Top black rugby players join scrum to support Ngidi

FORTY-NINE former black South African rugby players and coaches, including former Springbok coach Peter de Villiers and former Bok wing Ashwin Willemse, have come out in support of Proteas cricketer Lungi Ngidi and the Black Lives Matter movement.

Last week, Ngidi expressed his backing for the movement, saying that he would be eager to address the issue in the Proteas dressing room. On Monday, a group of 31 black former Proteas cricketers issued a statement in support of Ngidi.

The rugby group said yesterday that “there may be white sportspersons and others in South Africa who continue to have world views that are shaped by racism”.

“What was hidden has come out. It is clear that there may be other ‘white’ sportspersons and others in South Africa who continue to have world views that are shaped by racism. The negative response to the comments from Lungi Ngidi identified the fault lines within cricket and society.”

The group also raised what they called the SA rugby fraternity’s silence on the matter. “Since the global outcry for ‘Black Lives Matter’ and the movement’s continuous fight against racism and inequality, rugby administrators in South Africa have remained mum on this topic. Although SA Rugby made big strides to ensure our playing squads are representative at national level, the uninterrupted exclusion of head coaches and top administrators, classified as black in terms of the equality laws of South Africa, continues.”