Jake White’s racist, malicious ruse must be rejected
OLLIE le Roux says Jake White’s idea of fielding a predominantly black side for games that are meaningless is a “sharp but racist idea”. The idea is, of course, racist and is driven by malice. The idea is indeed sharp, as it pierces the hearts of black competent professionals and shreds them apart, while it bypasses white incompetent professionals.
Should there be a compulsory allocation of places for black players in any South African sporting squad? If not, why not? Are White’s proposals judicious? If not, what then do we make of his grand plan or panacea for dealing with the problems that accompany selection in South African rugby? Many have said that politics must be kept out of rugby, yet it is sentiments like this that drag us into the realms of politicising rugby and sport in general. Inevitably, we cannot divorce politics from sport, because it is an uncomfortable marriage to which we as ordinary South Africans are beneficiaries. It is impossible to untangle the two without being political about the manner in which this inconvenient marriage is tearing us apart.
In a normal society there would not be a need to discuss race in relation to sport, but as we have inherited the atrocious and unbearable fruits of this marriage between sport and politics from our past, we have no option but to confront White’s repugnant scheme. After White’s article was published, there were those who understandably but naively thought that his views on rugby were infallible. They are wrong.
Furthermore, anyone with a sprinkling of observational capacity would be able to tell that White was on some very strong fermented and well-brewed concoction of chemicals. Those chemicals are the racist undertones entailed in what we witnessed after that article was published. In fact, White’s article heading should have read “Pick black semi-Boks to rest real Springboks”. Therefore, a closer look at his proposal reveals the litany of malicious intent with which this proposal was generated.
My elder brother, Thando Manana, accordingly takes exception to White’s sentiments when he says that he is “not impressed by the thought process” behind White’s nefarious scheme. It seems to me that, according to White’s scheme, black players are to be rewarded in a different way than their white counterparts. But others would say that coaches in general are there to reward players for their good form and determine the time and manner in which players play.
Indeed, this would be the desirable approach that would be acceptable to South Africans provided it were based not on reserving meaningless games for blacks and worthy games for whites. Thus the meaningless games would seemingly be used as an entry point for black competent professionals into the main or real Springbok team. These are very strange terms of determining participation in the national team.
If one reads carefully what White has written, one gets the sense that White thinks that the 30-cap rule compromises the ability and or freedom to field a competitive team. He thus implicitly opens the door for white foreign-based players to not only be considered but parachuted into the starting lineup of the “real” Springbok team when South Africa takes on England in the first test match of the upcoming three-match series. But how he creates that opening for white rugby players in particular is a spectacularly stupid idea.
White reveals that given the unusual circumstances in which Rassie Erusmus finds himself, which is, inter alia, to pick a team to play at a game that falls outside of the official window wherein foreign-based players are unlikely to be released, Rassie must pick a predominantly black team. This is, according to him, what “creates depth and playing opportunities” for black players. It’s very strange that the allegiance and/or commitment to this noble objective finds expression mainly when there is an inordinate situation, during which the main players’ availability cannot be secured. The very same main white players whose availability to play is not dependent on inconveniences like the ones that black players must play under. Therefore, when there are such matches that fall outside of the window, it is the apposite time to deal with black players’ special needs through the “creation of depth and playing opportunities”.
White then excruciatingly reveals to us that the purpose of picking an all-black team under these circumstances where the real players are not available is for “banking transformation credits to create selection breathing room for the England series”. Reader, draw your attention to the words “breathing room”, for they tell you what this scheme of White’s is all about.
The fact that these black players have been selected to play in the Welsh game, there will not be as much pressure to comply or adhere to transformational targets (things that do not matter) by playing as many blacks in the England series. Their participation in that one meaningless game would have sufficed and thus relieved the pressure on Rassie of having to unnecessarily consider and pick blacks who have had their chance.
In essence, the plan here is to get the annoying pressure of having to be stringently obligated to pick black players out of the way, so that Rassie can comfortably focus his mind on picking the real and deserving Springboks for the England series. This is a pleasant way of telling black players that they are not worthy of being considered for the big, meaningful games.
This scheme is something that has to be cautioned against as it regularises stereotypes and bias towards certain race groups. This should be condemned because White makes the presence of blacks in a team an annual jamboree that must be observed once in a while from the pool of players who make it into the international tryouts. According to White, it is through these games that black players are going to get a chance to put their hands up. It’s rarely, if not at all, mentioned in this grand plan as to whether white counterparts are also to be subjected to the same international tryouts to determine their readiness for the real, meaningful games.
This is the case because, according to White, black players are in need of a special skills programme or tryouts. Therefore, these tryouts would be used to scout the scouted, because these players are seemingly already good enough to play the best that Australia and New Zealand have to offer on a weekly basis. So now they are to be scouted for the second time as they need to still prove that they have what it takes to play for the real Springboks. This is a draconian requirement and injustice to the talents of these young black professionals, to which their white counterparts are not subjected.
This creation of an extra-trial platform cannot be acceptable, because it is meant to be a scheme to overlook black players. The most likely thing to happen here, which is reasonably foreseeable, is that when these black players lose such games, the coach will simply use that as a form of reference as to their state of readiness. Reasons that are likely to lead to a loss of such games – like players having had little time to gel and sort out their combinations – are likely to be overlooked. When this happens and players are constantly omitted from the starting lineup or from the squad as a whole, black players will begin to doubt their capabilities and worth in this country. They will internalise that they are just not good enough because this system that White seeks to rubber-stamp will ultimately demotivate black players.
There are a number of black players in Super Rugby who are more competent than their white counterparts in various positions (Lukhanyo Am, Warrick Gallant), and who need no other stage for putting up their hands. If they were white they would have been in that Springbok squad without these silly conditions.
White’s point of view perpetuates an erroneous stereotype which prescribes that specifically black players are to be considered and utilised under special conditions. He must stop this thing of treating black players as people who need special guidance, purportedly because of their supposed inability to adjust to the fast-paced international scene. This is a bad trajectory that reinforces stereotypes about black professionals’ competence. The pusillanimous proposal put forward by Jake White is of such antiquity that it must be trenchantly rejected on that account alone.