Manuel changes portfolio and allegiance
rugby365 columnist Jon Harris takes a look at the decision to allow Trevor Manuel to hand over the Springbok jerseys at a team function last Friday. He asks if this was a masterstroke or political posturing?
So in 1996 Trevor Manuel announced that he still supported the All Blacks. He had said it was difficult to break old habits. Naturally it offended all who supported the Springboks, and of course went against one of the most inherent traits of human kind, loyalty. But only in South Africa could it be accepted.
In a land where it has almost become a national preoccupation to be different, to rock the system, it was not as shocking a statement as it would have been in other sports mad parts of the World. The Australian Prime Minister was recently driven to make comment on the Ashes defeat of his national cricket team. Imagine the outcry there if he had publicly announced that he was a closet England supporter? How would New Zealanders react to one of their Cabinet Ministers supporting the Springboks? That question is posed 13 years after Manuel’s divisive comments, made two years into the new democracy. Comments which still rankle.
It is still a contentious issue, South Africans’s support of the All Blacks. In the Western Cape, there is a huge support base for them, evidence of which was last year’s Tri-Nations clash at Newlands, where it appeared as if there was more local support for the men in black than the green team. On match days, there is a large number of Silver Ferns on display all over town. There is a feeling too, that it is as much a paddle being used to stir the pot. Many of the modern South African All Black supporters, unlike Manuel, are clearly too young to have participated in any struggle other than that of paying their bills monthly. And we diehard Springbok supporters fall into the trap every time, showing our discontent, feeding their egos. It’s not a rugby thing, it’s a political poke.
That is why Manuel’s comment in 1996 still raises the hair on many a neck. In a country where rugby is a national passion, where a year earlier it had united 43 million South Africans, it was treason. It’s a relief to see that he has had a serious change of heart. The man did a great job as Minister of Finance, so his opinion on rugby did not matter to most.
In February 2006, Pippa Green, a visiting Ferris Professor of Journalism at Princeton University who at the time was working on a biography on Trevor Manuel, wrote in an article for Business Report “He had kept his comrades and friends close – he is renowned for his loyalty, occasionally to a fault.” If this is the case, is Mr Manuel’s change of allegiance to be trusted? It certainly points to his open letter to the Business Day, challenging editor Peter Bruce on his comments on Peter de Villiers. His loyalty to Peter de Villiers is admirable, whatever the motivation, but quite honestly it is not his area of expertise and certainly not within the jurisdiction of his Ministry. Signing the letter with his title attached was unnecessary and demonstrated his ego, a fear of not being taken seriously in the absence of the title.
His loyalty and public support of Peter de Villiers was immediately rewarded with the honour of handing out the jerseys to the team on Friday. That honour has gone to a variety of high profile sportsmen or personalities. Mostly it has been a tool of inspiration. The choice of personality has been predominantly within the sporting circles.
I like Peter de Villiers. In a pub yesterday, I heard that almost old argument that it is the players that are doing the coaching, that he inherited a great team at the top of their game. I’m not drifting away from the point, humour me. There is no way in the world that at this level of sport, the players can be coach and players at the same time AND still win. The cracks will show, and the crumbling will not be slow but monumental. He has been in charge for about 18 months or so, and the team is still number one in the World. Let’s be logical, the man can coach. He’s just unconventional, and may it be said, naive.
It was that naiveté which saw him return Manuel’s loyalty with the honour of handing the jerseys out. It was an inadvertent masterstroke. Each of those players, who were in mostly in their teens when the remark was made, has harboured dreams of playing for the Springboks. Ricky Januarie as an example would also have been effected by Apartheid, albeit as the Next Generation. All our lives were and still are being effected. But did Januarie or Jacobs, Petersen or Habana take the honour of representing South Africa as second best? Would they have preferred to have been an All Black but could not and became a Springbok instead? Obviously not. And through their adult lives, they would surely have been made aware of Manuel’s remarks, they were so contentious and hurtful.
Therein was the masterstroke Mr de Villiers. Every player possibly imagined Trevor Manuel in a Black jersey, grinning and coughing up his rhetoric. They, in my opinion would have been immensely motivated to prove him wrong, to hand him a defeat.
Apparently Sean Fitzpatrick is available for next week’s presentation. Why not spread our wings a bit? David Campese for the Australia test?
Finally, and it is the true essence of the issue, this is political posturing serving the ego of the politician more than the purpose. Where does it stop? Why has President Zuma not presented the jerseys yet? Surely there is a pecking order in their protocol? This was abuse of power and served the person. It backfired on that same politician, as he is still remembered for his stance and everyone is questioning his position.
Let’s do our best to keep rugby as rugby. Yes, in South Africa, politics will form a part of the sport for years to come, but they are political issues. Do not blur the lines between these issues and politics itself. There are many Springbok heroes including the rugby greats from the “Federation”, who would be more fitting to use for this honour. Or greats from other sporting codes, like when Ernie Els was given the honour. What about Oscar Pretorius or Lucas Radebe?
Keep it clean.
* What is your view? Should only legendary former players hand over jerseys or have we gone too far down the political road to stop now?
