Cape Times

It’s about time for a new dawn

- Wynona Louw

THE SOUTHERN KINGS’ new sponsorshi­p and proposed new owners will mean not only a new dawn for the Eastern Province team itself, but it will also bring about the kind of change that South African rugby desperatel­y needs.

On Monday, a press release issued by the franchise announced that Isuzu Motors SA would be partnering with a consortium of predominan­tly black business people to sponsor them for a three-year period.

This will see the Kings become the first black-owned rugby franchise in SA history. And that one sentence alone should do enough to relay the importance of the milestone – a significan­t developmen­t in SA rugby that can perhaps be beaten only by Siya Kolisi’s appointmen­t as Springbok captain.

In the release issued earlier this week, Loyiso Dotwana – a well-known businessma­n who spoke on behalf of the consortium – said: “We want to build a profession­al and competitiv­e team for the long run. Our long-term ambition is to achieve incrementa­l growth which ultimately will result in the Isuzu Southern Kings winning the PRO14 Championsh­ip.

By creating an academy and team here, we want to retain the Eastern Cape’s talent.

“This is the home of black rugby – our team will promote social cohesion in SA rugby.”

The release also explained that binding offers have been submitted to the relevant parties, with SA Rugby Executive Council approval and other transactio­n closing conditions set to take place over the coming weeks.

The move is obviously a tremendous step forward for the Kings, who endured a torrid PRO14 stint in their first season, and it should certainly do them good in terms of player retention, which should ultimately result in a bigger selection pool and improved general preparatio­n to name a few. But the fact that we are able to easily – on half of one hand – single out milestones pertaining to black developmen­t in rugby in 2018 is shocking.

And it’s about time that we have more than a Kolisi-reference and the recent transforme­d or “inclusive” Bok line-ups to grab onto when the chat shifts to black representa­tion in the sport. It goes further than that.

Sure, despite the Kings’ developmen­t, SA rugby will still be run mostly by white men.

Black coaches at Super Rugby level will still be an extremely concerning, next to non-existent sight.

We will still have to deal with the white equals merit, black equals quota notions. Black people in rugby will still feel an almost natural inclinatio­n to have to do more, know more and produce more to be able to even be considered on the same level as their white counterpar­ts.

The Kings’ achievemen­t won’t magically solve all of SA’s rugby issues.

But it’s a start – whether that start is evident with the Kings themselves or even just Eastern Cape rugby at lower levels. And could that start have happened in a better place than the cradle of black rugby?

So, here’s to SA’s first blackowned franchise. Here’s to much-needed change.

It’s about time.

 ?? Picture: DERYCK FOSTER, BACKPAGEPI­X ?? HISTORY: The Southern Kings’ new black ownership will hopefully be a major boost for the team and players like Michael Makas (pictured below).
Picture: DERYCK FOSTER, BACKPAGEPI­X HISTORY: The Southern Kings’ new black ownership will hopefully be a major boost for the team and players like Michael Makas (pictured below).
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