The furore over Ashwin Willemse’s controversial studio walk-off in protest against being patronised by fellow Supersport analysts Naas Botha and Nick Mallet brought to light a few home truths about this wonderful sport that we all love and which has given us so much to celebrate over the years.
To start with, I am a diehard fan of Noord Transvaal/Blue Bulls rugby and Hendrik Ignatius Botha is one of my childhood heroes. One of my earliest childhood memories as a fan of this wondrous sport being his imperious performance in the 1987 Currie Cup final against Transvaal where he singlehandedly won the trophy for the Bulle scoring all twenty four points in a 24-18 victory.
From there on, I was to become an uncompromisingly passionate fan of Blou Bulle rugby, with heroes such as former lock Adolf Malan, the imperious counter-attacking brilliance of former fullback Gerbrand Grobler, the elusive running and finishing prowess of the “try king of Pretoria” Jacques Olivier, the silky skills of centre Jannie Claasens. This was a team I supported and loved more than any other.
In fact, one of my most painful sporting memories remains the 1990 Currie Cup final when Tony Watson famously scored a try to win Natal’s (the Banana Boys) first ever Currie Cup in a hundred years. To see Wahl Bartmann lift the trophy on that fateful day at Loftus is a painful memory that will forever be etched in me. So, not to belabour the point, but my bloed is heeltemal blou and Naas Botha was one of the first rugby heroes of my life, with the “Naas is Baas” board at a packed Newlands as Botha dominated the game against our auld enemy Western Province being a particularly fond memory.
But for all this love for rugby and for the Bulle, it appears that for us black South Africans, our love will forever remain an unrequited love as rugby people continue to patronise us and treat us as inferiors and outsiders as Willemse’s very calm protest last Saturday revealed.
I have a mate from varsity, who just so happens to be black and he has a suite at Loftus. I would often go there to watch the Bulle. I remember once coming out the suite at half time and running into a group of Afrikaner Bulle fans in the toilet and they patronisingly asked me as I entered, “when is the Orlando Pirates versus Kaizer Chiefs game?” (The assumption being that I was in the wrong place as a black fellow because in race conscious South Africa even our sporting preferences are racially polarised with soccer being seen as a “black sport” and rugby being seen as a “white sport.).