I listened, up to a point, to the discussion on sports transformation on Radio 702 on Tuesday and, frankly, didn’t learn much.
The programme experienced technical difficulties, which didn’t help, but it was clear that a subject this complex could never be covered adequately in that format.
The minister of sport was given the biggest platform, and he used it in his inimitable style to display his self-confidence without actually addressing the issues at stake.And the audience/phone-in participants were, in the main, married to the narrow views they held before the affair got going.
As a debate, the exercise was a failure, though it would be foolish to think it would be anything but that on such a platform.There is both a moral and a strategic imperative to transform sport.
That’s what the chairman of the eminent persons group on transformation in sport, Dr Willie Basson, said on the programme, and who can argue with that?It’s morally right to correct the wrongs of the past, and sporting codes who believe they can continue to thrive with a predominantly white player base in a country where the white population is less than 20 percent, and shrinking, are deluded.
Having said that, the rest of the discussion seemed to focus on making the argument for those imperatives, without trying to find out why, 22 years into the new dispensation, statistics show there is little movement in that direction.
The minister used the words “we are working on that”, or similar, in response to several questions and criticisms, without explaining what the work entails, while at the same time the response from sporting federations that they are working on moving towards transformation was dismissed as inadequate.
At the risk of being the one with a hammer as the only implement in his toolbox who sees every problem as a nail, I have to say the real issue here is school sport. Unless transformation is addressed from that end, there is no chance of success. The minister said there is an exciting announcement about school sport coming up. I’m looking forward to it, but my expectations are not high.
The sad facts are that there is just about nothing going on, sport or teaching-wise, in most schools in the country. I hammered away a few weeks ago, that with no fields, equipment, coaching or organised competition, there is no significant sport being played, and with no playing there can be no development.
Talk about moral and strategic imperatives! How about getting the children playing. And only the government can do that. The sports federations don’t have the resources, they don’t have the access, and it’s not their job to get involved in the educational process. And school sport is part of education, first and always.
At the same time, it’s clear the national sporting bodies have not done enough to please the minister, and the eminent person’s group, in terms of the scorecard that has been set up to measure the various aspects of transformation.
And I’d even agree that things won’t happen unless there are consequences for non-compliance. So, rugby and cricket, among others, have been banned from hosting major international tournaments.If that is going to galvanise them into doing what they can to make the necessary changes, then so be it.
I fear, however, that while all of this will lead to more black faces in national teams, there cannot be real, sustainable transformation of sporting codes until sport is rolled out to all schools in a well-organised, sustainable way, following all the principles of talent identification and development.
Thank goodness I got home in time on Tuesday to watch the black players in the Baby Boks do most of the business in the second half of the game against Japan. It meant I could switch off the radio and not listen to the end of that transformation non-debate.
Independent Media