Africa is in my blood
Aug 1st 2007, 4:10 pm
#46
BE Forum Addict
Joined: Apr 2007
Posts: 1,424
Re: Africa is in my blood
So I'll step into the fray..
6000 asked"So why then, in the Pablo scheme of things do "whites play rugby and blacks play football"?
In any village, anywhere in Africa (and the World), a tennis ball, plastic Ball , any sort of round ball will immediately gather teams of Kids of all races creeds and colours.
If that's not available, I've seen balls made from newspaper ,animal bladders etc being used.
The United Cricket board, under Dr Ali Bachers Guidance as well as the SA Tennis Foundation recognised this and distributed thousands of bats, Tennis balls and every Tennis racket they could get donated into the townships in the 70's
They held coaching sessions , well advertised , and promoted to try and develop talent to cover exactly this problem arising.
Danie Cravens rugby board also jumped on the Bandwagon and distributed something like 5000 odd rugby balls.
Flat line.
We were asked to conduct market research as to why this spectacular failure.
Results in order of priority:
Rugby was the game of the oppressor , therefore anyone who played it was seen as a possible impimpi or sellout.
This was promoted by ALL the "Freedom Fighter" organisations.
A tennis ball could be played with on your own, a tennis ball and Bat you needed at least one other and a tomato box, a Tennis racket needed a tennis court and someone else.
A rugby ball was more difficult to handle and you had to have someone else or a whole team.
The scoring system was harder to grasp.
I doubt that anyone who loves Rugby would not watch a game where all members of the team were chosen because they were the best of the best.
irrespective of colour.
I would ask wether rugby is being played in the township schools today at break times? or is it Soccer/Football?
If not, then the only potential talent is going to come from the Wealthier suburbs and rugby will continue to struggle as an us and them game
and this whole argument, fueled by being dictated that irrespective of ability, there will be x amount of tribes represented, will also continue.
6000 asked"So why then, in the Pablo scheme of things do "whites play rugby and blacks play football"?
In any village, anywhere in Africa (and the World), a tennis ball, plastic Ball , any sort of round ball will immediately gather teams of Kids of all races creeds and colours.
If that's not available, I've seen balls made from newspaper ,animal bladders etc being used.
The United Cricket board, under Dr Ali Bachers Guidance as well as the SA Tennis Foundation recognised this and distributed thousands of bats, Tennis balls and every Tennis racket they could get donated into the townships in the 70's
They held coaching sessions , well advertised , and promoted to try and develop talent to cover exactly this problem arising.
Danie Cravens rugby board also jumped on the Bandwagon and distributed something like 5000 odd rugby balls.
Flat line.
We were asked to conduct market research as to why this spectacular failure.
Results in order of priority:
Rugby was the game of the oppressor , therefore anyone who played it was seen as a possible impimpi or sellout.
This was promoted by ALL the "Freedom Fighter" organisations.
A tennis ball could be played with on your own, a tennis ball and Bat you needed at least one other and a tomato box, a Tennis racket needed a tennis court and someone else.
A rugby ball was more difficult to handle and you had to have someone else or a whole team.
The scoring system was harder to grasp.
I doubt that anyone who loves Rugby would not watch a game where all members of the team were chosen because they were the best of the best.
irrespective of colour.
I would ask wether rugby is being played in the township schools today at break times? or is it Soccer/Football?
If not, then the only potential talent is going to come from the Wealthier suburbs and rugby will continue to struggle as an us and them game
and this whole argument, fueled by being dictated that irrespective of ability, there will be x amount of tribes represented, will also continue.
Aug 1st 2007, 8:32 pm
#47
BE Enthusiast
Joined: Jul 2007
Location: Wellington, New Zealand
Posts: 389
Re: Africa is in my blood
Kiwi , did you even read your own link ? or did you do the selective reading that happens so often.
firstly the dept of home affairs doesnt have the power to withhold passports .Its not a privilege but a right protected by the constitution.
Secondly that article was written on the 7th of May. The Bill was to be discussed in the National Assembly on 16 May after which it was sent to the NCOP, upon whose approval it would have been signed by the President by mid-June. Has that happened ? NO.
The SA rugby squad was announced in July, no quotas enforced. In a squad of 30 player not even six non white players. That is the squad that will be going to the world Cup in France. I personally wish them well.
firstly the dept of home affairs doesnt have the power to withhold passports .Its not a privilege but a right protected by the constitution.
Secondly that article was written on the 7th of May. The Bill was to be discussed in the National Assembly on 16 May after which it was sent to the NCOP, upon whose approval it would have been signed by the President by mid-June. Has that happened ? NO.
The SA rugby squad was announced in July, no quotas enforced. In a squad of 30 player not even six non white players. That is the squad that will be going to the world Cup in France. I personally wish them well.
No quotas are being enforced right now and in this world cup, but this will be the last, i am pretty sure.
Aug 3rd 2007, 10:39 am
#48
Forum Regular
Joined: Apr 2007
Location: Cape Town
Posts: 209
Re: Africa is in my blood
So I'll step into the fray..
6000 asked"So why then, in the Pablo scheme of things do "whites play rugby and blacks play football"?
In any village, anywhere in Africa (and the World), a tennis ball, plastic Ball , any sort of round ball will immediately gather teams of Kids of all races creeds and colours.
If that's not available, I've seen balls made from newspaper ,animal bladders etc being used.
The United Cricket board, under Dr Ali Bachers Guidance as well as the SA Tennis Foundation recognised this and distributed thousands of bats, Tennis balls and every Tennis racket they could get donated into the townships in the 70's
They held coaching sessions , well advertised , and promoted to try and develop talent to cover exactly this problem arising.
Danie Cravens rugby board also jumped on the Bandwagon and distributed something like 5000 odd rugby balls.
Flat line.
We were asked to conduct market research as to why this spectacular failure.
Results in order of priority:
Rugby was the game of the oppressor , therefore anyone who played it was seen as a possible impimpi or sellout.
This was promoted by ALL the "Freedom Fighter" organisations.
A tennis ball could be played with on your own, a tennis ball and Bat you needed at least one other and a tomato box, a Tennis racket needed a tennis court and someone else.
A rugby ball was more difficult to handle and you had to have someone else or a whole team.
The scoring system was harder to grasp.
I doubt that anyone who loves Rugby would not watch a game where all members of the team were chosen because they were the best of the best.
irrespective of colour.
I would ask wether rugby is being played in the township schools today at break times? or is it Soccer/Football?
If not, then the only potential talent is going to come from the Wealthier suburbs and rugby will continue to struggle as an us and them game
and this whole argument, fueled by being dictated that irrespective of ability, there will be x amount of tribes represented, will also continue.
6000 asked"So why then, in the Pablo scheme of things do "whites play rugby and blacks play football"?
In any village, anywhere in Africa (and the World), a tennis ball, plastic Ball , any sort of round ball will immediately gather teams of Kids of all races creeds and colours.
If that's not available, I've seen balls made from newspaper ,animal bladders etc being used.
The United Cricket board, under Dr Ali Bachers Guidance as well as the SA Tennis Foundation recognised this and distributed thousands of bats, Tennis balls and every Tennis racket they could get donated into the townships in the 70's
They held coaching sessions , well advertised , and promoted to try and develop talent to cover exactly this problem arising.
Danie Cravens rugby board also jumped on the Bandwagon and distributed something like 5000 odd rugby balls.
Flat line.
We were asked to conduct market research as to why this spectacular failure.
Results in order of priority:
Rugby was the game of the oppressor , therefore anyone who played it was seen as a possible impimpi or sellout.
This was promoted by ALL the "Freedom Fighter" organisations.
A tennis ball could be played with on your own, a tennis ball and Bat you needed at least one other and a tomato box, a Tennis racket needed a tennis court and someone else.
A rugby ball was more difficult to handle and you had to have someone else or a whole team.
The scoring system was harder to grasp.
I doubt that anyone who loves Rugby would not watch a game where all members of the team were chosen because they were the best of the best.
irrespective of colour.
I would ask wether rugby is being played in the township schools today at break times? or is it Soccer/Football?
If not, then the only potential talent is going to come from the Wealthier suburbs and rugby will continue to struggle as an us and them game
and this whole argument, fueled by being dictated that irrespective of ability, there will be x amount of tribes represented, will also continue.
And yes, rugby is less popular in black communities for all those reasons you list above - and they're all pretty valid, in my opinion. The "sport of the oppressor" is a furrow that we have to get out of, but then trying to find a school local to me (yes, I live in a "white" suburb) that has a football team is proving difficult. Why? - because the white parents see football as a "black" sport - thus, not for their kids. So it works both ways.
Of course, football can be played anywhere. Competitive rugby can't. You need fields/space. It's tough to play on a street - tarmac (if you're lucky enough to have tarmac streets) hurts. In many cases, those fields and that space are just not available in the poorer neighbourhoods.
6000.
Aug 5th 2007, 7:25 am
#49
Banned
Joined: Aug 2007
Location: Kuwait - Sringboard to Djibouti
Posts: 305
Re: Africa is in my blood
Yes, Africa is in my blood - a lot of which is in the mosquito's stomach!! My family home is in Gambia - the Smiling Coast of Africa. Happy, exasperating, laid back, safe and dangerous, kind and totally undeveloped. I as an immigrant am able to love it to its best by arriving with the economic means to make a difference (to me). Can't help but relect that this was probably the attitude of the settlers in Rhodesia and SA a hundred years ago - and that was hardly sustainable. All this romantic stuff about the red (laterite) dust being blood stained is BLX. It is simply iron oxide. History has a habit of being the way it was and really you have to take it from there. I personally am not big enough to affect my place in the world other than at a personal level and this is what I try to do well and the reaction from my African friends - poor and poorer reinforces my love for the place. By comparsion the Brits in the UK are just not up there...
Aug 5th 2007, 1:20 pm
#50
Joined: Jul 2007
Posts: 6,669
Re: Africa is in my blood
And your post reflects the situation in South Africa, how?
Aug 6th 2007, 2:41 am
#51
Forum Regular
Joined: Jul 2007
Posts: 136
Re: Africa is in my blood
Meeting people anywhere is hard if you are not willing to make the effort. I found it hard at first to, but now each day set myself a target of meeting and greeting a new person.. Most people just complain about how hard it is. Get up extend the hand and go out of your way to meet people- does wonders..
