Time to leave the Boks alone

Back in the day when South Africa was white, had no crime and black people were meant to know their place, the Springboks were the national sportsmen and sportswomen who had the honour of representing the sporting aspirations of the nation. The springbok (a type of an antelope) was the emblem and a symbol under which the athletes representing the then Republic of South Africa competed against other nations. But for a few exceptions all the sportsmen and sportswomen who earned the honour of wearing the springbok colours and being Springboks were largely white and it was allright.

It did not matter what sporting code or discipline it was, those who represented the white republic wore only one colour and had one emblem, the springbok emblem. There were no proteas, no bafana-bafana, just springboks.

Then the Republic of South Africa became the new South Africa and with that came the protea as a national symbol. I am not sure how it all came about or how it was negotiated but, there were all sorts of noises and discontentment at the prospect of the national rugby team having to give up their past and their springbok emblem. This is the very team that is supposed to represent the sporting aspirations of all South Africans. That too, is allright.

Apparently more negotiations ensued and culminated in the government of Nelson Mandela allowing rugby to remain as springboks, how can any South African ever forget jersey No.6? Initially I thought the compromise was for a time being and with the passage of time all sporting codes will represent the new South Africa under one new emblem. That, however was not to be. The rugby players remain springboks, largely white and all is right.

It could be said that I am singling out rugby and turning sport into a whole race issue and so on and so forth. To that I say guilty as charged. I plead guilty even though such arguments are nothing but dishonest and self-serving. I plead guilty because all the goings on about rugby and other sports codes, including the olympic team are just tiring.

Every so often some politician makes equally self-serving statements about transformation of our sport and about some claptrap about creating equal opportunities for all in sport. In the meantime our olympic team is largely white and it's allright.

If I am understood to be saying that we should replace the whites players with black players; allow me please to state categorically that I wish for all such protestations to cease. Let the Bokke be. It is allright. The leadership of both the Bokke and of the country are happy with the things just the way they are. Any statement to the contrary is nothing but an insult to the good people of this country.

This of course goes for sport generally. It serves no purpose to second-guess the coach on his selection of the team. Leave the Bokke alone. The coach was not hired by the nation and does not answer to parliament. Leave the Bokke alone. His performance contract has nothing to do with the number of Black players on the field at any given match. Leave the Bokke alone.

Similarly, I wish Bokke would stop talking about transformation and just do what they want to do. I wish they would stop talking about competence as if it has colour, as if it is white. I really wish the Bokke could be left alone to do what they love to do - beating the All Blacks; because when they do everyone forgets about the emblems and transformation - suddenly everything is allright.

In the meantime, I'm off to go watch my son play scrum-half for the under 12 C's, praying that he never becomes a Springbok.