Mark Boucher says sorry ...
PROTEAS coach Mark Boucher offered an “unreserved apology” for his conduct as a Proteas player, which had been highlighted at Cricket South Africa’s Social Justice and Nation Building hearings.
Former Proteas player Paul Adams had claimed that Boucher, along with other teammates had called him “brown sh*t” in a team song that was sung at post-match celebrations in the late 1990s.
The reference to Adams had been, according to Boucher, created by another player, whom he didn’t know.
“But I acknowledge that it has now become apparent, from testimony of former teammates, that some of what happened at those meetings was totally inappropriate, unacceptable and in retrospect understandably offensive,” Boucher stated in a written submission to the SJN, which was made public yesterday.
In a statement released in conjunction with his SJN submission, Boucher said he had informed the current national team, which will travel to Sri Lanka today, about the submission and invited the players to read it if they wished.
“I felt that it was essential to deal with the allegations prior to our departure, so that distraction from the main focus of the tour could be kept to a minimum,” he said.
Boucher outlined in his submission that he had tried to contact Adams, following the latter’s SJN testimony, although it wasn’t clear if the two have spoken.
“I apologise unreservedly for any offensive conduct, real or perceived, that has been attributed to me. We, the team, the coaching staff, selectors and CSA during the period in question should have been more sensitive and created an environment where all members of the team could raise and talk about these issues without allowing them to fester, which they clearly have,” Boucher said.
“I was clearly naive at the time I was selected to play for South Africa. I was a young man, barely out of my teens. In hindsight, we were all naive; the players, the coaches and the management. We were not only naive, but were also ill-equipped to deal with the new environment we found ourselves in.”
Boucher stated that at the time, players from different races had nicknames for each other that had a “racial connotation”.
“While at the time we thought it was playful banter within a team environment in which we all participated as a normal part of team dynamics, I deeply regret and apologise for the part I played in joining in with my teammates and singing offensive songs or using offensive nicknames,” Boucher said in his submission.
“While I was certainly naive, I do wish to state categorically that nothing I have ever said or done was motivated by malice and was certainly not motivated by racism.”
Boucher said he never viewed himself as superior to teammates because of his skin colour. “However, I can now, with the benefit of hindsight and maturity, appreciate that I may have said or done things as a young man that offended some of my teammates. For that, I apologise unreservedly and sincerely,” Boucher said.
Boucher provided the context around being part of a group of players called “the rats” during a tour to Australia in 1997-98. That group also included Makhaya Ntini, Herschelle Gibbs and Adams.
Boucher pointed out that the quartet would socialise together in addition to training together.
“We were teammates and friends. The colour of our skins was of no significance and was certainly never an issue to me,” Boucher said. In his submission he further outlined how, as current Proteas coach he had been part of initiatives to define a new culture for the current generation of players. “With the benefit of hindsight, it is most distressing to me that while we may have achieved many of our goals on the field in my playing days, we did not have a team environment where all the players felt comfortable and valued. Had we had a better team environment, we would undoubtedly have achieved more on the field. This is unfortunate and regrettable,” Boucher said.
Boucher said a new team culture developed from a “culture camp”, held at the Kruger National Park last year, had assisted the players in working towards the creation of a more inclusive environment. “We have worked hard on articulating and buying into a common set of values based on mutual respect on which we build our team culture,” Boucher said.
Before Boucher’s submission was made public, the Proteas’ current limited-overs captain, Temba Bavuma, confirmed that Boucher had addressed the team about the submission made by Adams. “He provided clarity and context and I think it was more about keeping the guys within his confidence and comfort,” Bavuma said.
“As players now, in this era, we’ve got an opportunity to shape the team, to shape the environment, in the way that we’d like, so that down the line we don’t look back, and say we could have done things in a different way. Most guys are following the SJN, with passion and we look forward to the good that is happening.”
Asked if there were players who didn’t agree with the process, Bavuma said he hadn’t encountered that. “I don’t think anyone in the team is shooting down the SJN initiative. I think everyone understands the significance of it. In the conversations that I’ve had everyone has been positive about it,” Bavuma said.
* Yesterday SJN hearings saw transformation ombud, advocate Dumisa Ntsebeza, grant extended deadlines to various groups and individuals who wanted to make submissions.
Those included CSA, which has been given until 13 September, and director of cricket, Graeme Smith, who was given until next Friday.
The majority of the arguments made for the extension of the deadline related to having insufficient opportunity to properly analyse the testimony made against them, which included a load of documentation that had also been submitted to the SJN.