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As World Cup squad announcement looms, Cosatu’s eyes are on Heyneke Meyer

As World Cup squad announcement looms, Cosatu’s eyes are on Heyneke Meyer

The Springbok World Cup squad announcement looms on Friday and with so much noise being made about transformation, this will probably be one of the most scrutinised selections ever. By ANTOINETTE MULLER.

Despite saying: “I know as much about the technicalities of choosing a fantastic team as Heyneke Meyer knows about labour law”, Tony Ehrenreich and the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) have set a mandate for the Rugby World Cup squad selection, with the squad due to be announced on Friday evening. That is not to undermine the point Cosatu are trying to make, but when one is fighting so hard against something, it might be wise to choose your words better.

Ehrenreich did, of course, elaborate by saying he knows that all the rugby talent in South Africa cannot be white. Yet, the bulk of South Africa’s rugby is still dominated by white players, a sign of just how spectacularly transformation has failed.

Earlier this month, Cosatu claimed five black Springboks had approached them over concerns of lack of game time, with two black Springboks throwing their weight behind the issue. Cosatu met with a group of rugby supporters and fans on Thursday to table their demands for the World Cup squad. Cosatu said they expect:

A more representative team going to the World Cup, which meets the 30% black players target;
That players of colour get game time, and not be merely ‘bag carriers’; and
Captain Jean de Villiers should not be included in the squad if he is not fit.

Ehrenreich also said Cosatu would withdraw all funding and sponsorship for the national team and protest at the games until ‘change’ occurs. Also present at the meeting was former Bok coach Peter de Villiers. De Villiers has made headlines recently with his columns for TimesLive in which has taken numerous swipes at current coach Meyer. De Villiers was also a speaker at an event earlier this week where rugby fans burned their Springbok jerseys in a protest against the South African Rugby Union (Saru).

On Wednesday night, De Villiers bemoaned the lack of transformation in South African rugby saying: “We are treated like stupids because we are black.This is the sport that has the ability to build our nation and Saru is using it to break us down. I was not good enough to be coach, but I (won the Tri-Nations and beat the Lions in 2009). That they forget so easily. I will never support another (national) team, but I cannot support our current team.”

De Villiers is particularly concerned about the fact that black players often have to compete against each other for one position.

Our black players have always been at a disadvantage and forced to face off against each other,” he said. “Whoever remains in the team is the only one who makes it. The other nine out of 10 would disappear. These boys would be bought out of school and then won’t make the team, and that would be the end.”

De Villiers added that “there were only really ever two black players” who were part of his team and they only fit in “because they changed into what SA Rugby wanted”.

Saru reportedly responded to the disgruntled supporters group by reiterating their commitment to transformation, but here is the thing: the transformation debate is nothing new. It’s been going on for 10 years and Saru and everyone else has had more than two-decades to ensure that events such as the latest fallout – largely in the face of South Africa’s embarrassing showing in the Rugby Championships – do not happen. But, as with everything relating to transformation, the issue is not quite as straight-forward. Particularly, the disconnect between schoolboy rugby and the numbers at a higher level do not add up. Players are getting lost in the system and nobody has been able to give a concrete answer as to why. If the numbers are big enough and players keep being ignored, nobody will be able to argue that a problem exists at the top level anymore.

But there is another side to the story. Many argue that when Meyer is presented with the option of choosing between a black and a white player, he has always opted for the white player. Some see this as racism, others see it as simply being one of those things.

As a white Afrikaans male, Meyer, they say, will always prefer the player cut from the same cloth as him: white and Afrikaans, especially if that white Afrikaans player weighs more than the player he is competing with. Some say this approach is fair dinkum: the coach is like the CEO of an operation and selects players he feels can get the job done.

Whatever your view, rest assured that the noise around transformation is only to get louder and the looming World Cup squad announcement will almost certainly be one of the most closely monitored selections in South Africa’s history. DM

Photo: South Africa head coach Heyneke Meyer watches his players during their ‘Captain’s Run’ training session, ahead of their Autumn Test rugby union match against Scotland, at Murrayfield Stadium in Edinburgh, Scotland November 16, 2012. REUTERS/David Moir

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