Patel laid groundwork for rugby’s unification

THE racially-transformed Springbok rugby team that won the World Cup in Japan in 2019 can trace its origins back to the brave work performed by one of the pioneers of non-racial sport in South Africa, Ebrahim Patel, pictured, who died this week at the age of 78 after suffering a stroke.

Patel had covertly worked behind the scenes in South African rugby in the late 1980s to pave the way for the reunification in 1992 of the various rugby bodies in the country that had been split for over a century along apartheid lines.

It was only fitting that along with Danie Craven, Patel was the joint president of the new rugby body that saw the re-introduction of the Springboks to the rugby world.

In that same year, 1992, the Springboks hosted their Old Foe, the All Blacks, at Ellis Park and the world champions Wallabies in Cape Town.

SA Rugby president Mark Alexander visited Patel at his home shortly before his death together with a delegation of former players and administrators.

“Ebrahim’s contribution to the game here in South Africa is on par with some of the greatest administrators we’ve ever had, and it was a remarkable achievement to bring all rugby communities together after so many years of division,” Alexander said. It was the white South African Rugby Board (Sarb), the non-racial South African Rugby Union (Saru), the South African Rugby Football Federation (Sarff), and the South African Rugby Association (Sara) that came together in 1992 to form Sarfu, under Patel and Craven.

After more than a century of the game being divided along racial lines in South Africa, rugby unity was achieved, on March 20 1992, following secret negotiations between various rugby authorities and the banned African National Congress (ANC) from 1988 onwards, with Patel playing a major role. Apart from negotiating with the prevailing authorities to bring about unity in the game, Patel also ensured players from Saru were informed about the progress being made and urged them to remain patient after many decades of sacrifice to ensure a level playing field for all South Africans.

“He served the game at so many levels — as secretary, spokesman, and later president — and it was only right that he and the late Dr Danie Craven shared the position as first executive president of Sarfu back in 1992,” Alexander added.

“Our prayers and thoughts are with his wife Diana, his children Fatima, Nazley, Ashraf and Fuad, his grandchildren and other family, friends and loved ones in this time of bereavement, and we pray that Almighty Allah grants him Jannat Firdaus.”

Patel, born on August 15, 1943, was buried at the Newclare Cemetery in Johannesburg on the same day of his passing, on Monday, according to the Islamic religion.