A decision for Springboks coach Rassie Erasmus to skip a pre-match team photo – and substitute assistant coach Mzwandile Stick instead – has rubbed many rugby fans up the wrong way.
The Boks face off against the Wallabies on Saturday, 23 August at Cape Town’s DHL Stadium.
RASSIE SKIPS SPRINGBOKS PIC – FANS REACT TO RACE REPRESENTATION
On the eve of their second clash against the Wallabies, the Springboks’ official social media accounts posted a standard team photo of the squad that would be playing in the game.
But instead of coach Rassie Erasmus, his assistant, Mzwandile Stick, was asked to sit in his seat at the centre.
However, the seemingly innocent picture trended for all the wrong reasons.
On the X app, rugby fans questioned why Rassie has seemingly been swapped out for Mzwandile. Others implied that the move was strategic, given that 17 out of the 23 players were white.
With captain Siya Kolisi out due to injury, there are two other black players, Ox Nche and Aphelele Fassie, selected for the squad. Mixed race or coloured players Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, Cheslin Kolbe, Grant Williams, and Canan Moodie made up the balance of the non-white selection.
Here’s what a few X users had to say…
@Lloydbhudda: “Rassie has Mzwandile Stick sitting in his place for the team picture because he knows exactly how terrible the optics for this 23 are. He knows what he’s doin.g”
@ClixWell: “Rassie really asked Stick to go take a team photo with 17/23 white players?”
@Magayye: “Stick brought into the middle to dilute the whiteness. Does Rassie and co think we’re all from Matatiele?”
There has been no official comment about why Rassie Erasmus did not appear in the team photo.
NO QUOTAS IN RUGBY
Despite the disparaging comments about the Springbok team photo, coach Rassie Erasmus has repeatedly claimed that he has embraced racial transformation in the national team.
In a clip posted by Khaya Dlanga on X, Rassie Erasmus was seen sharing a touching message to a crowd. The Springboks boss was delivering his acceptance speech of the Goodwill Award from the FW De Klerk Foundation for helping to “unite South Africans.”
Rassie said: “A lot of people think when we talk transformation, it’s ‘white out, black in’. Transformation in any other country means change. It became such a nasty word in South Africa…”
Rassie added that back in 2013, he began establishing the foundation of transformation via a database of rugby players from all races.
He continued: “In that way, we were not ‘white out, black in’. We built a database of players who are now playing for the Springboks.
“We don’t have quotas. I hate that word, and I think it’s embarrassing. We call it a change in how we select the team and management. It’s purely about what you put out and how you get better.”
DO YOU THINK RASSIE ERASMUS STEPPING OUT FROM THE SPRINGBOK PIC WAS A RANDOM OR STRATEGIC MOVE?
Let us know by leaving a comment below, or send a WhatsApp to 060 011 021 1.
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