Sports minister questions Springboks on Black Lives Matter kneeling
Gloucester and Worcester's respective South African players of Ruan Ackerman and Francois Venter were also spotted not kneeling
Sports minister Nathi Mthethwa wants an explanation from SA Rugby after a number of Springboks were seen not kneeling in acknowledgement of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement before last week’s English premiership matches.
In the Sale Sharks camp, which boasts not less than eight South African players, including Faf de Klerk, Lood de Jager, Coenie Oosthuizen, Jono Ross, Akker van der Merwe, Dan du Preez, Jean-Luc du Preez and Robert du Preez, none of the players chose to kneel in their match against the Harlequins.
The South Africans’ open defiance was joined by British trio Manu Tuilagi, Willgriff John and Byron McGuigan. Only a handful of players, including Tom Curry, Sam Hill, Simon Hammersley, Marland Yarde and a further four of the seven bench players, knelt.
“We don’t want to jump the gun on the specific matter of the South African players in England who didn’t kneel in support of the BLM movement, but we did say we want to understand what’s happening. What is the position of SA Rugby in all of this?” explained Mthethwa.
“Upon seeing this, I interacted with SA Rugby through its president [Mark Alexander] and I asked him to explain what’s happening so that we are on the same wavelength. You must remember, we were together at the World Cup in Japan as a country, with the players and one thing which cannot be tolerated is when somebody is displaying racist behaviour and showing racist attitude.” Gloucester and Worcester’s respective South African players of Ruan Ackerman and Francois Venter were also spotted not kneeling. – @SabeloBoksburg
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