So the IRB have handed SARU and the Boks a “slap on the wrist” fine and made some vague, unenforceable threats about banning us from the 2011 World Cup if we misbehave again. What a stupid, stupid affair this whole thing has been.
Let me begin by reiterating what I said at the time. What on earth did we think was going to happen when we wore armbands criticising the IRB in an event run under the auspices of that same body? It’s like going into your neighbours garden and poking his pitbull with a stick, for goodness sake. Sure, we all know that the IRB is nothing but a big bully, but we’re playing in their sandpit, for goodness sake and their rules are ALWAYS going to apply. Challenging them openly is just stupid, because there’s only ever going to be one winner.
That’s not to say, not for an instant, that I don’t think the IRB citing process is a farce and a disgrace. It is the biggest load of inconsistent bollocks I’ve ever seen in my life, mirrored only by SARU’s ape-like imitation of it at domestic level. It needs to be changed, but that change will only come if we find a way to work within the structures, instead of alienating ourselves from the rest of the rugby world every chance we get.
We are very quick to cling to the old excuses, like “The IRB doesn’t like us because we always win (snork snork!)”, but the reality of the situation is that the All Blacks stuff the home nations far more regularly than we do, yet are thick as thieves with the ruling body – as are the Australians. I’m not sure exactly what the root cause is of this unhappiness and animosity, but it is real and it manifests in various ways, not the least of which is our complete inability to win the right to host another World Cup. It’s also pretty clear that the judiciary process is biased against South African players – but until we get our own house in order and take strong action against players, like Schalk Burger, who have clearly transgressed, we have no moral high ground to defend whatsoever.
Perhaps it’s time we found some different people to represent our interests to those controlling the game. Regan Hoskins, Andy Marinos and the like have done nothing to earn the respect of those from whom we seek favours and are perceived as uppity and arrogant – petulant children who will take more than they have given. Maybe we need to send some quieter men who have made far bigger strides in their time in the game and have earned respect through actions, rather than words. Morné du Plessis, Gary Teichmann, Mark Andrews, Francois Pienaar – where are these men now? It’s time to South Africa and the Springboks were held in high regard by the IRB again, just as we were in the days of Danie Craven.
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This is what happens when you have amateurs in charge. 🙄
Can’t see it changing.
In no way would i defend SARU but this lies directly at the IRB’s door, they have overseen a two year period where the rules have changed according to what competition players are playing in, they cannot get consistencies from refs nor citing commisioners and quite frankly some one needs to tell the old guys running the game they farking it up royally…
As to the protest – it was dumb and ineffectual…but perhaps warranted…although lets be honest Bakkies is no angel and Schalla did us no favours with his brain fart.
As to SARU, the game will never invite revered former players into the mix as long as the smaller unions run the game.
We need our local set up changed before we will see the people we want running the game.
In a strange way I really appreciate the manner in which LEague deals with the citing process.
There you have clearly drawn penalties depending on the offence and they try to take the subjectivity out of it completely with the onyl decision to made if the player is guilty or not.
How much would we make from each armband on E-bay? 🙄
apparently SARU have yet to apologise for the debacle too…
@robdylan (Comment 5) :
You cant take a political stand and then apologise when you get chastised for it. That’s the very point.
@VinChainSaw (Comment 6) : well then they must go the whole hog. Announce that we are boycotting any further involvement in IRB events until the judicial process is overhauled.
*sniggers*
rob do you know anything about the 17 year old the lions want to play at flyhalf?
@willa (Comment 8) : eh? Nope… where did you hear about that?
@willa (Comment 8) : is it that Jantjes kid?
@robdylan (Comment 10) : oh wait – it’s Jaco Taute’s kid… Shit, surely there are rules against playing a schoolboy in the Currie Cup?
this is from SARugby.net:
JACOB JOHANNES TAUTE
PERSONAL DETAILS
Full Name Jacob Johannes
Surname Taute
Height 189
Weight 91
Birth Date 21 March 1991
Birth City Springs
Marital Status Single
Favourite Film The Lord Of the Rings
Favourite Music Alternative Rock
Favourite Food Home Cooking, McDonalds
Primary School Selection Park Primary
Secondary School Monument High
Tertiary Education N/A
@robdylan (Comment 12) : i have no idea,just heard hes young, and hes gonna play this week or next,oh and hes from monnas, so the above looks right
Sheesh, child welfare could get involved in this one.
Crazy, if it’s true.
Letting him play for the Lions would be child abuse.
James o’Connor played for the Wallabies at that age.
@Ollie (Comment 14) :
That okie (van den Heever or sumthing) whats playing for ve Boels…how old is he? He loeks blerrie jonk!
@VinChainSaw (Comment 16) :
Just as crazy, maybe these youngsters are ready for it but it sets a precedent for so many more that won’t be.
Possible disasters in a variety of forms waiting to happen.
@Prof. Ice Babe(Super Girl) (Comment 17) :
No idea Ice.All I know is that mixing the boys with the men in rugby is not a good idea at that level.
@Pink Oyster (Comment 15) : yeah, true!
@VinChainSaw (Comment 16) : he didn’t play test rugby while still at school, did he?
I remember that the other lightie (was it Pocock?) had to be withdrawn from the Force squad because the Super 14 rules wouldn’t allow an under 18 to play.
@Prof. Ice Babe(Super Girl) (Comment 17) : he turned 20 in April
James O’Connor turned 19 in July this year. He made his Test on last year’s end-of-year tour as an 18-year-old. So he wasn’t still at school at the time.
Oh – and I was right about Pocock. He was not allowed to play for the Force until he turned 18, as per SANZAR rules.
How the hell do I get out of the mobile edition??
@Prof. Ice Babe(Super Girl) (Comment 23) : carefully.
It’s one way to cut down on bandwidth, anyway.
@robdylan (Comment 12) : That would make him 18?
@Rahul (Comment 25) : oh yeah – good point. So it would!
@Pink Oyster (Comment 15) :
What? Have they involved Japie Mulder at the lions again? 😳
@KSA Shark © (Comment 27) : that’s just wrong!!!
@robdylan (Comment 28) :
Couldn’t resist 😳 😛
@KSA Shark © (Comment 29) : it was wrong in a good way 🙂
Just adding my 2 cents to the protest debacle….exactly what else were the players to do? Saru are a bunch of wet fish – no assistance coming from them. IRB wont listen to anything but the sound of their voices. Wearing the arm bands didn’t disrupt the game, it didn’t put anyone in hospital or drown the voices of the commentators. What it did do is get the attention of the IRB – finally! All the Bokke asked for is consistency from the officials, which we all agree we don’t get….So if the IRB weren’t capable of doing “the right thing” out of their own choice, then they will have to be shamed into it. Yeah yeah, they have flexed their muscles, shown us who is boss, and put the Bokke back in their box – but somewhere, someone will be bringing the changes….
@Just a Fan (Comment 31) :
I see this morning that the SA Legends are paying the fine for the Boks. 😆
Yes saw that…fantastic gesture i think…..
@KSA Shark © (Comment 32) & @Just a Fan (Comment 33) : Oh, in regards to that, where does the fines money go? Development of the game or what?
@molly (Comment 34) : that’s sweet. Naive, but sweet 🙂
@robdylan (Comment 35) :
It’ll probably go towards the first class tickets for the old boys club to fly down to NZ in 2011 😡
@Ollie (Comment 36) :
And they’ll be patting themselves on the back for a job supposedly well done all the way.
@Ollie (Comment 37) : you are spot on… and you just can’t beat these guys by taking them on like that.
@molly (Comment 34) :
The legends money does go to the development of facilities for the underprivliged so I quess that someone somewhere is going to go without – be assured it wont be the rich Boks or SARU officials.
Its a nice gesture by the Legends but surely the players can pay their own paltry fines at least, and at worst SARU can do so on their behalf.
I really hope the Legends score out of this somehow.
@robdylan (Comment 11) :
I don’t know where our friend Andre heard this…it’s not going to happen….Elton Jantjies is playing fullback this saturday with Herkie Kruger at 10