History shows Krige's fears are unfounded

There is a saying that the only thing man has learned from history is that man does not learn from history, so Corné Krige can be excused for his little rant at the Bloemfontein crowd earlier this week.

The Springbok skipper seemed particularly concerned that the Vodacom Park crowd had not got behind his team.

"We will be representing these people overseas... it still seems we have a divided country," said Krige, or words to that effect.

Just what he meant by divided country is difficult to ascertain, for it is unlikely that this particular crowd chose to get behind the Cheetahs because of the recent race row. The people who feel slighted by the race controversy would not have pitched up at Vodacom Park for this particular match.

My view is the same as the one voiced by John Robbie on Boots and All after the game: Support is something that you earn and it is not something you necessarily claim as a right.

But if Krige had paid any attention to the experiences of his predecessors at previous World Cups, he would have found it unnecessary to get uptight.

In 1995 the Boks were jeered and booed during warm-up games against Western Province and Natal respectively. The fans at those provinces made it clear they were behind their team - the one that they watch week in and week out live, pay their season tickets for and don't just get to see play in the flesh once in a blue moon.

This is perfectly natural, just as it is perfectly natural for any fan base around the world in any sport to throw its support behind the underdog, which is what provincial teams always are when they play against national teams.

It would have surprised me, and no doubt shocked the Free Staters to their core, had the Bloemfontein faithful done anything other than support the orange jerseys.

And Krige is intelligent enough to recognise that were he on the outside of the Bok squad looking in, and was asked to captain his Western Province team against the Boks, he would have expected to have the backing of the Newlands faithful.

That backing would have been even more intense had the local crowd felt upset about the Bok selections. Like it or not, upset is what many South African fans feel, and they have a right to be so.

But the experience of both 1995 and 1999 (when selections were also questioned) has shown that this will not necessarily last. The same Newlands stadium that booed the Boks when they played WP in early May gave them a rousing welcome when they arrived for the World Cup opener against Australia that same month.

And King's Park gave the Boks a similar welcome when they played the French in the semi-final three weeks later.

In 1999 the Bok coach Nick Mallett would have feared for his life had he set foot in Durban shortly before the World Cup. Durbanites were rightly filled with bile at the way home town hero Gary Teichmann was axed from his job as Springbok skipper.

But my Durban contacts tell me that when the tournament started everyone in the city was out in the pubs cheering the Boks on and generally getting caught up in the World Cup atmosphere. It would be naive to think that Teichmann was no longer an issue, but it was secondary to the desire to see the Boks beat England.

When they did beat England, that support just got even more overwhelming.

Ultimately that is the challenge that the Boks face. If they go out with a decent gameplan and play rousing rugby against the likes of England in the coming weeks, South Africans as a whole will warm to them.

But even if the Boks come unstuck against England, Krige would be wrong to assume that the people who booed him in Bloem the other night will be doing the same when the opponents are the ones wearing the white jerseys with the rose on the chest.

Come October, most of South Africa (or at least rugby's so-called gauranteed market) will be rooting for the Boks for the simple reason that the enemy will be clearly defined and national pride will take over.

Until then, Krige and his teammates should just work at earning the support - which is what the 1995 team did, both on and off the field.