White must stay...white's must go

Let it be noted that I am a huge rugby fan and I love the Springboks one and all. Hence I may become emotional while writing this posting. Those of you averse to emotional outbursts even though they may have a hint of truth, stop reading now and pick up your Archie comics. Those clowns at SARU need not as you are living out comical lives.

I do however sometimes wonder what drugs those idiots are on!

Here we are with the worlds best rugby player, the world's best rugby coach and the world's best rugby team and these politicians still believe that they know what is best for rugby. We have a nation united for the first time in a long time, Bokken proud of their sporting heroes and the crap is still flying. Even our president Thabo Mbeki has stated that Jake should stay. Why break-up the best side in world rugby, arguably the best side in Springbok history because some tosser has decided that transformation is too slow.

Go a step further Mr. Mbeki and tell Hoskins and his cohorts that players playing for international clubs must be considered for selection too. Don't go half way and then back-up into your shell! Remember that Percy was gone for 2 years and came back to score all but 3 points in the Springbok's 2007 world cup final game. We may still have won without Percy but why even consider it when it's not necesary.

I was watching the Monday night soccer program on TV 1 last night with the presenter wearing a Springbok jersey...a world champion's jersey. Most of the SMS's received on the show, tongue-in-cheek called for Jake White to coach the national soccer team now. They called for our soccer stars to play as a team, to be patriotic and have as much national pride as our Bokke. The people, the men on the street, South African soccer supporters, recognise the difference between the pride of our rugby team, the "gees" of the men involved in this world cup side compared to the attitudes of our Bafana Bafana brigade.

This is where it all seems to fall apart. Politicians...if you want to do some good and make changes, then cast your eyes over your soccer development schools and clubs. Get those right because at this moment in time I believe that we will not even qualify for the 2010 world cup in our own country. Who will you blame for that? I'm intrigued who will be the scapegoat for that when in fact the problem is a general attitude.

In fact I have no doubt the some of the blame will fall on the previous apartheid government, ousted in April 1994 for the failure of the soccer team pre-2010 more than 16 years after the ANC came to power. Remember my politician friends, a simple rule most of us learned in our years as children. When you point a finger, there are three pointing right back at you!

Recently we had Benny McCarthy's little temper tantrum and yes Carlos you should have thrown him out on his ass. What motivation is there for young players where that little upstart can cause such a ruckus. Soccer is a 11 man sport just as rugby requires 15. How many trys would Habana have scored without the dominance of the forwards and the skills of a fast and exciting backline?

Jake White stood up to all those politician layabouts and took the right people for the right job and got it done. Yet still we hear that quotas must be introduced. Anywhere between 7-10 players of colour must be represented in the Springbok side...if they are still called the Springboks. Well my feeling is that if you introduce quotas you will be doing us a favour by calling the team something else because the Boks are chosen on merit and associated to with pride. By all means, choose your quota team and you may as well call them The Tokens.

Another issue is that our soccer players can play for international clubs but our rugby players are banned from playing for the Springboks if they join international clubs. Yes Mr. Hoskins, I believe that you are a racist with the rest of your cronies on SARU. Why don't you get your SAFA colleagues to ban Benni McCarthy while you're at it and to do the same with their other prima donnas playing in Europe?

The winning situation would be that the politicians stuck to politics and kept their grubby hands out of sports. But if politicians want to become involved, then you President Thabo Mbeki, with your new found appreciation of the Springbok's nation building powers, need to throw down the gauntlet in its entirety and not in a half hearted attempt to back-up just the coach.

Well done Jake, Eddie and the rest of the coaching and management team that actually pro-actively made this awesome moment in history come true. Thank you for this time, effort, heartache and angst endured. Those of you that were just hanging on to the entourage and are more trouble than what you are worth...thank you for nothing. Thank you to the players for your commitment, your self-belief, your team spirit and all that you sacrificed to bring the trophy home.

Last but not least, thank you to the people of South Africa who supported our boys as South Africans and not as individuals with different colour skin. Thank you to the people who lauded the Bokke as the world cup heroes of an entire nation, united by their love of their most beautiful South Africa.