Cape Town – Cricket and politics in South Africa.
Entities so interlinked, they may as well be roti and curry. The one just doesn’t go without the other.
From the moment Prime Minister BJ Vorster made it clear that Basil D’Oliveira’s inclusion in the England tour party to South Africa in 1968 was not acceptable, there was no turning back.
Many would argue the “relationship” had actually started long before “Dolly’s” seminal moment, though.
It is with this mindset that I have been a fascinated observer of the Graeme Pollock race-comment saga.
Pollock’s comments were unquestionably wrong. To suggest the Proteas “don’t put the 11 best players on the field”, and that “we’ve got to accept that South Africa are going to be middle of the road in their future Test cricket” was simply foolish.
South Africa’s cricket team – or the all-white Springboks – were “a middle of the road” team for the majority of their tenure prior to isolation being imposed in 1970. That’s a fact!
Unfortunately, the majority of the anti-transformation lobbyists of today are “Generation X-ers”, who still hang on to rose-tinted memories of a tall and elegant Pollock carving up the English at Trent Bridge and Bob Simpson’s Australians at home.
This ideology was only further infused while cheering on the slaying of second-rate rebel teams on South African fields while teargas and rubber bullets were raining down on demonstrators outside the stadiums.
It was only in this current era, where players of all races could represent South Africa, that the Proteas – not the Springboks – could go on to win a Test series in Australia. Three consecutive times, nogal!
Despite all of these facts, I don’t think Pollock is a racist. And, yes I do accept his apology, however badly it was conveyed.
Graeme Pollock rings the bell during the Lord's Test. Photo: www.lords.org
In all my time of interviewing him, there hasn’t ever been a nasty or condescending feeling emanating from the legendary left-hander – unlike some of his contemporaries who played alongside him.
Equally, though, I fully understand former Proteas batsman and current Cape Cobras coach Ashwell Prince’s need to voice his frustrations in relation to Pollock’s comments over the past weekend.
Prince has been at the coalface of transformation in South African cricket for the past 20 years. “Transformation has been a topic from as long as I can remember,” he said last week.
In 2006, though, prior to playing a series against Australia, he too was quoted in the media: “The quota or ‘target’ system is wrong for one simple reason – it messes with the minds of both white and black players.”
Prince endured a heavy backlash from his “own people” for “not understanding the sacrifices of the many who fought to get him there”.
However, with the benefit of hindsight, it is clear Prince – who has always been a proud individual and highly competitive – was simply a young cricketer trying to find his way in the tough world of international cricket without having to justify his selection through anything else but performance.
Having been through the system now, it is abundantly clear to Prince that even after he played 66 Tests and averaged 41, and the Proteas have boasted players with the pedigree of Hashim Amla, Makhaya Ntini, Vernon Philander and Kagiso Rabada, there remains “white coaches and captains (who) seemed to prefer to stick to ‘what they know’; in other words, their own kind, because that is what they feel they can trust”, which is why “people who were disadvantaged under the previous political regime simply have to be given opportunities which in the past were reserved for a privileged minority”.
Ashwell Prince in action for the Proteas against Australia. Photo: Etienne Rothbart
I have stated in many comment pieces before that true transformation only comes to pass when people have transformed their “hearts and minds”, like Prince also alluded to, and that can only occur once an understanding and appreciation is formed of how “the other side lives”.
I remember vividly when former Springbok, Proteas and Western Province all-rounder Adrian Kuiper joined local club side Primrose in 1990.
“Kuiper swaps leafy Newlands for Rosmead” exclaimed the Argus headlines. For all its possible politicking motivations, it nevertheless had a huge impact on everyone at the club, particularly juniors like myself who hero-worshipped the “Wee-Pee captain”.
More significantly, it had a bigger impact on the Elgin farmer himself.
During his stay with the storied Kenilworth-based club, Kuiper personally came to understand the socio-economic difficulties black players faced on a daily basis to just attend training, let alone everything else required to pursue the dream of becoming a professional cricketer.
Maybe the time has passed for Pollock to spend time coaching at Lenasia CC, Soweto CC or Gelvandale CC in his home town of Port Elizabeth.
But maybe he should pay a visit to anyone of those fields – or even his very own beloved Grey High School – on a Saturday morning to see the young black talent on display, and understand that transformation has actually expanded South Africa’s talent base, and not in fact reduced it.