2023-08-13 06:34:14
But the coronation of South Africans in 2019 in Japan, led by Siya Kolisi, the first black captain of the Springboks, reinforced the popularity of rugby, a few weeks from defending their world title in France (September 8-October 28).
Tembisa, an impoverished suburb with a black majority, is no exception even if football remains king here: “We have new players arriving every week”, notes Siyabonga Mogale, the 21-year-old full-back of the local team Etalons from Tembisa. “A lot of people are interested in rugby now.”
“Rugby has instrumentalized its image to brainwash black South Africans into supporting a system from which they themselves were excluded,” said Mark Frederics, academic and sports activist.
The white past of the Springboks
For 90 years, Springbok coaches have chosen only white, black and mixed-race players who can only play in separate leagues, without the possibility of playing at international level.
Even following the end of apartheid, the inclusion of black and mixed-race players in the national team was painfully slow.
During the 1995 title, celebrated including by President Nelson Mandela, all the players, with the exception of a winger, were white. Twelve years later, during their new coronation in France, only two black players appeared in the world champion team.
It was not until 2019 that things changed, with six black players in the English starting XV victorious (32-12) in the final, including captain Kolisi.
To celebrate their title on their return, the players had also started their tour in Soweto, tonwship symbol of the fight once morest apartheid, where the Springboks were previously hated.
“It was motivating, I told myself that one day, I too might get there,” recalls the captain of the Etalons de Tembisa Amohelang Motaung.
But, under the veneer of a successful transfer, much remains to be done, judge Peter de Villiers, who in 2008 became the first black coach of the Springboks.
“If you look at the Springboks, you will see great progress, a change of mentality,” he told AFP. “But if you want the best players for your national team, there needs to be massive participation in the sport. And that’s far from the case.”
Persistent inequalities
For players like Motaung, who comes from a township, the road to success is much more difficult than for the pupils of private schools and universities who still dominate South African rugby.
These institutions have infrastructure and coaches with which the poor districts of the townships cannot compete.
The problem is obvious in Tembisa, where the Stallions, linked to a local school, sometimes play barefoot on a rugged football pitch that doesn’t even have rugby posts.
“The pitch is not suitable, it’s not flat as it should be. There’s a lot of dirt, and not enough grass. It’s not made for rugby,” agrees coach Zwelakhe “Themba” Mawela.
Most black South Africans, who make up 90% of the population, cannot afford private schooling.
Many also do not have the opportunity to devote themselves entirely to rugby, such as the captain of the Stallions, Motaung, who recently graduated in animal science and who is looking for work.
“We want them to have dreams, hopes, to know that it’s possible,” explains their coach. “But without the right infrastructure, what can we hope for?”
To diversify recruitment, private schools have launched scholarships for promising athletes, a system from which Kolisi has benefited but which is also criticized for plundering black communities of their best players without tackling inequality.
“Until we have a system where good education is accessible to all, we will not have a team that is truly representative of this country,” judge Francois Cleophas, professor of sports science at the University of Stellenbosch.
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