Luke Watson’s father, Dan ”Cheeky” Watson, believes that a sinister ”third force” holds power in South African rugby, according to the Star newspaper.
In a report on Wednesday, the paper stated that Cheeky felt that his son was paying for his own political activism. Cheeky, who played rugby in the townships in the 1970s, turned his back on Springbok rugby due to political beliefs.
Rugby has been embroiled in yet another round of turmoil since the weekend when South African Rugby Union (Saru) president Oregan Hoskins overruled Springbok coach Jake White and the selection panel by including Luke Watson in the Springbok training squad.
According to the Star, Cheeky believes that South African rugby has an apartheid mentality, and that ”this ‘sinister third force running rugby’ would be unmasked in coming months”.
However, the paper reported that Cheeky won’t intervene on his son’s behalf. ”It is his fight,” he said.
Saru deputy president Mike Stofile was quoted by the paper on Tuesday as saying: ”Luke especially has been treated unfairly. But there is no way that he can suffer because of what Cheeky has done in the past. We will not allow it to happen.
”In fact, we should applaud the contribution that Cheeky Watson has made to this country. He was one of us, fighting for the liberation of the country. We cannot have a situation where those people’s children get victimised because of their parents’ actions.”
White has maintained that Luke was excluded purely on rugby terms.
However, according to the paper, Luke himself says he is just happy to have finally received a call-up to a Bok training camp. ”Right now I’m just looking forward to the camp, even if it lasts only two days,” he said.