Springboks the beloved South African rugby national squad still lives in the era where the country has moved away from, it might not just be the rugby players but most white people still leave in the same era.
The era of hatred, segregation against African or black people. Going back to the history of our rugby national team: South Africa played its first rugby international in 1891, but it was not until they toured Britain in 1906 that they became known as the Springboks.
The sport was segregated under apartheid, with different organising bodies for different races and the national side uniformly white.
During the period non-white South Africans would sometimes cheer for the Springboks’ opponents in protest at the discrimination they suffered.
South Africa was restricted from the initial two rugby World Cups because of apartheid. It was readmitted to universal rugby in 1992 after authentic sporting discrimination was destroyed.
Nelson Mandela mediated to spare the Springbok emblem after the ANC came to power in 1994.
The post-apartheid era has seen a few racial debates in the game, with one Springbok coach sacked over racial remarks and Gert van Schalkwyk, a hooker, being chosen to play for the Pumas, one of the nation’s expert clubs, regardless of being convicted of the racist murder of a homeless man.
The issue of “transformation” remains prominent, with large traces of discrimination still being exhibited by the white Springbok players.
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The recent saga of Makazole Mampimpi reminded us that racism in South Africa is like herpes. It disappears and appears in the most awkward of times when South Africans have forgotten about it. Yesterday the Springboks demolished Italy at the rugby world cup 2019 which is currently played in Japan but how the players exhibited their hatred towards the black player, Mapimpi certainly left the whole country sad.
It made us wonder if they were able to show such hatred on the pitch what more do these black players face behind closed doors. Watch the video below where Mapimpi approaches some of his team players who are white but they ignore him and carouse each other, sadly Mapimpi walks away with no one to express his joy with.
We can't tolerate racism in our rugby squad, see for yourself 🏉🏉🏉😭😭😭 pic.twitter.com/HylkXnaE67
— KE SHARP (@danielmarven) October 4, 2019
We call on the South African government to immediately destroy racism in Springbok or stop them from playing any further competition.
