ARCHBISHOP Emeritus Desmond Tutu’s patience is wearing thin with the “tortoise pace” of transformation in the Springbok rugby team. It moved him to write a letter to this newspaper about his unhappiness.
Tomorrow, the Boks will field a squad with three black players in the starting line-up for the Rugby Championship game against Argentina and two on the bench. Like the Arch, we have to ask, 20 years after democracy, whether this is good enough for the two-time world champions?
The Arch is a sports fanatic and an important voice in society. He understands the role sport has played in our fledgling democracy. He raises pertinent questions and crucially says “South Africa deserves a Springbok team representative of the full spectrum of the rainbow that defines us – not on the basis of quotas or affirmative action or window dressing, but on merit and for our long-term well-being as a nation”.
Despite the euphoria of those two World Cup titles, South African rugby is still struggling to fully transform. Although there is a fairly good representation in the Currie Cup, there are simply not enough black players playing at the level of Super Rugby and Test rugby.
It is no longer good enough to say that black players must be brought through from grassroots level. There has been more than enough talent coming through the junior ranks. The onus now rests on top-level coaches to understand and commit themselves fully to transformation.
There remains a lingering perception that black players at Super Rugby and Test level are not given a fair enough shake, or are discarded too quickly.
Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer has a special responsibility to ensure that the national team is representative of the country. Has he given players like Lwazi Mvovo, Juan de Jongh and Siya Kolisi enough opportunities? Oupa Mohoje has been left out of the squad for Saturday, when he could easily have started or at least have been on the bench.
Like the Arch, all of us want to shout for a winning Springbok team. But it must be a team of the people that reflects all the colours of Tutu’s “Rainbow Nation”.