CSA’s knee rule should have been handled better

There is truth in the observation that sport is a mirror of society. The Springbok victory in the 1995 Rugby World Cup is a classic example. It brought the country together across race and political lines at a time when our “rainbow nation” was a beacon for the world.

Similarly, the burgeoning row over the decision by Cricket South Africa (CSA) to order Proteas players to “take the knee” in support of the global movement against racism, perfectly reflects our currently fractured and angry country.

There are those who believe the gesture solidifies the cry that “Black Lives Matter” (BLM), and underlines the reality that, for all the progress our country has made, we are still a very unequal society… and that inequality is often along racial lines.

On the other side are those who believe they should not be forced to apologise continually for what can be considered the “sins of their fathers” – colonialism and apartheid.

The bitter truth is that the CSA dictate is probably not going to satisfy anyone.

There will be players who will comply, but privately it will rankle that they have been forced to do something with which they fundamentally disagree. Supporters of the gesture will wonder, too, why it has to be so difficult for people not to take the knee because the injustice – in both South Africa and the world at large – is so plainly obvious.

CSA has handled the whole issue in an inept way, though, especially given that taking the knee has been a debating point for a long time now and has become an established practice among many sporting teams across the planet.

Why was there no genuine attempt to debate the discussion sparked by BLM and how it applies to us in South Africa, with our more than 300 years of colonial history?

How could there not have been a mutually agreed position, rather than an order? The fact that the CSA had to make it compulsory for the players to do this is the clearest indication that many within the camp are not comfortable with it.

Ordering employees to take what might be regarded as a political stand is something which might well be challenged legally in terms of people’s constitutional rights to freedom of association and expression. The “do this or get fired” attitude also smacks of the kragdadigheid (brute force) ways of the apartheid years.

However, at its core, the taking the knee controversy poses the fundamental question: Are whites unable to see the pain and hurt caused by the race-based policies of the past, not only in sport but in all facets of our community?

Or are the “lived experiences” of black people going to be forever talked over and dismissed as “anecdotal” (by the likes of people like Gareth Cliff)?

Saddest of all is the fact that it is possible that one of our country’s most talented players, Quinton de Kock, may become a high-profile victim, albeit by his own hand.

By opting out of yesterday’s T20 match at the last minute – and thereby not having to take the knee – for “personal reasons”, De Kock makes people wonder about what those reasons are. His job – and his career – may now be on the line as the CSA considers the situation.

And all of this in the middle of a T20 World Cup. How is a team supposed to deliver in this atmosphere, CSA? You could have handled this much better…