SA rugby can now stand up and take a big bow
2008-01-17
TAKE a bow, South African rugby and all the non-racial campaigners who refused to scrum with apartheid rugby in the past. The appointment of Peter de Villiers, as the Amabokkebokke coach, will spell new hope for sports transformation in a country in which only the privileged class had benefited from the sports economy. This breakthrough will not go down well with all the die-hard and rabid rugby fans, but sometimes we have to swallow a bitter pill to enjoy the sweetness of the future when we can be truly proud of the sports ambassadors who fly our chequered flag. Let’s dispel what Adam Small once said: “The new South Africa is all about black and white.” Also, at this defining moment of rugby history, lets salute our compatriot Peter Hain, now a British MP and Minister, who coined the famous anti-apartheid battle cry, “Don’t Scrum with a Racist Bum” that triggered the Springboks’s demise from world rugby in the 1970s, and many other campaign leaders, Hassan Howa, Frank van der Horst, MN Pather, Morgan Naidoo, Norman Middleton, RD Naidu, and now Sports and Recreation Minister Arnold Stofile. De Villiers will find himself in the rough and up against politicking and a tough media, but he must stay the course, and focus on what he is good at – motivating, mentoring, inspiring and coaching our future rugby stars from the poor socio-economic belts from Langa, Soweto to Wellington. Let the colours of our flag speak for itself. Marlan Padayachee Westville
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