Are we for or against the unifying of the national sports teams emblem?
I am personally not too phased if there is unity, but I think that the Protea should take a walk and the Springbok should swing in to the mix.
What are your thoughts, Protea or no Protea?
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June 26th, 2007 at 8:20 am
Yea, i think it would be a good idea to have one brand to cover all sports teams, but lets not do away with Bafana Bafana nor the Boks as names for the teams, think about the Kiwis’s – The All Blacks, The Black Caps, The Silver Ferns all represented by the silver fern and each with its own identity.
Thats what we should be aiming for.
June 26th, 2007 at 8:31 am
Yes, it might be nice to have a unifying symbol for all sports, but perhaps neither the springbok nor the protea. The protea was OK until they started calling the cricket team “The Proteas”. That was too much. They don’t necessarily have to be called after their emblem. I’ve never heard the New Zealand team called “The Ferns” or the English team called “The Roses”.
June 26th, 2007 at 9:30 am
Yip, it would prob be a cool thing to do but they should ythink up a new logo. The protea should go though
June 26th, 2007 at 10:03 am
I think you all have a great point. I didn’t actually think of it that way.
Agreed, maybe time for a change, but a sensible one that is standard. Let the boks remain the boks and the bafanas remain the same too!!
But lets be honest, who would the Govt get to design a new logo and what would it possible be?
June 28th, 2007 at 2:25 pm
I’d keep them separate – our teams and their symbols are well known and loved and there doesnt seem to but much need for a single symbol. Having said that, if we absolutely HAVE to have only one – it’s gotta be the springboks. A cricket team could be springboks if need be, but a rugby team should not be the proteas!
June 30th, 2007 at 10:40 am
That racist Springbok emblem and name must go! I (and many other S’Africans) will never support a team as long as they use that hated symbol. It brings back too many memories of racist sport, and racism in general.
June 30th, 2007 at 10:45 am
That’s interesting. I can kind of see where you are coming from John, but wont you elaborate?
Explain why it’s racist? Simply because it’s from apartheid? If the black players can play under the symbol, then surely there is some sort of acceptance that the emblem had nothing to do with the situation?
June 30th, 2007 at 11:30 pm
Nic, I don’t know if you are just not aware of South African history or if you are playing some kind of game. There are many academic studies into the Springbok, and it has been described as “a traditional symbol of white racial superiority” (Booth, JMAS, 1996). There are also many studies about sport in an apartheid society, particularly from about 1950 to 1990.
From the early 1990s onwards the South African Rugby authorities tried to reform themselves and transform rugby in South Africa into a non-racial sport. They haven’t done a particularly good job. In particular the non-racial teams that competed under the Sacos banner (prior to unification of the sport in Saru) were neglected, even where they had been a formidable force (e.g. Boland, Eastern Cape).
Here’s an extract from a 1995 article by Douglas Booth (South African Report):
Now, 12 years later, we are still living with the legacy of the lack of structural transformation and adaptation of rugby in South Africa: arguments about the lack of representation of black players in the team, and about quotas being the two obvious issues. For about 80 minutes in 1995, when Mandela donned the Springbok jersey, I thought I would be able to support the Springboks. It didn’t take long for it to unravel: the lack of progress on transformation and development, Chester’s revelations that he was made to feel like window dressing, open racists being selected for the squad, the arguments about quotas and selection…
Now obviously, dropping the emblem won’t change that but it could be symbolic of a serious attempt at turning rugby in to an African game. I won’t be holding my breath.
June 30th, 2007 at 11:56 pm
Some references:
Voice of America article on how resistance to transformation is depriving the SA rugby team of talent.
Australian article on how South African rugby needs to draw on the best available talents.
Government frustration at lack of transformation in SA rugby
Hey, when SA rocks I’m the first to say so! But 13 years after 1994 the SA Rugby team doesn’t rock too much. It’s regarded as unfashionable and divisive to point out the obvious, but there you go.
July 1st, 2007 at 12:27 pm
Hi John, No I was playing games, I wanted a more detailed response from you, that was all. I can see things the way that you see them, and agree with what you have written, changing the springbok emblem might initiate some sort of change, a catalyst if you will. If this is so, I am all for it!!
Thanks for the detailed response, I really do appreciate it!
July 6th, 2007 at 10:19 pm
Hi John,
Thanks for the history lesson – If you (dear John) were’nt there to remind us, how would we ever remember our dark past! No-one ever speaks about it anymore and it has really become a neglected issue.
Phew.. thankfully there are people like you… unfortunately also, there are people like you…
Why not take your racist opinions and own personal insecurities elsewhere?
Riaan.
August 8th, 2007 at 10:33 pm
!!!!!!!!!SPRINGBOKS FOREVER!!!!!!!!!!!!
October 18th, 2007 at 12:51 pm
Why all the hype about race still after all this time I can’t understand it…, by now it should be a case of who plays a better game and not what colour is your skin…! Every body coming up the ranks now days is exposed to the same training facilities, education etc and if not you are not making the effort to go out there and get it, even the poorest of poor and the rural areas are given a chance to proove themselves (a plus for the new SA we are getting to those equal oppertunities slowly). We shouldn’t be riding on the past (it’s dead and there is nothing we can do but learn from it’s mistakesbut) rather looking to the future and building something great. As for changing the emblim I think that we need one symbol but the boks will always be the boks! We don’t want a fairy rugby team now do we…
October 25th, 2007 at 8:45 pm
This is the worsed idea ever how can you change a team names are known world wide + the springbok is our national animal and the protea is our national flowers whats wrong with the names
the goverment must grow up those names are not rasist…
Dont destroy something especially something we all care and enjoy
October 9th, 2008 at 11:51 pm
OMF Why stuff with the biggest brand South Africa has to offer! The Springbok is our heritage and our pride…for all South Africans!!
Rising black stars should see it as a honor to play in a team that once was silly enough to exclude them. Not in a new team with no heritage and history. Take rugby and subtract pride and support and you gonna end up with a fukin mess!
The whole name change issue is a shallow attempt at erasing the past by adding a new veneer. We should embrace the past and look towards the future a new sense of pride and place.
What is a country with no history worth anyway?
October 10th, 2008 at 2:41 pm
Firstly can I start by saying that I am of no relation to Steve Hayes, purely a co-incidence.
From an impartial observer’s point of view (Sydney, Australia)
it appears that the symbol of a Protea has almost as much, if not more, racial segregation behind it. The stories that emerge of coloureds and Indians heading overseas to England and the British Isles so as they can play cricket when they are not being selected for their national side due to the colour of their skin are eerily similar to that of the mid-apartheid rugby politics.
That being said, I really believe you cannot tie sport in with any racial issue. Clearly whenever there are 22 (12 in cricket) men picked in a side there are going to be opinions clashing on who may have been the better man for the job. Rugby should be kept as a ‘neutral ground’ today regardless of the past. The past should indeed be recognised and acknowledged, as should the history of any other country in their own sports.
Ashamedly Australia created the White Australia Policy in the latter half of the 20th Century, which often kept young Aboriginal and half-blood talent under-wraps and oppressed, markedly similar to the policy of the time in South Africa.
Really it comes down to the individual in this situation and their personal views on racism and the policies that are fed to them by their respective governments. If a coach and selection board decide to disadvantage themselves by picking lesser, WHITE players as opposed to better BLACK players then there are always going to be masses of people baying against it.
The business of the Protea becoming South Africa’s overall sporting logo seems an absurdity to me, I would hazard a guess at almost 80% of the world would assosciate the Republic with the Springbokke emblem.
From the players point of view, Ross has hit the nail on the head when he says that “Take rugby and subtract pride and support and you gonna end up with a fukin mess!”. A case in point is Johannesburg and the Blue Bulls Super 14 side. From my experience I have to say that Jo’burg is the only city to hold a Super 14 side yet have no soul. Whether that is a direct result of what has transpired in the past or if it is more to do with the support in that region, is for you to decide.
August 13th, 2009 at 8:04 am
John and Nic,
One of the central problems in ZA is that everything gets blamed on apartheid.
My toilet broke – it’s because of the years of suffering and apartheid.
I can not get a job – its because of the years of suffering and apartheid.
I got robbed – its because of the years of suffering and apartheid.
Pick up any article in ZA and this will be mentioned somewhere. Nic, every one of your posts has this in. It is everywhere and is an excuse for any / everything.
People in ZA can not and do not want to move on.
Nic, why don’t you open a new blog on this and test this as hypothesis
March 24th, 2010 at 11:13 am
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SPRINKBOKKEN ALTYD
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