OPINION: Quota failure shows the Warriors are doing something wrong

There was some controversy this week after the Warriors missed out on a spot in the One Day Cup cricket playoffs for falling short of quotas, and while they will no doubt feel hard done by, the real question that should be raised is not whether it was fair.

The real question is: How is it possible that the Warriors couldn’t find three black African players to include in their team during the round robin stages?

As controversial as quotas are in South African sport, with a population that is around 80% black African, the reality is that they shouldn’t be difficult to achieve.

In terms of whether it was fair, the answer is simple. Yes, it was.

Every franchise in the One Day Cup is not only aware of the rules, but has also agreed to the rules by entering the competition.

And what makes it worse is that the Warriors only had to communicate the situation to Cricket South Africa in advance, in order to avoid losing points and receiving a fine. They didn’t bother.

Not the only sport with quotas

Quotas are nothing new. For a long time, teams at the National Netball Championships have been docked points for not achieving racial targets.

Interestingly, at the domestic netball showpiece, it goes two ways, and teams are also docked points for not having enough white players in the team, which seems to be counter-productive as some sides have been bizarrely punished for having too many black players.

However, in the same way the cricket teams in the One Day Cup are aware of the quotas when they enter the competition, the netball teams are aware of the situation, and they need to ensure they reach quotas if they want to hold on to their points.

South Africans are still not starting on the same footing, decades after apartheid rule was abolished, and until we see sufficient black African players being selected for national teams on merit, quotas remain necessary.

It’s not a good idea to introduce quotas at international level, where we need our best players on the field, but in terms of development, quotas ensure clubs, districts and provinces are making an effort to give people in disadvantaged areas equal opportunities.

So the question isn’t really ‘why were the Warriors punished?’. The better question is ‘why aren’t the Warriors driving development in the Eastern Cape?’.

We know white people are no better at cricket than black people, and when the vast majority of our population is black, if you can’t find three players from our nation’s largest demographic to include in your provincial team, you’re doing something wrong.