Butana Khompela, Sports Committe Chairperson wants to get rid of the Springbok emblem in South African Rugby. I can imagine his thoughts while driving to work every day past an informal settlement:

“Wow, these people look so miserable! I bet it’s the legacy of apartheid is what’s making them look so unhappy and it has nothing to do with their lack of running water or food. You know, we should get rid of that racist Springbok that represents the Rugby team”.

Khompela is clearly one of the more incompetent members of the ANC. His call for the removal of the Springbok emblem is absolutely ridiculous especially considering the work done in transforming Rugby. The South African rugby team is one of the few sports teams we can be proud of and I mean everyone can be proud of; black, white or purple.

There’s no denying that rugby has had some incidents related to racism. The latest Luke Watson anti-Afrikaner tirade as well as the beating of a black supporter at a rugby game certainly resonates strongly but this is certainly not the way to deal with things. Possibly not selling alcohol to members of the public with single digit IQ’s would help?

I remember around this time last year when it was the Rugby World Cup. When we won people in Sandton were partying in the streets in the same way that people in Alexandra celebrated. Rugby is probably more integrated than Soccer.

Fortunately the response from other ANC members has been that Khompela is a reject and his ideas irrelevant. What does bother me is that someone has a well paying job to complain about national emblems. Fact of the matter, people are starving in our country but more importantly our government feels that spending thousands of millions of rands on name changes of airports and roads is their priority.

So by now you know that our glorious soccer team: Bafana Bafana is out of the African Cup of Nations after not winning a single match. Since I know next to nothing about the actual game of soccer nor what actually happened in the games (since I didn’t actually watch them) I won’t discuss our teams lack of finesse or technical skill but I will say something about the situation beyond the pitch.

The first issue I want to discuss is the immense amount of money being pumped into the national soccer team. First of all it seems as though the players on our team have a need to play for money and not the love of the game. You’ll remember how a year or two ago the players had a strike saying they were not paid enough to play for the national team. Now let’s be straight here: soccer players are well-paid athletes and they don’t exactly need the cash now do they? I mean if it’s the difference driving a car or taking the bus to practice then I can understand why they would need the money but for most of our football players the amount of money they get for playing on a national level gives them the choice between the Bentley or the Ferrari to drive to “work” or practice as they call it. Shouldn’t one be proud to play for their country and do it for the incredible experience? Sure, they can have their expenses covered such as flights and hotels etc but let them play for free; for the love of the game and for what must be the incredible dream of having the hopes of an entire nation on their shoulders. Part of me does believe this greed affects the playing of the team, making them indifferent and sloppy. Why would they care to play for South Africa if they can the same amount in pounds overseas? Soccer has become purely financial and the “bling” factor affects our players the most with the lure of the British pound and expensive cars.

The worst part is that in the past we would have blamed the coach: now we pay the coach 1.8 million rand a month and cannot afford to blame him. Previously if a team did badly heads would roll; now management at SAFA must have their heads so deep in the sand that they think that 1.8 million is an acceptable amount to pay for any coach. The best part in my mind is the comment from Parreira after the three games: “We’re looking good for the World Cup”. Really, I didn’t know that losing to a team like Tunisia counts as a step towards world cup success! Tonight a 10 man Ghanaian squad beat the super power Nigerian team. Shame, Bafana Bafana, you guys really need to get your heads out of the sand.

I think the only positive about the upcoming 2010 World Cup in this country is that as the hosts we don’t need to qualify for the tournament. Between power crises in our country and power ego within the national team we’re in for a major disappointment come 2010.

Well done Bafana Bafana, you scored a goal against a team like Angola: you do us proud.