While it’s true that South Africa are in the midst of a ‘golden’ period – especially on the sporting field – Minister of Sport Gayton McKenzie may just have gotten a little too carried away with his patriotism.
It appears that, embarrassingly, McKenzie did not pay careful enough attention to one of his ‘own’ sporting federation’s teams competing in Europe.
McKenzie took to social media on Saturday to post: ‘We are the best sporting nation in the world
‘ in reaction to an image of the South African U20 water polo side finishing 19th – and second LAST – at the U20 World Championships in Croatia.
Awkward!
Clearly Gayton McKenzie had not done his homework and assumed, one can only imagine, that the side had in fact won the tournament when it clearly states ’19th/20th final’.
Even more embarrassing for the Minister of Sport was the fact that the team had to finance their own way to the tournament.
The team included schoolboys as young as 16.
The gaffe quickly did the rounds on WhatsApp groups on Saturday, to the amusement of many.
Heavy defeats
In their initial group matches, the South African side suffered heavy defeats against Brazil (25-6) and Germany (30-1).
In what was then termed the classification round, the South African side then went down 7-6 to Kazakhstan, 21-8 to Colombia and 21-10 to Canada.
That put them in the playoff for 19th-20th place against New Zealand – a match they won 16-15 following a penalty shootout.
In total, the South African U20 side played six matches, lost five, won one, scored 47 goals and conceded a whopping 119 for an average defeat of 20-8.
None of the South African team’s matches were against any of the eight best sides in the world who were drawn in Division 1.
Quite why Gayton McKenzie was celebrating those performances so enthusiastically, is somewhat puzzling.
Even more baffling was the thousands of ‘likes’ and messages of congratulations that the post received!
While South Africa does currently boast the world champion Springboks and Proteas, the world’s strongest man and woman, and several of the fastest athletes in the world – among other impressive feats – it does not have – and will never lay claim to having – a water polo side that will ever win an international tournament.
You’d think even the most optimistic Minister of Sport would know that …
Is Minister of Sport Gayton McKenzie full of talk and promises or does he really know his sport?
Let us know by leaving a comment below, or send a WhatsApp to 060 011 021 1
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