South Africans Looking to Perth
I remember copying this article (I think from Rugby Heaven or Fox) to send to some South African mates back in March.
Has anyone heard any further developments since then?
In my opinion, if these lads are prepared to make Australia home and forego Representative Honours for three years then "Welcome to Perth". The more depth that we get in Western Australian Clubs the quicker the standard of the game will improve here and the sooner our own born and bred players will reach the standard required to play Super 14.
Any thoughts?
Super 12 racial tensions
By Wayne Smith
March 31, 2005
YOUNG white South Africans fed up with the racial quota system that forces the republic's Super 12 teams to allocate positions to black players irrespective of relative selection merits have sounded out Perth's new Super 14 side about moving to Australia.
Perth chief executive Peter O'Meara said yesterday he would meet a South African in the next fortnight who is offering them a strong cross-section of under-19 players prepared to move to Western Australia, even though they would not be permitted to play Super 14 until they have served a three-year eligibility period.
The only South Africans who would immediately come into Super 14 consideration are those who, like Clyde Rathbone, instantly qualify to play for the Wallabies by virtue of having an Australian parent or grandparent.
"Unless they have that dispensation, they would have to go into our developmental program and not into the Super 14 squad," O'Meara said. "But apparently a number of young players are prepared to make that commitment and that sacrifice because they see their way to Super 12 selection in South Africa blocked by the quota system."
The player agent reportedly has links with the WA mining industry which O'Meara said is keen to support an academy program to develop Perth's rookie contingent.
Rathbone said he repeatedly heard complaints from South African players about selections forced on the four Super 12 teams and Currie Cup teams by the controversial quota policy.
"You hear it all the time," Rathbone said. "Guys get left out of teams and it's pretty obvious the reason they've been left out is because the team has to fulfil its quota. It's unfair on the bloke who gets left out and it's unfair on the bloke who gets selected because his team-mates feel that he's there because of his colour.
"It (the quota system) doesn't work. Rather than start with the Boks and say there has to be a certain number of black players regardless of whether they're good enough, it's better to start at the bottom and work up. Get the black players into the top schools and expose them to proper nutrition and coaching."
The affirmative action program, which applies across all of South African society and not just to sport, attempts to address the historic imbalances left over from the apartheid era when only whites were allowed to represent the country and 'players of colour' were denied access to the best training and competition facilities.
In 1998, the South African Rugby Football Union imposed designated selection numbers on the Vodacom Cup competition, but the strict quota system was abandoned when it became obvious that whatever number was stipulated, be it three black players or five, was viewed by some coaches as the maximum number they were prepared to select in their sides, not the minimum.
The South African media has tended to take a similar stance, targeting those black Springboks players they considered owed their selections not to merit but to the quota system. Stand-out footballers such as Stormers flyer Breyton Paulse, the most capped winger in Springboks history, and prop Lawrence Sephaka have largely escaped criticism but others such as hooker Dale Santon and centre Gcobani Bobo have not been as fortunate.
In recent years, the quota system has been modified to a less prescriptive 'targeting policy' which appears to be succeeding, judging by the fact that a third of South Africa's 36-strong side assembled for the under-19 World Cup is black. But racial selection controversies continue to dog the sport, with different policies in place in different regions of South Africa.
