Robert Marawa memoir tells of journey from shy guy to sports anchor
Written by journalist Mandy Wiener, legendary sports personality and presenter Robert Marawa's new book ‘Gqimmshelele’ tells the tale of his youth and his broadcasting journey from hosting world cups to his multiple hirings and firings. In this extract from Chapter 5 'Half in, Half out, at Hilton', Marawa shares his experiences on the sports field, his studies in speech and drama and the cultural differences he learned about as a youngster at Hilton College
One of the harshest realities was not being able to play my favourite sport that I loved and lived for – football. Hilton didn’t offer football at the time. I complained bitterly to my parents. How could they have sent me to a school where I couldn’t play football?
After all those years of listening to the commentary of games on radio, growing my knowledge from the recordings that my mom had made and reading all the newspaper clippings that she had kept for me, I had been looking forward to going to a high school where I could play the game. It was my main intention.
Then I arrived at this school where football didn’t exist. There had been no negotiation. There was simply no football.
We found a way of playing the game, though. We asked the boys from Michaelhouse because they were a bit more open to it. The Michaelhouse boys formed a team, and the Hilton boys formed a team but we also played with the kids from the local village. It wasn’t an option at Hilton College so we had to find another way.
I played rugby and basketball. I also tried hockey because it looked similar to football but with a stick, but that wasn’t going to last. There was a lot of experimenting. I would have loved to play squash but all of these things came with expensive equipment.
While the doors were shut to football, I was able to nurture my love for basketball. It developed because there was no other option. In my second year playing for the first team, I was made the captain. I went on and played for the Natal Midlands and was selected to represent the province. It was a dream fulfilled and my prominence at school did rise because I got colours for basketball, which was something I had never thought would be possible. I was always mindful of what I saw as my limitations coming into an environment like Hilton.
My parents were doing the best they could just to get me to school so I couldn’t accuse them of not being supportive. If I was gifted and talented at basketball or rugby, I could only show them photographs when I was home and tell them about it.
As far as rugby was concerned, I was a tall, skinny chap and figured out quickly that I belonged in the scrum and should play lock. I ended up playing second-team lock. Bob Skinstad was in the scrum with me and he ended up becoming a Springbok captain.
In a short period of time, I had to learn a sport I had never been exposed to. I was briefed in terms of what I needed to do and, because I was adaptable, I could do it. As long as I wasn’t in the water, I was happy. We played well and got good results and I was a regular member of the second team.
There was racism on the rugby field, though. There was always a K-word here and there when we were playing against Maritzburg College and similar schools because they were not really institutions that accepted black kids. When they encountered black kids on the rugby field, it was an opportunity for them to have a sense of rage. They wanted to slap us and sort us out. They were being exposed to what Daddy or Mommy would call a k***ir. You could tell there was a personal vendetta, some extra spice reserved for a game between Hilton and Maritzburg College.
They put in extra effort to pummel you if you were the black kid. There was always a concerted effort to make us black kids feel like we shouldn’t be playing the sport.
It was built up into hatred.
Rugby is a sport that requires you to be fired up and that extra spice was really race fuelled. I heard other boys talking about how they were targeted or what was said to them at the time. And there was always nothing we could do. What was I going to say? I would just be accused of lying.
It became a talking point for us around the dinner table. We identified who was responsible and then we would have our own little bit of revenge in the return game against that team. We would get payback with a knee to the ribs or give them some extra in the ruck.
The non-angry side of me appreciates the opportunity I had to go to one of the top schools in the country. I appreciate that I had a learning experience that is in many ways second to none. The learning was holistic – both in class and outside the classroom. It required me to keep my eyes open constantly because these were kids who had very privileged backgrounds. They knew a lot about things I didn’t know about.
I am appreciative of what my parents had to sacrifice to pay those school fees. And I don’t regret going to Hilton. It was extreme going from Woza Woza to Little Flower to Hilton. It was the kind of experience I needed to test me.
My 18-year-old self was quiet and reserved; I was just discovering girls, but in love with sport.
I was always the quiet, shy guy and I watched and observed more than I spoke. I found it difficult to try to engage and I think that was almost my shield because the other kids didn’t really know how to approach me. I was not unfriendly, but I was protective of my space. I held on to the little pocket of friends that I had. I never pushed anyone away from trying to enter my space or trying to understand what I was about.
Being the quiet, shy kid, I needed something that was going to open me up and studying speech and drama provided that outlet.
Speech and drama helped me work on being more outspoken. The shy guy needed to move to one side and the more vocal, confident guy who could stand in front of people and talk needed to come out. I had a very good teacher, Mr Geoff Thompson, and I learnt a lot about diaphragmatic breathing and how that helps with speech and projection and pronunciation.
I learnt to find a different space to enjoy and express myself by participating in plays and drama. As I grew up, I was still a shy human being and I was able to enhance myself by getting on stage and doing things with performing arts. By acting out a role on stage I could assert myself.
I suppose subconsciously that was also me preparing myself for a life in a public space. Without that grounding and being able to go on stage and perform all of the plays that we had to perform, it would have been difficult for me. Growing up on a farm, I was not as expressive or confident as I could have been. It gave me the confidence to get up on stage in front of people. It helped to shape me for my broadcasting career.
That was one positive to take away from Hilton, my interaction with Geoff Thompson and how hard we worked. He knew his job. He was not somebody who looked at you and passed judgement. I think he had a job to do and he fulfilled it. He was a happy, jolly person with a deep, rich voice. It made me think that one day I could have a powerful voice like him.
Over time, my mindset changed and I started to engage more in a positive way. I started to do more introspection and look at how I could improve on the sports field or how I could better my results academically. But with interpersonal relationships with other kids, I always struggled. I put on a brave face and I was learning to understand other cultures as I went along.
While I was at Hilton, I got to understand white culture better and gain insight into a few of the Indian kids who were there too. I understood little pockets of these cultures, but I didn’t really want to engage in a meaningful way.
There were occasions when one of the kids invited me to dinner with their parents. I remember once going to a white boy’s house in Pinetown. It was a culture shock.
The mother and father and all the kids were sitting around the table and this boy my age said he would have a Castle Lager. I was astonished that he was drinking alcohol with his parents at the table.
It was the first time I had experienced this. At home, we went and fetched drinks for the adults but we never sat around a table and asked for an Amstel.
The same thing happened when our housemaster, Mr Strydom, invited us to his house when we became prefects. His wife cooked for us and he asked what we wanted to drink. I was conservative and asked for a Coke. All the other boys were asking for Castles and Amstels and he brought the drinks to them. As I got over my initial shock, I learnt that it was part of an open discourse – their parents would rather they had a drink openly around the dinner table, as opposed to a kid who drank secretly in his room or behind a building, downing a six-pack and drinking themselves into a stupor. It was a culture of learning the art of drinking rather than overdoing it in secret.
I was always the quiet, shy guy and I watched and observed more than I spoke. I found it difficult to try to engage and I think that was almost my shield because the other kids didn’t really know how to approach me. I was not unfriendly, but I was protective of my space