SA support for Kiwis is sickening
27 May 2011
MARK KEOHANE, in his Business Day Sport Monthly column, says there is no sense to betraying one’s own.
If we are indeed about freedom of choice and expression in this country of ours then the support of New Zealand teams by a large section of Cape-based coloureds should be applauded as another example of what makes this country special.
Then again, the same should apply to those white South Africans who still believe in the Vierkleur flag and their right to support a team made up only of white players.
We should also be allowing those rugby supporters with their old South African flags into stadiums and allow them freedom of choice to sing the anthem of their choice and support the team of their choice. It could be argued that’s also an example of what makes this country so special.
Freedom of choice? Come on, it isn’t as simple as that in post-apartheid South Africa. If whites have adapted – some against their will – then surely those in Cape Town especially, with designs on New Zealand as a country and New Zealanders as people, should get on the first plane to Auckland and not come back.
I am sick and tired of hearing the argument that so many coloured people support the All Blacks because of apartheid and because their black heroes were in the New Zealand team and never allowed to play in a Bok jersey.
For the record, it was only in 1970 that the New Zealand Rugby Union ever picked non-white players to tour South Africa. And by the time Super Rugby started in 1996 and New Zealand’s regional franchises toured South Africa we had been a democracy for two years where everyone’s vote – black and white – counted.
It irks me to hear Cape-based coloureds with no connection to New Zealand and no experience of the country put the people of New Zealand, the country and the rugby on such a pedestal. It irks me because they should be reserving that kind of loyalty, passion and dedication for their own team and country.
It is mystifying to see such a large number of coloureds cheering for a predominantly white New Zealand franchise team against a Stormers side in which so many coloured players excel.
It is embarrassing that Stormers captain Schalk Burger feels compelled to say that his team felt like they were playing in Christchurch, such was the support for the Crusaders when they played the Stormers in Cape Town.
It was disgusting that some of the Stormers players were verbally abused and insulted when they got off the bus – at their home stadium – by those who have only ever known Cape Town as a home. These same people then worship at the feet of those getting out of the New Zealand team’s bus.
In 2006 the All Blacks stayed at the Elangeni Hotel in Durban in preparation for the Tri-Nations Test against the Springboks. I also stayed there for the week and about 50 coloured supporters from Cape Town had travelled to Durban, dressed as All Blacks to show support.
I confronted a few in that week and their response was typical – that the All Blacks were about non-racial rugby and the Springboks were always about whites only. It was 2006 and these guys wouldn’t listen to any argument about life having moved forward in a democratic South Africa and about a Springbok team picked without racial prejudice.
Five years on and the same argument is presented. I hear the odd coloured bloke say he only supports the New Zealand teams because they play the better rugby and are a pleasure to watch.
What then to make of the 2010 match at Newlands when the Stormers hammered the Crusaders 42-14? The better rugby argument is lame.
In 2006 the All Blacks players, the core of them initially humbled by the fanatical support of South Africans for the black jersey, got fed up with it. They couldn’t move in their hotel without interference, interruption and hearing anti-South Africa abuse.
A senior All Black and member of management eventually addressed the lobby contingent and asked them to give the players some space and to back off. He also said the Boks were a great team, South Africa a wonderful country and that the men in green deserved as much passionate support. It had no impact on these blokes, who failed to see how embarrassing the situation had become.
If white Capetonians pitched up at Newlands wearing khaki, waving apartheid government flags and screaming abuse at New Zealand teams because of the Pacific Island and Maori representation, there would rightly be as much abuse shouted back at these morons from locals who live in this country and accept it as home. Why must the coloured Kiwi supporter be exempted?
It sickens me because those I have spoken to about it are arrogant and ignorant and there isn’t a worse cocktail to describe stupidity. I tried to make sense of it, but there isn’t any sense to betraying one’s own – and what I experienced recently at Newlands when the Crusaders played the Stormers was a betrayal of the Stormers players.
To those in the coloured community who refuse to support South African teams against New Zealand opposition, stop looking to the past for justification. I’d say the same to white South Africans.
Start enjoying the present of a country whose people are encouraged to transform, and start putting your own players on a pedestal. You may find the rugby experience is actually enjoyable.
– This column first appeared in the June issue of Business Day Sport Monthly.