Transform rugby at grassroots level

Cape Town 130608 Jay Stevens scores a try for Rondebosch Boys High verse Bishops First team at Bishops Photo by Michael Walker

Cape Town 130608 Jay Stevens scores a try for Rondebosch Boys High verse Bishops First team at Bishops Photo by Michael Walker

Published Aug 19, 2015

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Talk of change has focused on the Springboks, but they should merely be the final output in the transformation process, writes Evan Cupido.

Cape Town - It’s been 23 years since the unification of rugby in South Africa, but we’re still grappling with the somewhat thorny and messy issue of transformation. While a number of talented black rugby players have worn the green and gold over the past two decades, still many others have been denied the opportunity to perform at the highest level.

Unsurprisingly, the lack of transformation at national level continues to pervade our public discourse.

Although statistics released by the South African Rugby Union (Saru) in 2010 indicated that more non-white rugby players were playing rugby at school and club level as compared with their white counterparts, the high levels of representation at the lower levels have not been carried over to senior provincial and national teams.

These teams are still largely dominated by white rugby players.

In my view, transformation in South African rugby will continue to remain a challenge at senior professional level until we begin to address the issues experienced at schools and clubs.

If we wish to find out why transformation is lagging, we must begin to take a closer look at the level that connects junior and senior rugby.

This was one of the key findings of a recent study I conducted on the implementation of transformation policies in South African rugby, especially at the grass-roots level.

Focusing specifically on the Western Cape, the research tried to determine how transformation has been implemented by the Western Province Rugby Football Union (WPRFU) on and off the field in the region.

Implementation of transformation was analysed in line with the national policy on sport and recreation in South Africa.

The study showed that to advance transformation on the field one has to, first, transform the administrative structure off the field because those who run the game also play a crucial role in dictating the pace and direction at which transformation will be carried out.

Since the end of apartheid, the WPRFU has steadily transformed its administrative structure through implementation initiatives such as establishing a transformation committee as well as hosting workshops and seminars to highlight the importance of transformation.

Also, through the union’s official academy system, the Western Province Rugby Institute, it has managed to bring through a number of highly talented players of colour while providing bursary opportunities to young players.

This has led to the WPRFU having comparatively more transformed teams at junior and senior level. The latest Stormers Super Rugby squad bears testament to this as the union fielded the highest number of non-white players across all five South African teams competing in the 2015 Super Rugby competition.

Yet rugby in the Western Cape is not without its challenges. An analysis of school and club rugby in the region highlighted disparities between historically advantaged and disadvantaged areas.

This manifests itself clearly at a junior provincial level where historically advantaged schools account for the overwhelming majority of representatives in the under-18 Craven Week side.

These schools, which tend to have larger white demographics, are better resourced, financed and structured as compared to historically disadvantaged schools.

Similarly, rugby clubs situated in disadvantaged areas struggle to compete with the more illustrious and well-resourced rugby clubs in historically advantaged areas.

Rugby in the region therefore continues to be played on different playing fields.

In order to advance transformation in rugby we need to eliminate the pressing challenges at grass-roots level.

For example, this could be done by offering better coaching, playing equipment and facilities like gymnasiums to schools and rugby clubs, particularly those in disadvantaged areas that also show the potential for developing talented rugby players.

The advantage of such an initiative is twofold.

First, it will ensure that more talented non-white players remain in their community or school of origin instead of being lured away by better-resourced schools and rugby clubs.

Too often, talented non-white players are recruited in the hope of better opportunities but find themselves “making up the numbers” before eventually falling out of the system.

Second, it strengthens the social capital within disadvantaged communities by providing younger generations with positive role models to aspire towards following a similar path.

In doing so, one begins to actively address the challenges at the lowest level of the game.

Too often transformation in rugby has focused exclusively on the composition of the national team. Yet the national side should merely be the final output in the implementation process in which transformation is actively pursued long before.

As my research has shown, we need to focus more on what happens at grass-roots level as this is an area which often gets overlooked.

Ultimately, transformation in rugby remains a complex process which requires a multi-stakeholder approach in which Saru, provincial rugby unions, the Department of Education and other relevant role players must start working together to bring about change at the lowest, yet most crucial, level of the game.

This will go a long way in ensuring that our rugby teams become more representative of the demography of our country.

* Evan Cupido works at the Centre for Rural Legal Studies. This article is based on his recent Master’s degree in political science at Stellenbosch University.

** The views expressed here are not necessarily those of Independent Media.

Cape Argus

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