SA rugby unite against racism

2008-09-11 16:37

Johannesburg - The South African Rugby Union, its provinces and their sponsors will unite this weekend to make a dramatic statement against racism.

Provincial players will wear a special anti-racism message on their jerseys for this week's round of Absa Currie Cup matches - making the single biggest stand against racism ever undertaken by rugby.

The initiative has been backed by the game's sponsors - both the individual team sponsors and tournament sponsor Absa - as well as by Ziningi Shibambo, the victim of a racist attack ten days ago.

Absa and SA Rugby are funding the application of three-dimensional anti-racism slogans to the weekend's playing fields while the team sponsors have given up the prime space on the players' chests to accommodate the "No to Racism" message.

"This is a huge initiative that our provincial unions and sponsors instantly bought into," said Oregan Hoskins, the president of the South African Rugby Union.

Utterly opposed to racism

"We are putting the message squarely in front of our supporters and the whole rugby community so there can be no doubt about where rugby stands - we are utterly opposed to racism and will continue to campaign to get that message across."

The initiative is in response to a racist attack on Ziningi Shibambo during the Vodacom Tri-Nations Test between South Africa and Australia at Coca-Cola Park on August 30.

Saru offered a R10 000 reward for information leading to the identification of the perpetrators, which has so far failed to yield a response.

"It was a hideously cowardly attack on Ms Shibambo but it has helped galvanise us on an issue that we hoped was dying its own natural death," said Hoskins.

"We now have an anti-racism message on all our website pages and have added a sentence from our constitution to our letterhead which states 'the union will foster the game amongst all persons irrespective of race, colour, creed or gender'.

"But we wanted to go further and make the most public statement we could manage and I think this initiative does precisely that."

'Confront racism'

Shibambo added: I'm glad that my experience has provoked such a visible response from rugby. We have to confront racism whenever we encounter it and this initiative sends out a very loud message.

"My experience ... should serve as a timely reminder that racism can still affect us. We should also not forget that racism is still as much an issue now as it has ever been.

"I reiterate that I do not hold rugby officials, the sport of rugby itself nor the stadium responsible for what has happened to me and I believe this symbolic stand against all forms of discrimination in the game is most important.

"It is a concerted effort that will help combat the scourge of racism within our sporting codes.

"I have been overwhelmed by the support I have had from rugby people - I am glad I can back them in this campaign."

Happy Ntshingila, Absa Group Executive Director said: "As a proud sponsor of SA Rugby and the Absa Currie Cup, we are firmly behind Saru's attempt to cut out any form of racism in South African rugby.

"Whilst this cowardly attack on a Springbok fan in no way represents the entire SA rugby community, we fully support this initiative.

"Absa is committed to a South Africa for all South Africans. We recognise the power that sport has to unite our nation and so condemn any acts of racism in rugby.

Game for everybody

"Rugby is a game for everybody, to be enjoyed by everybody; hopefully this weekend's initiative will go a long way towards the entire country saying 'No to racism'."

The slogan will first appear on hoardings at the SAA National Club Champs in Stellenbosch on Thursday evening when the competition's semifinals take place.

The first players to run out wearing the slogan will be those of the Pumas and the SWD Eagles who play in Witbank and the Vodacom Blue Bulls and Boland Cavaliers who meet at Loftus Versfeld, both on Friday night.

"We'd like to thank all our team sponsors for their co-operation in this initiative," said Hoskins.

"They are giving up their commercial rights this week but, like us, they believe it's a small price to pay to get the message across."

- SAPA