hatfield1

Get some coffee in that blood.

SeaninOzalready

I used to think this to. That is till I took one look at Australia 7 years ago and never looked back. When I left SA after my degree (with no work experience), people said I was mad- they said that there was no better place than Africa. Whilst I agreed at the time and was extremely unhappy during my first year in the UK, I eventually got a job that has taken me all over the world and opened my eyes to different cultures and ways of life.

I think that for alot of SAFFAS, SA is all they know and all they care to know. Plus the exchange rate is so bad that for 90% of the country they will never be able to afford an overseas holiday in the foreseeable future. I know my parents would love to move back to Europe, but they have a good life and in middle age it becomes harder to start again, so they just invest their money in higher walls and biggers dogs etc.

Having been in Sydney for 2 years now, I feel completely at home. You really can't buy the feeling of surety of leaving your car at the shopping centre and then coming back and having it still where you parked it instead of in a chop shop somewhere. The lack of taxis again is a godsend. I have no desire to go back and am enjoying exploring my new country thoroughly. In alot of ways Ozzie is like SA, and you also get the brown sand.. For me this is it and it could not get any better. Advance Australia Fair is my motto from now..

Sometimes I get a little hankering back to the old days, but then I have to remind myself that they are best remembered as they were. The same as Zim- best remembered as a place I had great childhood holidays before 'Bob the Breaker' decide to screw it up..

mingusdynasty

how long before you settled in London?

SeaninOzalready

I felt abit more settled after 2 years, but that was because I threw myself into it and mixed with other nationalities(got out Southfields and Wimbledon) and embraced my job etc.

Alot of younger Saffas complain (in Oz too) as they expect to have a maid to wipe their noses etc and can't do their own ironing etc. My ex housemate could not even work the washing machine. Tallk about a lame duck. Plus I used to do lots of trips to Europe (work and pleasure) and joined a rugby club and gym. The only way to remain sane if you ask me.

jjj

Anyone seen "In my country"?

kiwibok

Africa is in my blood, true. But corruption, incompetence, violence, rape, murder, farm attacks, AA, BEE, stupidity, communism, child abuse, toy toying are not and never will be.

SeaninOzalready

Does anyone still wear their Bok jerseys in their new countries? I have stopped wearing mine since coming to Oz and now have a Wallaby jersey. I think that this is always the ultimate sign of assimilation...

kiwibok

I wear mine, but only because I do not have citizenship here yet. Not sure what I will do once I have my citizenship, however by then SA will be the real "all blacks" due to the new rules coming into play, so i may be supporting NZ by then.

SeaninOzalready

I always wore mine in London for the five years that I was there, but then I never really embraced it as my home. Australia for me is the way forward and it has offered me so much, that I now support Oz at sport- never thought I would see the day.. But na yeah..

somme

So pleases I read this tread, spent time in SA and Botswana on and off for years, I wondered about Oz and now we have just received our visa's it seems more promising than ever.
Read on here though, meeting people in Oz is harder than UK or Africa.

Juggernaut

I wear mine, but only because I do not have citizenship here yet. Not sure what I will do once I have my citizenship, however by then SA will be the real "all blacks" due to the new rules coming into play, so i may be supporting NZ by then

Kiwibok you should just call yourself Kiwi do us all a favour. What new rules are you talking about ? or are you pre-empting what SARU will do ?
I hate it when politicians meddle in sport but why is it that some rugby administrators has to be threatened and bullied into doing whats right .
Quotas shouldnt be necesary and should never be imposed at a national level .
Jack White seems to be on the right track though . "Jake White has brought in more players of colour than any previous Springbok coach, and with fantastic results. This can be illustrated by what happened in July this year. After suffering a comprehensive defeat to Australia in Sydney, Jake rang the changes and announced a squad that contained an unprecedented nine black players. Cue howls of protest and murmurings of discontent from Springbok ‘supporters’. The Boks, with scrumhalf Enrico Januarie and wing Bryan Habana shining, recorded a memorable 33-20 win against the Aussies."

Imagine the team we would have if we harness and develop all our rugby talent in S.A. from ground level up.

6000

You won't support black South African players, then?

kiwibok

Don't try and put words in my mouth. I find it hard to support black players that are in the team ONLY BECAUSE they are black, while the better players (whites) are sidelined. It really has got nothing to do with skin colors but everything to do with the best team not being put forward. Now I hear that the gwarvamoont has to approve of the rugby teams, what next!!

But, like i said in my previous post, I still support the boks.

6000

Don't know where you heard that Government approval thing, but it's actually not the case. I can understand that there's a lot of misinformation, rumours and accusations around the transformation issue, but even SARU are saying that they're getting fed up of it:

SA rugby should undergo transformation - it needs to: desperately - only then will it even come close to being the national sport. At the moment, the divide exists merely because there are a lack of black or coloured role models for kids; and there's simply a lack of interest in the sport in those cultures.

Juggernaut

Kiwibok ...why do you think it is that most white south africans love to make fun of the way black people pronounce english words .Has it occured to you that english isnt their first language. I wonder how you would do with Zulu or Xhosa . When a black accent is heard the speaker is immediately seen to be less intelligent .Why not start to listen to the content instead.

You already assume that the better player will be white - your words not mine .seems to me that black players have to be way better than their white counterparts just to be seen as equals. You see a squad of more than six black players and immediately its labled as a "development squad"

But I guess its got nothing to do with skin colour ....right ?