Quotas let new talent flourish… cricket should take note

The wonderful sense of national pride which overwhelmed us after the Boks’ Rugby World Cup triumph has almost – but not quite – put to bed the awful, divisive spectre of quotas.

Almost, because while very few intelligent rugby fans would ever regard Siya Kolisi, Lukanyo Am, Makozole Mapimpi or Cheslin Kolbe as “quota players”, the reality is that plenty of young non-white players from disadvantaged backgrounds still need doors to be opened for them so their talent can flourish.

The issue of quotas is still very much alive and well in cricket, and it is an ideologically, as well as emotionally, divisive issue, as researcher Mary Ann Dove discovered when compiling material for her PhD thesis at the University of Cape Town.

Dove spoke to a number of current cricket players, some of them stars, and found that while the system does give opportunities for young, black players to get noticed, there is a negative flipside. And that is the fact that there is still a quota “stigma” hanging over a black player, who often feels he is regarded as inferior because he got there because of his colour and not through merit.

That factor is something which could impact heavily on the confidence of a player and may already have seen cricketers disappear from the national stage because they never had the psychological strength to cope.

On the other hand, players Dove spoke to recognised the need for quotas in the short term, but were firm in their belief that the quota system was no substitute for substantial investment in the game at grassroots level, particularly in the areas of equipment and quality coaching.

Rugby is still far from perfect, but it has used quotas to bring new talent to the fore – with obvious success. Cricket needs to follow suit.

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