The Springboks Are The Best Team In The Word Because They Transformed

This last weeks furore in South African cricket over the Eastern Province Warriors failure to meet transformation targets got me thinking about how rugby, ironically, has been the trailblazers in local sport.

I say ironically because during the apartheid era, the Springboks were regarded by many as the poster boys of white supremacy.

The lilywhite Boks were hated by large factions in this country and understandably so. Until 1992, only whites qualified for the Springboks and if you were not white, why would you support a team that excluded you?

To this day there are many South Africans who still cannot bring themselves to support the Boks. In the Western and Eastern Cape there are All Blacks supporters clubs who turn out en masse to support the Kiwis when they play here. The All Blacks have long enjoyed this fanatical support because they were the one team that was capable of beating the Boks in South Africa.

This is perfectly understandable and the Boks can only hope that actions speak louder than words. As the team continues to show happy integration, the numbers of the Cape Crusaders, as they call themselves, will diminish. We will find that the children of the Cape Crusaders will support the Boks as their parents schooled in a very different South Africa die out.