band representing his country.
In fact Bafana has – since readmission to international sports in 1992 – had more white players than the Springboks have had black African players. The same goes for the Proteas.
Black players are not asking for favours but rather a fair opportunity to play.
All players should get a fair chance to showcase their talents.
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