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Saru denies rugby revolution
13/01/2008 22:22 - (SA)
Stephen Nell and Diana-Marié Strydom, Die Burger
Cape Town - Senior South African players may meet in Johannesburg on Sunday to discuss their concern about the future of Springbok rugby.
According to informed sources, officials of the SA Rugby Players Association (Sarpa) are planning a meeting with members of last year's SA World Cup squad who are still based in South Africa.
Sarpa allegedly wrote to players last week and suggested a meeting to be held on January 20.
This follows the appointment of Peter de Villiers as new Springbok coach after an SMS opinion poll, conducted by Sarpa, showed that most players preferred Heyneke Meyer as coach.
It is said that the players want to know how Springbok teams will be selected in the future.
They want to know whether the coach will have the final say in team selections or whether administrators and politicians will select the teams.
It has also been suggested that the World Cup Springboks meet with De Villiers.
SA Rugby Union president Oregan Hoskins said on Sunday that Sarpa's chief executive, Piet Heymans, had mentioned the possibility of a meeting to him. Heymans was unavailable for comment.
Part of a secret plan
Some Saru officials are said to be angry about the possibility of such a meeting, saying it could cause conflict between influential rugby administrators and Sarpa.
Politicians and administrators have dismissed rumours that the appointment of De Villiers was part of a secret plan, devised over a year, to remove racism from rugby.
A British newspaper, The Observer, reported on Sunday that the appointment of De Villiers was a key event in a "revolution" allegedly discussed during secret meetings to get rid of institutionalised racism in SA rugby.
According to the report, several steps were agreed upon during secret meetings twelve months ago "to storm the last bastion of white power".
The steps included, according to the article, changing the name of the national team from Springboks to Proteas and preparing controversial Cheeky Watson's son Luke to be the next Springbok captain.
The plan to appoint Luke Watson ("an honorary black captain") followed rumours that "a third force" was working within South Africa to keep blacks out of the national team, the report said.
Mike Stofile, Saru's deputy president, said on Sunday the allegations in the article were "total nonsense".
Hoskins said he did not want to speculate about possible conspiracies over the appointment of the new Springbok coach. He had no part in any secret meetings.
Regarding the Springbok emblem, he said he would comment only after Saru administrators and ANC officials had met about the matter.
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Rugby
