IN A move that has shaken one of the sportiest countries in the world, South Africa’s government has told four of the country’s most muscular sports associations that they may no longer host international events because their teams are too white. Athletics, cricket, netball and rugby have all been thus chastised. Rugby feels sorest, as its union was set to bid to hold the World Cup at home in 2023. Only football, in the government’s view, has passed multiracial muster.
Whereas blacks make up four-fifths of the populace, they are still a small minority in many top teams. A growing number of South Africans of mixed race—still known as Coloureds—are excelling in rugby and (along with some players of Indian descent) in cricket, but black Africans remain thinly represented at the top. This is largely because they have poor facilities and training programmes, so those sports have yet to catch on among the black majority. In cricket, ten private schools are said to have produced a third of South Africa’s international players since 1991.
Football is the most popular sport among black South Africans, whereas whites, especially Afrikaners (whites of mainly Dutch descent), still dominate at the top of rugby. For many blacks, the game still smacks of apartheid. John Carlin, whose book inspired the film “Invictus”, which portrayed Nelson Mandela...Continue reading
Source: Middle East and Africa http://ift.tt/26xgcuL
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