TRANSFORMATION IN SPORT

South African sport has failed to transform itself

By ASHFAK MOHAMED

SPORT in South Africa has the potential to unite our people.

We have seen it in past events in this country, like the 1995 Rugby World Cup and the 1996 African Nations Cup. Those triumphs were in the infancy stages of a united South Africa.

In the ensuing years, sports administrators promised that national teams would be transformed and that sides would represent all sectors of society.

But this has not happened.

Instead we have witnessed lame attempts by sports administrators, and especially coaches, to transform sport in this country.

Lefs look at one of the major sports in this country, namely rugby. Often one sees players of colour coming on to the field for less than five minutes towards the end of the match.

What is the use of this? Does that player get a fair chance to prove himself? No.

This is what is commonly referred to as window-dressing. We have seen this for far too long.

Coaches often bemoan the lack of talented black players coming through the system as such. But that is not true. With rugby, just look at the Currie Cup.

There are several black players who have performed superbly in the competition. But they do not get a chance to play for the Springboks.

We also have one particular situation that is a disgrace in rugby. We find that the current Springbok coach Jake White is refusing to select

Luke Watson, the captain of the Western Province rugby team.

This House has been party to the debate as to the reasons why Watson is being unfairly left out. His father, Dan 'Cheeky' Watson, was an anti-apartheid activist who desisted from playing for the racist SA Rugby Board organisation in 1976.

It seems that now his son is paying for his actions back then.

But as the young Luke said in a recent interview, what his father did was something that should be celebrated in this country.

But instead he is being punished. Luke Watson is a child of transformation and would and should be a transformation selection. He epitomises the spirit that all White South Africans should embrace in the new South Africa.

Therefore, the only way I believe sport in this country will be transformed is through the enforcement of quotas. In the mid and late 1990s, we found that quotas were introduced into sport.

We have several success stories of players who got a chance through quotas who otherwise might never have reached the international stage. These include household names such as Makhaya Ntini, Chester Williams, Breyton Paulse and Herschelle Gibbs.

Mind you, not because they are not talented enough, but because of the blinkered approach of those who select sides and wield power in sport. These people do not trust players of colour to do a job in the team.

We still find that many people support foreign opposition sides. In fact, even the honourable Minister of Finance has stated that he supports the All Blacks in rugby.

And why are there people like this? Because our national sports teams do not reflect the demographics of this country's population.

Thus, the policy of transformation has to be forced onto them as they are not interested in transforming themselves. I fully support any Bill that would give the Minister of Sport the power to intervene when there are problems within the federations.

This is the only way that sport will be truly representative of the people of this country.