It was with a mixture of sadness and elation that I watched the Stormers victory on Friday evening. As the first penalty by the Blues kicker was set to take place, all I could hear on the TV was the booing coming from the stands.
Now I’m not going to harp on too much about this as we all know it is a low class un-sportsman like thing to do. Even my girlfriend, yes I have one, who I am trying to get into rugby so at least we have something to do together for half the year ;) got up and walked away from the TV.
If you are a parent out there, please teach your kids that booing someone is just not the right thing to do.
This brings me to my next and most important point. When Joe lined up a kick for posts, the booing from the stands was just as loud. The camera at one point picked out two coloured guys in the stands wearing All Black jerseys. Bob still commentated “long way to travel to support the Blues”.
Wrong Bob, those are local guys who support New Zealand teams. Now I know that during apartheid the rugby loving coloured community of the Cape supported All Black rugby. But I find it incredible that 17 years after the first Democratic elections, when we have Teams with far more players of colour and some of the top guys in the Stormers setup are “of colour”, that you still can’t bring yourself to be part of SA Rugby.
Now booing is bad, I will never condone it, but to sit and boo one of your own countrymen is disgusting. At some point you have to realise that apartheid is over and young players like Kitshof, Eben and Kolisi don’t know an apartheid SA and really deserve your support.
I’m sure the young guys in Stormers squad wonder why they were getting booed by their own fans. In the spirit of rugby and after so many years with so many young black and coloured stars out there I’m sure you can find it in your hearts to come back to SA/WPrugby and support our youngsters instead of an overseas team that you really have no ties to.
And please, all rugby fans, nest time you are at a game show some respect for the sport and the players, and don’t BOO!
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