What shall we do with a wayward Springbok?

What shall we do with a wayward Springbok?

I always thought that pulling on the colours of your national team was supposed to be the stuff that dreams were made of – dreams of young children when they watch their heroes on television or see their photographs in the newspaper or in magazines.

So what then when a member of a national team describes how his national team colours cause him to feel nauseous, that he feels like getting sick on his national jersey?

Now I know that there is much debate in South Africa just now about the Springbok emblem and whether it should stay or go – and I myself have waded into this debate not so many days ago. But this has little to do with the Springbok…

When I watch a national sports team march out onto the field of competition, I like to feel that they are bursting with pride at the prospect of representing their country; that pulling on their national colours still brings a lump to their throat, regardless of how many times they have done it before.

So what then when Luke Watson, a Rugby World Cup winner and current member of the national rugby team, describes how the green and gold of South Africa makes him want to vomit? What then?

I cannot but help to think that sportsmen and women should be role models both on and off the field of play. That they demonstrate not only the very best that their sport has to offer in terms of talent, but also as an ambassador for their sport and their country.

Just what kind of role model is Luke Watson being?

How many other rugby players in the country would dearly love to dislodge Mr Watson from the national rugby team and pull on his jersey themselves – their chests filled with pride though unlike his?
And I cannot help but to think how many young boys have in the last few days proclaimed that they want to “puke on their [replica] rugby jerseys” that their mom or dad has bought them. I know that if I spent all that money buying a jersey that Ulricha’s young son could wear on match days, and he told me he wanted to puke on it, I would be furious! Not at him, but at this so called role model we have in the national team.

I am sorry, but I cannot bring myself to feel any sympathy for Mr Watson. I cannot trust a national team member who doesn’t really want to wear the national colours. Is he truly playing his very best when he is representing his country – or merely going through the motions?

There is currently an investigation underway as to the circumstances of his comments, and whether they were made at a private function or as part of a public address.
I don’t see that it makes a difference.

Our national teams should be full of people who want to be there, who are proud of their national colours, and who will always give 100% for their nation.

Mr Watson should be removed from the national team set up.

Perhaps he would prefer to wear the gold of the Australian Rugby team?

Springbok Emblem does unite South Africa

It is ironic that yesterday Butana Komphela, proclaimed, with a fair degree of arrogance, that he could not find one piece of empirical evidence to support the notion that the Springbok was a unifying force within South Africa.

Ironic, because today, just 24 hours later, that little emblem has unified a nation against Mr Komphela and his ideas.

Today the ANC and the Democratic Alliance – so both the governing party and the opposition, came out in support of the Springbok emblem, saying that insufficient debate had taken place to make any decisions as to its future.

Whereas yesterday Mr Komphela had said that there the discontinuation of the Springbok emblem was “not negotiable”, today he might be contemplating that he had in fact NOT negotiated with ANYONE prior to raising his voice in such an incredulous manner.

One must wonder just how a person can misjudge the mood of the country? Especially when that person is the chairman of the Sports Portfolio Committee. I have to therefore wonder what his function and responsibility actually is? To my mind, and this is a personal opinion, but he has over stepped the mark and embarked on a strictly personal agenda in this venture – and for a public servant to act in their own interests and not that of the people they are representing, must surely warrant that person being removed from their office?

The Springbok emblem has been around for more than 100 years. It was around BEFORE Mr Komphela was born, and I suspect that it will be around for a long time after he has gone…

South Africa to lose the Springbok?

Apparently the Springbok symbol does not unite South Africans, and it has to go.

This is the opinion of Sports Portfolio Committee chairman, Butana Komphela, who was speaking at the first day of the 2-day Sports Indaba in Durban. He continued, “Minister, I want you to observe the arrogance of white people on the Springbok emblem."

Now I am not sure where Mr Komphela was in 1995 and 2007 – but perhaps I can update him as to what happened…
In 1995, President Nelson Mandela wore Francois Pienaar’s No 7 rugby jersey and witnessed the South African rugby team, the Springboks, win the Rugby World Cup at their first attempt and on home soil. I was in South Africa that day and witnessed South Africans – not of colour, or creed, but as one nation, support 15 men in Green and Gold jerseys beat a team from new Zealand. Our chests filled with pride, as Francois Pienaar proclaimed afterward – “it wasn’t 50,00 South Africans supporting us, it was 43 million”.

And I wonder where Mr Komphela was last year when the Springboks once more lifted the title of “World Champion” – this time on foreign soil? I wasn’t even in the country at the time, but even I know that South Africa was alive with anticipation and electric energy in the week ahead of the Final. Not just some South Africans – ALL South Africans.

Apparently, Johan Prinsloo (Chief Executive of the South African Rugby Union) is “not authorised” to participate in the debate, and the Springbok emblem was never on the agenda to begin with.

Sadly this once again sounds like political forces and a political agenda are being pushed into the realm of sport. It appears to me that Mr Komphela has his own agenda, wanting to remove the Springbok emblem from the rugby team.

To me it is a united team that wins and performs that leads to a unified nation supporting them. Our Olympic athletes went to Beijing and returned with a single silver medal – they participated under the Protea emblem, and South Africans felt embarrassed as results were so poor.
The South African football team are called Bafana Bafana – and cannot even bribe themselves a goal at this stage. Unless they seriously find some talent, they are in severe danger of being a national embarrassment to the sport of football, and on the world’s largest stage.

And yet, the team that has done more to unite black and white South Africans and raise public morale and energy and excitement, is being black listed and called racist because they are wearing the wrong emblem on their jerseys.

Be honest with us Mr Komphela – do you want to rid yourself of the Springbok, or of Rugby?