Quotas revisited

In my forthcoming text on South African rugby (among other things) there's much space dedicated to the quota system, so much in fact that I've named a chapter "of deeds past and quotas future", bringing in old Steinbeck as an allusion to his work Of Mice and Men. As a historian, my job is to reconstruct and interpret the past and in my interviews with rugby folk in SA, no one thought that black representation was that much of an issue. Everyone agreed that there was plenty of talent, especially at school's and U20's provincial level and that the lack of Springboks of colour was due to other aspects such as physical prowess etc. Now, the SARU has decided that quotas are needed in the Vodacom Cup. Whether they are right in this assessment or that it should appease an opinion (real or imagined) it is quite sad that its implemented. Of the people me and my research associate has spoken to, racial integration has taken huge leaps since 1994 and the lack of representation is due to malnutrition in early years (not that players that 'the beast' or Chiliboy Ralapelle look malnutrioned to me).

What struck me in the text and the subsequent comments made by Mr. de Villiers is the fear making the quota players "tokens". The same fear was articulated in the Sydney Morning Press in 1981 when Errol Tobias was selected as the first Springbok of colour and what a fine player Tobias was. I think that he would have been offended if anyone had suggested that he was there as token. And seriously, you don't want to offend South African rugby players...

I don't have an answer to the racial issues in SA rugby, but I do know that it doesn't begin with quoting Vodacom Cup. That's for sure...

A first...

... version of the forthcoming work on discourses on SA Sports was handed in yesterday. Finally! It is by no means a final product, but it is a start anyway. Will perhaps leak a few lines now and then...

What the h**l?

First of all, what the bloody *peeeep* happened to all previous posts in this blog??? Haven't the faintest...

Just a quick update: The piece on media discourses regarding the unification process in South African rugby is coming along nicely. Well, nicely isn't the proper word. More like flotsam and jetsam which hopefully will be pieced together at the end of the month. Research can be like that sometimes. You write stuff, put some notes to it and then forget all about it until you come across it again and piece it together with some other part. It looks quite erratic, but it usually comes together in the end, as was the case with the Ottoman project. And that turned out quite good, didn't it? :)

And just when you think "ah well, that's it, then"... Big frikkin' mistake as something that you ought to have put in the text somehow got lost on the way... That happened today, unfortunately... Won't tell you what it is, but its time to step on it until the midnight oil burns...

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The human mind can be quite strange sometimes. All of a sudden a new idea for a project comes along, before the other has been finished and all you can think about is that new project, which isn't real yet. Slowly and grudgingly one returns to sanity and keep writing on the current project. Luckily, my partner in crime, Robert, is much more structured and has a knack for bringing me down to earth...