Enlightened And Bitter

‘EVER since Nelson Mandela stepped out of jail, South Africa has promoted itself as an enlightened place. It’s the Rainbow Nation, where white, black, green and gold live in harmony.

Ugly face of the old South Africa

Clearly this is all bunkum, as any of the 10 million South Africans in London alone will tell you – should they break off from enthusing about how great it is back home – racism still stalks the land.

And the Telegraph has spotted some of the verkrampte.

Rugby union was always the sport of the white man, and that’s the way Geo Cronje, apparently, likes it.

The paper says that the South African was expelled from the national squad for, allegedly, refusing to share a room with black player Quinton Davids.

And in the wake of the revolting Cronje, Mark Keohane has resigned his post as the Springboks media liaison officer. And on the way out he’s submitted a dossier, described by the paper as “potentially explosive”.

Looks like the South Africans’ plans for the upcoming World Cup are a little shaky. That’s a deep shame. Let’s take moment to smirk about it…

Something not too funny is the injury blow to Steven Gerrard, the England midfielder. The Guardian say that the tyro will now miss Saturday’s Euro 2004 qualifier against Macedonia, but might be fit to face Liechtenstein four days later.

That leaves England light in midfield. Sorry, as anyone who has watched the team in the past 30 years will note, England have always been light in midfield.

All Gerrard’s absence does is make way for a likely central midfield partnership of Owen Hargreaves and Nicky Butt.

Would either get into the Chelsea side? Unlikely. Everton? What about Spurs?

While you puzzle that out, the Independent looks across the Atlantic to see the players to watch in the new Gridiron season.

And the top star looks like being Jeremy Shockey – “6ft 5in and 18 stone of swaggering braggadocio”.

In other words, look out for the oversized American with the big mouth. Happy hunting…’

Posted: 3rd, September 2003 | In: Back pages Comment | TrackBack | Permalink