KZN rugby club in K-word scandal

during the South African Rugby team's training camp at Cape Town Stadium, Cape Town on 1 June 2015 ©Ryan Wilkisky/BackpagePix

during the South African Rugby team's training camp at Cape Town Stadium, Cape Town on 1 June 2015 ©Ryan Wilkisky/BackpagePix

Published Sep 3, 2015

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Durban - Claims of racism have rocked KwaZulu-Natal club rugby after two players and a coach from three different clubs were apparently called the K-word in league and cup matches.

The insults were allegedly hurled by players from the well-supported Durban Collegians club.

Two players, one from eManzimtoti Rugby Club and another from Varsity College, say they were called the K-word while a “coloured” assistant coach at College Rovers was allegedly called a “half-K” during matches.

Official complaints have been laid with the KwaZulu-Natal Rugby Union (KZNRU).

The first incident occurred in May during a Moor Cup match between Varsity College and Durban Collegians when the hooker from Varsity College was allegedly insulted.

The other two incidents occurred last month during a quarter-final Murray Cup match – between a Collegians player and one from eManzimtoti Rugby Club – and the more recent incident was during a Murray Cup semi-final – again from a Collegians player directed at the College Rovers’ assistant coach.

The KZNRU said investigations and hearings into the allegations had been launched.

Graham MacKenzie, president of KZNRU, said hearings had been instituted for the last two incidents. A decision on the allegations would be made by next Monday.

He said the first incident had been resolved by the two clubs and the complaint that had been laid was withdrawn.

A hearing into the incident involving a Collegians player and an eManzimtoti player was held last Monday. A hearing on the incident involving the coloured assistant coach and the Collegians player was to take place this week.

The assistant coach did not want to speak to the Daily News until after the hearing.

The incidents have caused an uproar in KZN club rugby, with players and coaches calling on the union to ban the perpetrators from rugby and impose heavy sanctions on Durban Collegians.

“This is not the whole of KZN rugby that is behaving this way,” a senior coach, who did not want to be identified, said.

“This is one club which is bringing the entire game into disrepute. They have been doing this for years and I am so glad it has been made known three times this year so that officials and the public can see.”

Seen

Derek Heiberg, a senior coach at Jonsson College Rovers, said while he had heard about the incident that involved the coach, he had not seen it.

“Our incident was not the first time this has happened and it has happened before with this club. I was at Collegians for two years and while I was there, no incidents like this ever occurred,” he said.

A coach who is aware of the incident between a Varsity College player and a Collegians player in May said the best outcome was to resolve it outside of the KZN Rugby Union.

“It was a hell of a dirty and emotional game. The players of colour claimed there were racial slurs thrown at them all through the game. Clearly on the DVD you could see the punches thrown, the finger gestures, but of course you cannot hear it.

“After the game the Varsity hooker, who is a player of colour, immediately went and punched the main instigator at Collegians in the face. I don’t blame the hooker for throwing the punch at the Collegians player, but unfortunately what that meant was it opened the way for the Collegians player to open a case against him.

“The two attorneys came to an agreement and there were apologies made. Both the young men would have had negative outcomes, especially the Varsity hooker who is a final-year student and did not want to have a police record when he goes into the job market,” the coach said.

The coach said banter was a part of every sport, but Collegians had “taken it to another level”.

“There has always been banter in all sports, where players try to get into their opponents’ heads, which is acceptable. But these guys went for the jugular and brought race into it, which infuriates people.

“They have got away with it for quite some time now. However, I must say that this is not the whole club, but one individual who is the main instigator and that has rubbed off on other players at the club,” he said.

Malcolm Kennedy, secretary at Varsity College, confirmed they reported the incident to the KZNRU when it occurred, but said the fact that their player had assaulted the Collegians player made it “difficult”.

“We did not want the player to have criminal charges laid against him. So our player and their player agreed to withdraw criminal charges against each other. I can’t really comment as this was an agreement.

“(However) a complaint was lodged with the union and they proceeded with a disciplinary, but in terms of our agreement, the player from Collegians withdrew his criminal charges and our player withdrew his complaint with the union. So the union couldn’t do anything (without an official complaint),” he said.

MacKenzie said there was little they could do if officials did not lay complaints with the union.

“We must remember that these allegations are not against the club. It is against an individual or individuals in that club. There has never been an allegation against the club.

“It will be very inaccurate to paint this as a club being racist. There is an element or something that is consistently in the limelight.

“All these issues need to be handled professionally. There is a code of conduct we have as a union and we take allegations like this

extremely seriously. I am happy to say that we will act very strongly against anybody who is found guilty,” Mackenzie said.

He said the KZNRU had the most progressive rugby constitution in the country and would not tolerate racism.

“Are incidents like this going to happen in society? Yes, every day we hear about incidents like unfair dismissal or whatever. I am not making excuses and we take things like this very seriously and that is why we institute hearings as soon as possible when we receive complaints. Even if there is not an official complaint we will investigate something if we feel there is ground to take it further.

“If people resolve these things among themselves and say it is in the heat of the moment, we will still send them warnings and remind them of our constitution,” he said.

When contacted for comment on Monday, Ian Losinsky, chairman of Durban Collegians, asked that the Daily News e-mail questions to him. However, he did not respond to the questions and did not return calls from the Daily News.

Daily News

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