IT'S NOT CRICKET
Jewish Board of Deputies calls for Teeger’s reinstatement, accuses Cricket SA of antisemitism
The South African Jewish Board of Deputies has called on the International Cricket Council to force Cricket South Africa to reinstate David Teeger as SA under-19 captain.
The David Teeger saga took a new twist on Tuesday with a prominent Jewish organisation comparing the actions of Cricket South Africa (CSA) to those of Nazis at the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games, and accusing the cricketing body of being “antisemitic”.
Teeger was stripped of his captaincy of the South Africa under-19 team on 12 January due to security concerns, according to CSA. These concerns apparently relate to comments Teeger made last year, expressing support for Israeli soldiers in the ongoing war in Gaza.
CSA established an independent investigation into Teeger’s comments and appointed advocate Wim Trengove to investigate a complaint made by the Palestinian Solidarity Alliance.
Trengove’s final determination cleared Teeger of any breaches of the Constitution and of CSA and the Gauteng Lions’ codes of conduct.
CSA issued a statement at the time accepting the outcome and confirming Teeger as SA under-19 captain for the World Cup on home soil, which starts on 19 January.
David Teeger of South Africa. (Photo: Sydney Seshibedi / Gallo Images)
Sacked
But in an astonishing turn of events, CSA stripped Teeger of the captaincy at the 11th hour, using vague claims of security concerns as the basis for the decision.
It appears to be nothing short of political interference to relieve Teeger of the captaincy.
On Tuesday, a meeting between the South African Jewish Board of Deputies (SAJBD) and CSA, called by the cricketing body, broke down.
CSA could not offer any proof of these alleged security concerns, which corroborates several media reports, including in Daily Maverick, showing them to be questionable.
“We were called into this meeting where Cricket South Africa were given an opportunity to explain to us why, in fact, this was not an antisemitic incident, but why there were other reasons for David being stripped of his captaincy,” SAJBD national chairperson Karen Milner told a media briefing.
“Having come out of this meeting, having heard the responses… there was nothing that Cricket SA was able to present that was in the least bit convincing that there is a security threat.
“We requested the security report. They informed us it wasn’t a report, it was a security briefing.
“When we made the point that it’s fairly obvious that there is no benefit to him to remain on the field but stripped of his captaincy — and on top of that, he would like to remain in his captaincy — they shifted the argument.
“They moved from arguing that this was about David’s safety to a broad-based argument that this is in fact about the safety of everybody else and of the people who were coming to [spectate].
“Every single time we challenged them on the safety issue, they shifted the goalposts, and that is why we understand this as deeply, deeply antisemitic.
“What they have done is found an excuse to exclude a young Jewish cricketer to strip him of his honours in the most hurtful and humiliating way, days before the start of the tournament.”
Daily Maverick approached CSA chairperson Lawson Naidoo to give his account of the meeting, but he declined to comment.
However, Naidoo spoke to News24: “A few weeks ago, we were being called Zionist sympathisers and now we’re being called antisemitic.
“That demonstrates the impartiality in terms of the decisions we’ve taken in the interests of the game and not trying to satisfy political positions,” said Naidoo.
David Teeger and Dewan Marais of South Africa during the ICC U19 Men’s World Cup 2024, warm up match against Afghanistan at Braam Fischer Oval, Johannesburg on 16 January, 2024. (Photo: Sydney Seshibedi / Gallo Images)
Under pressure
CSA are under severe pressure for their ham-fisted, and frankly, spineless handling of the matter. It’s not the first time the leadership of the organisation has been found lacking.
In this case, they initially dithered over whether to sack Teeger when his comments, made at a Jewish Achievers’ ceremony, came to light.
It could also have been used as an important moment of teaching and learning for Teeger and CSA, if everyone had got together in a room and thrashed it out.
Having said that, although Teeger made his comments at a Jewish forum to a Jewish audience, as captain of a national team, he should have been more sensitive to the impact of his words on a broader cross-section of the country he represents.
“They [CSA] told us directly that they tried to get David to step down voluntarily because they said it would be hard for him… he refused and that’s when they stripped him [of the captaincy],” SAJBD president Zev Krengel said.
“It sounds like they put pressure on him before — this is according to chairman [Lawson] Naidoo — to get him to step down voluntarily to try to save face.
“We believe it’s total political interference — we believe Cricket SA chose the easiest route by just kicking out the Jewish captain for views they thought might bring a few protests to the games.
“We made it very clear that we won’t rest. We found this to be pure antisemitism. This smells of what happened in 1936 in the Nazi Olympics where two American athletes were pulled out of the 100m sprint relay at the 11th hour because they didn’t want to upset the [German hosts]… and the American athletes’ team pulled out their two Jewish [sprinters].”
On the basis of a report no one has ever seen, based on intelligence of threats no one understands, Teeger was stripped of the captaincy but retained in the team.
“There is something very suspicious that he was named captain; Cricket SA meets with the sports minister, and the next day he is asked to step down — which he refuses to do — and is stripped of [the captaincy],” Krengel said.
“There is a pattern throughout the world of this massive explosion of antisemitism and now we’re seeing that explosion of antisemitism seeping into our sports fields.
“If the international, independent sports bodies are not going to put a stop to this, we are literally going to see in sport, with racism, where it exploded and they had to put so much time and effort to try to stop it, which they still do.
“At this time now, it’s up to the International Cricket Council to make sure that David is reinstated as captain… that he can play.
“David still wants to play and help his team, despite being humiliated by CSA for bogus and disgusting reasons. He will play in the opening game if he is selected.” DM
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Craig Ray and Keanan Hemmonsbey, you need to check your facts properly, those pictures were taken at the Tri Nation tournament Held at Old Edwardian Club in Houghton not in Braamfischerville, Poor Journalism!
Speed reading Early in the morning , please accept my apologies
Surely organisations such as CSA cannot themselves be antisemitic but their Chairman and CEO, as individuals, of course, and, the Minister of Sport under direction, if not instruction of the ANC President.
In his personal capacity Teeger has a right to freedom of conscience.
As member, tiresome as captain, of a national representative team his freedom is limited.
He is not being stripped of the captaincy for his views but because his views are at odds with the official position of the government and possibly international law, humanitarian rights law, human rights law, covenants and conventions.
He can hold on to his views but he might not do so as a captain. Being a member of the team might even be problematic.
Anti-Semitism is not the issue. Naive politics is the problem.
He should be advised better. Many young sportsperson make similar mistakes. The rest us us misspeak away from the limelight.
Teach him. Do not cultivate bigotry.
Unless we recognise the common and equal humanity of Israeli Jews and Palestinian Arabs we fail our own test for being human.
More nonsense from you. He didn’t express his views, but a dedication to young soldiers. Hardly constituted a view. Against international law? Do us a favour..
Captaincy is not a right it’s priviliege
This is not surprising. The ANC are completely antisemitic, and being paid by Iran to do what they love the best, Jew bashing
Pure antisemitism.
OOPs please delete my previous post
-Lawson Naidoo is certainly making every use of the moment. True anti-semitism. LN is a deployed ANC/EFF cader. They are using this to get focus away from the failed state situation of South Africa. Make use of the Middle East crisis, then SA will excuse the potholes , sewage, dirty of lack of water, Eskom failure and blackouts, children not being able to read or do sums even after schooling, pitlatrines, people dying of hunger, murder , rape, corruption, police incompetence, Phala Phala, NPA failures………………..and , and , and
Brave young man who is being treated appallingly. Cowardly hypocrites.
Its shameful treatment of a young cricketer and I hope it will not affect his future in the sport. Politics has no place in any sport
You can’t expect individuals who are little better than talking animals to act in a civilised and sophisticated way. South African cricket was ruined long ago by the machinations of CSA so it comes as no surprise that it is yet again displaying behaviour that is partisan and irrational. CSA cares more about “transformation” and “decolonisation” which are mere synonyms for anti-white racism and corruption, than it does about cricket.
Just want to ask whom exactly are this Jewish Board of Deputies. Not familiar with Jewish political institutions
that also what i have been trying to figure out . Do they represent all Jews ? Are they a political , cultural or religious body ? . Same with the Chief Rabbi of SA ,does he represent all strands of Judaism and all Rabbi’s in SA . How is the leadership chosen for both bodies ?
Probably the same as many, many other civil society/community organisations across the world – cultural, religious, self-identification, etc.; i.e. they represent some, not all, of the categories in their institutional titles.
“who is” rather than “whom are”. That aside, access any search engine, and look up “South African Jewish Board of Deputies”.
Any other inane questions?
If CSA are anti-semitic, then why was Teeger picked for a tour of Bangladesh, why did he play in every international match on that tour, and why did he captain South Africa in three of them? Whatever you think about CSA, they are not anti-semitic, and Teeger’s removal from the captaincy (which he shared in Bangladesh) is attributable to some other factor.
Have his team mates been shut down? Why don’t they rally support for his position. Also, international teams should boycott the event.
M.R. Craayenstein is correct. Are Krengel and the reporters suggesting that the U19 team should be opened to a messy public debate if others in the team have a different view of the issue? And would they support the “freedom of speech” of a pro-Palestinian team member. And, of course, the same would apply to the senior national teams (men and women),. And every provincial team too. Really, people should think before they speak. Mr Teeger has learned that. Others should too
Like all entities who are ANC stooges CSA will do the governments bidding. Just look at who the board members are. South Africa just loves to get into bed with the despots of the world. Boycott Israel and South African Jews but welcome the psychopaths of Russia, Iran ECT. The ANC hate Israel for defending themselves against Islamic baby killers yet send our troops to fight Islamic terrorists in Mozambique. Hippocrates leading our country further on the road to a third world commie style governance.
Lets not even go the route of who is paying for the Hamas terrorist organizations stay in South Africa.