World Cup winner endured racism from fans, officials and his own team-mates
Chester Williams rugby player b August 8, 1970 d September 6, 2019
Although Chester Williams was the smiling face of the 1995 Rugby World Cup in South Africa, it was not until four years later that he came face to face with post-apartheid reality. He was dropped from the 1999 World Cup squad because, the coach said, the team had enough black players to meet the government quota – and that was the only way a black player was ever going to get into his side.
‘‘It could never occur to them that a black player could be better than a white player,’’ said Williams, who has died of heart attack, aged 49. ‘‘They only tolerated us in the team because it made them look as though they had embraced change. Until then I really believed my performances in 1995 and after had broken down prejudices and changed mindsets. That hurt.’’ He later won his place back in the squad, before retiring in 2001.
He argued that, despite the overthrow of apartheid and its aftermath in the 1990s, South African rugby fought a brilliant rearguard action to disguise the true feelings of its leaders. It put on the appearance of supporting change without compromising its beliefs: whites ruled, on and off the pitch.
Even at the forthcoming World Cup in Japan, a government edict dictates that at least half the players selected by the South African Rugby Union must be black. ‘‘In all my playing years, most white players and coaches believed that a black selection weakened the team,’’ Williams said. ‘‘My experience was that only a minority of players looked beyond the colour of the skin.’’
But Williams did not complain, at least not publicly. Instead, he flashed his Cheshire-cat grin in the face of constant racist slurs from white spectators – and some of his own teammates. Among the most vociferous was James Small, his fellow wing in the victory over the All Blacks in 1995. It was perhaps just as well they spent most of their time on opposite wings, because Small told Williams: ‘‘You f...ing kaffir, why do you want to play our game? You know you can’t play it.’’
Small died two months ago, the third member of the 1995 World Cup-winning side to do so. Openside flanker Ruben Kruger died of brain cancer in 2010 aged 39, and halfback Joost van der Westhuizen died from motor neurone disease aged 45.
Growing up in the 1980s, Williams, who was mixed race, could not avoid the prejudice that had led to South Africa being excluded from international sport. At the start of his career he had to change on the bus because the locker rooms were for whites only.
A stocky player, just 1.75m and about 82kg, he was a prolific try-scorer who made up for his lack of speed with mental agility. ‘‘I can get to a certain point quicker than a guy who is quicker than me because I read the game much better than him,’’ he said.
Although he was the only black player in South Africa’s 1995 squad – a stroke of fortune for president Nelson Mandela and the game’s marketing executives – he very nearly did not play. He picked up a hamstring injury after scoring two tries against Western Samoa two months earlier and ruled himself out.
He recovered his fitness, but missed the group stages of the World Cup. Then his replacement, Pieter Hendriks, was banned for fighting against Canada. In the quarterfinal, Williams ran in four tries.
He suffered knee injuries in 1996 and 1997, but was selected again in 1998 and twice came off the bench as the Springboks won the first Tri-Nations tournament against Australia and New Zealand. After being dropped for the 1999 World Cup, he won nine caps in 2000. He went on to coach the Blitzboks, South Africa’s sevens team.
In 2009 Hollywood cashed in on the story of the World Cup with the film Invictus, which
starred Matt Damon and Morgan Freeman. Williams was portrayed by McNeil Hendricks, and helped to coach Damon in the finer points of the game.
Chester Mornay Williams was born in Paarl, a predominantly Coloured district near Cape Town. He grew up as one of five children in a teetotal and God-fearing family; answering back was swiftly punished.
His father played for the country’s black rugby side, inspiring Chester, who dreamed of being picked for the school team, but was told that he was too small and too slow. He worked hard to improve his running and tackling, but in so doing neglected his studies. His parents banned him from rugby and told him to focus on school work until he matriculated at 17. ‘‘I could never be as skilful as, say, the Australian legend David Campese,’’ Williams said, ‘‘but because I had to work at it, by the time I became a man I was mentally and physically stronger.’’
He wanted to be a lawyer, but his family could not afford to pay for his training. They put their limited resources behind sending their eldest son, Wilmot, to university.
Instead, Williams went to work in the logistics division of the navy, which meant getting up at 4am, training for rugby after work, taking another train and then running several kilometres home. ‘‘I’d fall into bed and get up and do it all again, playing for the Western Province team and the navy. They were tough days.’’
Life at home became even tougher when Wilmot died from meningitis, aged 20. Williams also lost his best friend, shot dead by police during anti-government protests.
On the eve of his recall to the Springboks in 1995, he became engaged to Maria Robson, his childhood sweetheart. Mandela attended their wedding and became godfather to their twins, Matthew and Chloe. He also had a stepson, Ryan, from an earlier marriage.
In a recent interview he was asked why he did not speak up at the time about the continuing insults from white rugby players, spectators and administrators. ‘‘I was still playing then,’’ he said. ‘‘I just saw too many black players who spoke out seeing their career finished. If you wanted to get on, you put up and shut up.
‘‘I was just not the kind of guy who rocked the boat. Perhaps I should have done. But if I had I wouldn’t have won so many caps for the Springboks, so I wouldn’t be as famous as I am now, so I wouldn’t have had the platform I now have to make these comments. So you could say it was not bad to wait.’’ – The Times
‘‘They only tolerated us in the team because it made them look as though they had embraced change.’’