Black and White

New Springbok coach Jake White’s reality check was not long in coming. In fact he had been the coach for just about a minute when he was given his first harsh insight into the stresses and strains of the job.

White had hardly shaken hands with the ranking members of Sarfu and SA Rugby (Pty) Ltd who had appointed him and sat down to face the media at the Press conference at which he was named before he was faced with the issues that none of his peers in other countries have to deal with.

Why, Sarfu president Brian van Rooyen was asked, did they not appoint a black coach?

Some of the other questions fired at White were also of the chip-on-the-shoulder, dagger-in-the-heart variety and he handled his inquisitors with aplomb; pointing out that if any South African coach had picked and developed talented black players it would be he during his time with the under 21s.

Hopefully, however, Sarfu will not make the mistake with White as they did with all their other Springbok coaches by holding him responsible for transformation.

Without getting into some of the sensitive issues, such as whether the Springbok team should reflect the demographics of the country or of the game, affirmative action is an unavoidable reality of post-democratic South African society and it has been used as a stick to beat a succession of coaches by too many commentators who fail to grasp the unalterable fundamental about top-class sport - and that is that the only measure of success is success itself.

Teams, or individuals for that matter, are not judged by their attitudes or their morals. They are rated by whether they win or not. Winning = success; losing = failure.

That is just the way it is and to lump the Springbok coach with any other responsibility is not only unfair on the individual but out of step with the true ideals of competition.

Thus it is to be hoped that amidst the swishing of Brian van Rooyen’s big new broom there will also be an acknowledgement that the approach to transformation has been wrong.

Transformation has to be the result of proper structures in schools and clubs naturally resulting in black players being picked for national teams and if insufficient numbers are not reaching that pinnacle then the fault must be sought not with the national coach but with the system.

Jake White’s job must be to pick a team to win test matches. Sarfu’s job must be to have in place a system that delivers the right blend of the races to him. If this is not the case then it cannot be the coach’s fault but that of a development structure that has been a monumental waste of money and which stands as an indictment of all who have been involved with it.