Springbok and Blue Bulls lock Geo Cronje on Monday spoke publicly for the first time since the alleged ”racism” row between himself and fellow Bok lock Quinton Davids became public last week.
In a statement, the towering second-rower skirted the issues that rocked the Bok camp and the rest of the country on Thursday, instead choosing to be positive about returning to the Blue Bulls for the remainder of the Currie Cup competition.
”I am back at the Blue Bulls where I would like to focus all my time and energy on my rugby. That is all that’s important to me at this stage,” he said.
”Rugby has always been my passion and therefore any opportunity to represent my country or my province is an honour.”
Although speculation is rife that Cronje is considering pursuing legal action, he still sent best wishes to the 30-man Bok squad — from which he was controversially omitted — for their World Cup campaign.
”I wish the Springbok team and management all the best for the World Cup series and I believe that they will carry the green and gold high,” he said.
”For me it is a privilege to join the Blue Bulls again and to represent my province. We have an extremely challenging Currie Cup series ahead of us and that is now my main priority.”
He also extended his gratitude to those who stood by him during the past few days.
”I would like to take this opportunity to thank the public, supporters, friends and family who have supported and believed in me at this time.”
The managing director of SA Rugby, Rian Oberholzer, could be forced from his position following his ”poor” handling of the incident last week.
Several political parties and labour unions have called for heads to roll in the wake of the latest crisis to hit the Springboks ahead of the Rugby World Cup, starting in Australia next month.
And Oberholzer, the son-in-law of former rugby boss Louis Luyt, seems to be the prime target, with the South African Rugby Players Association (Sarpa) expected this week to join the growing chorus for him to step down.
”We haven’t discussed it at executive level yet, but we will have an urgent meeting this week and decide on a way forward,” said Peet Heymans, CEO of Sarpa, when asked whether the association would demand that Oberholzer relinquish his post.
”The whole situation was handled unprofessionally by Sarfu and SA Rugby. We believe both players did not receive the protection they should have.”
”The [Springbok] management and the communications manager should have dealt with it internally before going public, but we need to find out more about the circumstances,” said Heymans.
As it turned out, the allegations of racism levelled at Cronje could not be conclusively proved. On Saturday he was cleared of breaching the South African Rugby and Football Union’s (Sarfu) strict code of conduct.
”These players’ [Cronje and Davids] careers could be ruined as a result. Their rights have been abused. We will call for a meeting between Sarpa, SA Rugby and Sarfu to ensure this sort of thing doesn’t happen in the future,” said Heymans.
Meanwhile, directors on the board of SA Rugby have also demanded further investigation into the row.
The union presidents of the Pumas, the Falcons and the Blue Bulls have made the call. The three officials argue that if Cronje was not guilty, then someone else is to blame, and that person needs to be brought to book.
The two Springbok locks were both excluded from Rudolf Straeuli’s 30-man Rugby World Cup squad, which was announced at the weekend, with Cronje’s omission particularly puzzling considering he was exonerated from any wrongdoing.
A starting lock in the Boks most recent Test — against New Zealand in Dunedin — he was considered a certainty on current form, which means the reasons for his omission were for those other than form and fitness.
Davids, who plays for Western Province, was a long shot to make the touring party.
Straeuli, however, denied that events in the past week had any bearing on his final choice.
”The incident between Davids and Cronje didn’t affect our final analysis. This is definitely the best possible squad we could have chosen,” he explained.
”This incident will only make us stronger, but we realise that the hard work starts now.”
He said he was pleased with how the matter was handled.
”I’m very satisfied with the way team management, myself, Sarfu and SA Rugby dealt with the matter and we must now put it behind us.”
Sarfu launched an investigation following a newspaper report last Thursday alleging that Cronje had refused to share a room or bathroom facilities with Davids during the Springbok training camp taking place in Pretoria. — Sapa