People in South Africa are so fickle when it comes to race and transformation in all walks of life like business employment and sporting teams. The crazy part is all sport fans want their teams to win without questioning the make up of the team. Those that question the racial make up of any sporting team is damaging for all sport as the opportunity to play should be based on merit. If you are good enough then you will be selected and not selected ahead of others solely based on skin color. SA sporting teams have done that in the past and had a mass exodus of players leaving to play for other national teams.
The South African Rugby team are back to back world champions and have won the Rugby Championship two years running. The success of the team is down to selecting the right players and the coaching staff spotting new talent without thinking of race. The coach Rassie Erasmus has stated raising the topic of quotas is not only highly embarrassing, but is also non inclusive which he finds insulting. Imagine being a black player questioning if you belong being good enough or are only selected as a quota player?
The problem we are seeing with this latest article where fans are questioning where the black players are is racist and yes there is a type of reverse apartheid being experienced in South Africa with black racism versus whites. When you attend a South African rugby match in South Africa the fans are from all races and they are there to support the team and they are not questioning team selections.
When we look at the racial break down of the SA rugby team which should never be bought into question yesterdays match has 6 players of color in the match day squad. The captain Siaya Kolisi is the only black player as the other 5 players of color don't qualify as being black due to having a lighter skin. How stupid and pathetic is that as this is insulting on so many levels stating people are not black enough and too white to count. Reminds me of South African Airways in the past not employing lighter skinned blacks due to not being black enough.
Those that are questioning the number of black players have obviously not been following the team because they would know that there are 4 other black players absent due to injury, suspension and rest. The success of SA rugby is more about the depth of the squad and a rotational system exists. Players cannot play week in and week out at this level for the reason it will shorten your career and due to being a contact sport injuries are bound to happen.
Last night the only black player and captain Siya Kolisi was subbed at half time becuase the team needed to make changes due to a red card so the second half of the match had no black players playing. This is a team sport and everyone plays their part and race is not a topic the team will discuss as it is not relevant because they do not see race and this is about the team winning.
South Africa is 31 years since the new government took over South Africa so every player has grown up in the new South Africa and never experienced apartheid. The opportunity is equal for all races and anything else would be deemed racist. There is nothing worse to see people who have never experienced apartheid raising the topic as though they have been blighted in their lives when they have not.
Any sport should be based on merit which may or may not reflect the country's population. No one is questioning the racial make up of the SA football team because that would just be stupid and the same way one should view any sporting team. If you are looking for something that is not there then surely that has to be a racist type of view and nothing else.
You know there is something wrong when the SA cricket team had only one black player playing earlier this week and nothing was mentioned. The SA cricket team is not performing that well and why it is not in the public eye being scrutinized.
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I don't have the words for what you are mentioning here. I agree with you 100%... Can't we just be proud of our team and the members of the team who are there because they deserve to be there, irrespective of skin colour?
And as you mentioned, it would even be harmful to the player if chosen by skin colour instead of merit.
I don't know if you can remember the drama a while back between Naas Botha and Willemse on Super Sport due to a remark that was made about "quota players". That incident told a whole story on its own...
I agree this is a destructive ignorant mindset that unfortunately is all too rampant in the current economy and why nothing works. I never saw that incident and can see how damaging this can be.
If there was ever anything where racial quotas should not play any part, it should be competitive sports. If you are good enough, you get to play, period. Imagine if this sort of quota was applied, but in reverse, to a sport heavily dominated by blacks such as the NBA?
Well that would not work with the NBA and same with football in SA. Imagine a swimming team in SA with very few blacks swimming it just does not work and should never be a thing. Merit and selection on your abilities is what counts.
It's a very fickle mindset that has been spread across sport teams and beyond. Coaches should pick based on merit and the same goes for players. I think it's only a few category of people that watch a game noticing the complexion of players. It's a red herring for the most part against just enjoying the game and the love of it.
Unbelievable how stupid this can be. So performance doesn't matter, as long as the racial break down is ok. No wonder the country is going backwards and they deserve their faith.