The temporary disappointment of South Africa’s unsuccessful bid to host the 2011 Rugby World Cup has not changed the challenges facing South African rugby, President Thabo Mbeki said on Friday.
”We must continue to work hard to ensure that rugby ultimately serves to showcase the kind of South Africa millions of our people are striving to build,” he said in his weekly newsletter on the African National Congress website.
”We must continue to do everything we can to encourage the growth of rugby on our continent, to place Africa among the giants of world rugby.
”We must build rugby in our country into such a force that, in future, the rugby-playing nations of the world will want to come to our country to celebrate the reinvigoration and rebirth of rugby both as a popular and truly national sport, and a potent force for the creation of a humane post-apartheid society,” Mbeki said.
While congratulating New Zealand on its successful bid to host the 2011 event, he said South Africa should ensure that ”we prepare ourselves so that the outcome of the inevitable contest between the Springboks and the All Blacks both in 2007 and 2011 is never in doubt”.
Transformation
Turning to transformation in rugby, Mbeki said rugby occupies an important place in the national psyche.
”Our rugby leaders need to recognise and respect this reality and respond to it with the necessary sensitivity.”
The South African Rugby Union (Saru) was surely correct when it said, among other things, that transformation should result in a visible increase in the number of black people in management positions, on the rugby field and among spectators and supporters.
”Hopefully the Saru constitutional bodies will soon ratify the transformation charter and put in place the necessary mechanisms to ensure its implementation, obviously with the full participation of the provincial unions, among others.”
The positive perspective and possibilities available to Saru in terms of the growth and deracialisation of rugby were demonstrated by Saru’s own findings concerning the state of rugby in the country, he said.
These included the finding that there were currently almost equal numbers of black and white senior players, and more black than white junior players. In addition, black fans made up the majority of the 10-million rugby supporters in the country.
Role of the government
In addition to what Saru should do, the government would also have to play its role to facilitate the growth of non-racial rugby.
”In particular, we will have to provide resources to create the sports infrastructure that many black urban and rural areas lack.
”We will also have to pay attention to the encouragement of sports in schools and communities, including building the necessary cadre of qualified and dedicated sports coaches.”
It is also clear that the vigorous and sustained implementation of the rugby transformation charter will evoke a strongly positive response from the majority of the people.
Black and white players have been playing together in the provincial, national and other teams, with no obvious signs of undue racial tension.
”There is no reason why we cannot build on this as these teams change, as a result of the implementation of the Saru transformation charter,” Mbeki said. — Sapa