No to forced transformation in rugby or any other sport

Expect more and more players to leave the country in the next four years after the government so proudly announced that the national rugby team MUST be 50 per cent black by 2019.

Every day, government fails to give people houses, fix roads and feed the hungry, yet they force the e-toll system and target successful sport teams.
Don’t get me wrong, merit is and always should be the only criterion but the government has changed that. To them it is colour above all else.

They keep on telling us that we live in a new democracy, but do they live by its rules?

Why force something on a system that works? The Springboks – a proud, disciplined sport team and the only sport team to have won a World Cup for this country – is rated second among the rugby playing nations of the world. Over the years none of the Bok teams ever has been an embarrassment to our country – neither on nor off the field – unlike national teams in some other sporting codes.

Choose players on merit; if the whole team is black because they are our best players, so be it. In the same breath, if the whole team is white but they are our best players, so be it. How could that be a problem?

Nevertheless, I can sit behind my desk and mope all I want, it won’t change anything. However, those cobblers who do not stick to their last should be warned that spectator numbers will keep on declining and sponsors will lose interest because once something goes political, it becomes messy, especially in sport.

What will those in government who obviously have nothing better to do – or so they believe – dream up next? We are waiting with bated breath – or not.