People are still worried about racism in the sport. A rugby player from the Soweto Rugby Club was interviewed after the club pulled out of the Golden Lions Rugby Union in protest. He expressed his concern that there were too few players of colour in the Springbok team. Have you seen the Springbok team lately?

Hoo man, have you seen the national soccer team lately?

The day the Springboks arrived home after winning the World Cup, SABC 2 did a live broadcast from OR Tambo International Airport. The players’ feet had hardly touched South African soil though, and Ministers were already being interviewed about transformation.

Yes, there are still more white players than black, both at provincial and national level, but this has more to do with skill. Before you start the mud-slinging, think about the fact that white players have been exposed to better development than many black players.

The problem does not lie in skin colour, but rather in development programmes.

It seems as though over the last few years, people have suddenly woken up and started moaning, but if people had raised the issue in 1994, or even ‘95 for that matter, after all the excitement, we would not have had this problem now.

If development programmes had been implemented at school level, then the current generation of rugby players would all be on equal standing.

As a traditional sport, rugby is also always going to attract the attention of more white, Afrikaans boys.

This same Special Assignment documentary referred to rugby as an Afrikaans cultural icon and traditionally this is evident.

Many a rugby player and supporter will tell you that politics do not belong in rugby, but we have even seen politicians in the past who started in rugby (Does anyone remember the Big Crocodile?).

When the SARU president, Oregan Hoskins, publicly states however, that the appointment of our new coach, Peter De Villiers, was a political decision, we know we have let politics creep too far into the game.

Even at school level, rugby has become political. I have heard saddening stories of prejudice and bias from teachers and coaches.

As far as I know, rugby is a game. Yes, to some, like myself it is more than that, but technically, it is a game. Why then did it become so political? More importantly, how did this happen?

How can a sport that has created such unity among the people of South African, at the same time cause so much division?

For all rugby players to be equal, they need to have equal backgrounds. In New Zealand, primary school children are already exposed to rugby.