Inclusivity not good for rugby’s future
This has been a season of renewal for the Bulls and one of the fresh faces to have really come to the fore in Super Rugby has been loose forward Marco van Staden, a man of frenetic energy, great physicality and no little skill in doing his ball-pilfering job at the rucks.
A couple of the writers who regularly cover the Bulls were fortunate enough to get to interview the 22-year-old this week and he revealed that he played no provincial schoolboy rugby. This is probably largely due to the fact that he went to Hoërskool Bekker in Magaliesburg, not one of the traditional rugby powers.
He has made it this far – now being rated as one of South Africa’s most promising young forwards – thanks to his single-minded determination to fulfil his dream of being a professional rugby player and a bursary to study sports science from the University of Pre- toria. Van Staden graduated last week and is the exception to the rule when it comes to how rugby players move through the development pipeline.
This got me thinking about the numerous, who knows how many, talents that fall through the cracks in South African rugby because of our obsession with a handful of elite rugby schools and provincial Under-19 and Under-21 competitions and the Varsity Cup.
Our results whenever we get to play against other countries – whether in the Pro14, Super Rugby or at Springbok level – show that our rugby is not well. The main reason for that is the terrible structure of our game. We desperately need a system that includes as much as possible of the undeniable talent that comes flooding through every year.
Instead, our rugby is elitist and there are barriers everywhere. It starts at school level where a few
Ken Borland
elite schools just get richer and richer through the ridiculous amount of attention that is lavished on them. Just turn on TVand you are very likely to be watching a schoolboy game somewhere.
These youngsters are fawned over from a young age and if you didn’t go to the “right” school then chances are you won’t be playing in Craven Week, which means you won’t get snapped up by a province or university; in other words you are out of the system, generally for good.
Having been taught win-at-allcosts rugby at school level, to the detriment of skills development, these cloistered kids become professional rugby players at the age of 19, big fish in a small pond just going to another small pond. Many of them play in a Varsity Cup that shares little resemblance to the sort of rugby they will need to play if they are going to make it with the Springboks.
That rugby is being jealousy guarded as the preserve of a few was rammed home by two incidents in the last fortnight.
Wanderers Under-21 players laid a complaint of vicious racism and assault against Roodepoort, with the disciplinary hearing slated to be held on Wednesday by the Golden Lions Rugby Union.
If South African rugby wants their sport to be played and enjoyed by most people in this country then incidents like this cannot be tolerated. If a blind eye is turned to what happens at club level, SA Rugby are discarding the probable solution to their structural crisis. By growing a healthy club rugby culture between the junior and professional ranks, there will be a pipeline that provides opportunity for more talent.
But this lack of inclusivity is even seen at school level. Two weekends ago, Hilton College and Paul Roos (still sponsored by a Steinhoff subsidiary) fielded lilywhite teams in their Premier Interschools matches against Maritzburg College and Grey High respectively. Encouraged by blanket television coverage, they are allowed to get away with this gross dereliction of duty.
Both those schools spend a fortune on recruitment, so it is obvious making sure their teams reflect the demographics of our country by obtaining black talent does not even register on their radar. And these are the schools which are meant to be preparing our children for a future South Africa.