EFFORTPOST South Africa Sports Drama - Willemse Rugby player Racism Outburst slapfight

Greetings Dramatards, how you chodes are doing. I'm sick as a dog, and drowning in my own phlegm

SUMMARY: Last time I regaled some of you chodes of the r-sluration of Safrican sports, and how not only are we segregated by race and economic class in the modern Democratic Republic, but for the duration of the NP regime, the situation was such that ENTIRE SPORTS THEMSELVES were segregated by law and culture due to the rule of the Apartheid government.

So that Rugby and Cricket were primarily "White" sports, with soccer relegated as the sport played by the country's inferiors due to the lack of interest by the Boers/Bongs from the period of 1940s-1993, depending on which historian is doing the measurement. Black peeps were banned from partaking in Rugby clubs and provincial/national teams, and were often prohibited by law from entering gyms/locker-facilities declared for exclusive use by whites.

This didn't mean that no one single white ever played soccer or enjoyed it, or that no one black/coloured person enjoyed/supported/played rugby, but that due to the near totalitarian strictness in which the NP regime enforced its cultural and race laws upon the South African population, these endeavors were relegated to local private clubs.

Even though whites who deigned to play soccer had no actual laws acting against them to playing soccer, compared to their black peers forbidden to compete in Rugby, they were strongly peer-pressured into avoiding Soccer due to the strength of cultural norms - where soccer was gradually associated as a lower form of sport, due to its association with black/coloured peeps.

B.E.E. IN PREVIOULY WHITE SPORTS:

Since 1993, and the onset of the Mandela Administration, a strong BEE (Black Economic Empowerment) government mandated initiative had been forever present in all aspects of South African political and civilian life. The idea of BEE was to enforce the economic upliftment of black peeps, which was feared would be excluded by their white wealthy counterparts due to discrimination even in a free society, and to enforce corporations, businesses, clubs, and significantly for our story - sport teams to have a minimum quota of Previously Disadvantaged Demographics, basically anyone screwed over by Apartheid, usually black peeps.

Like all lofty intentions, there was benevolence behind the BEE initiative, and like all roads leading to heck, was paved with compassion. But like all the Longposts covering the covering the corruption of the ANC, I think you guys can imagine the drama which would follow here.

Because of the nationwide and systemic discrimination against blacks, the sporting facilities like fields, equipment and gyms, were by order of magnitude lacking behind that of traditional White schools, and the grassroots capacity of Black/coloured schools to generate a talentpool of Rugby players was finite.

The fact was that to continuously generate a World-Class tier Rugby/Sports team, a nation state must have a strong foundational set of institutions in the form of: schools to clubs to Unions (which regulate and govern the sport) - and thus create a grassroots pipeline from the youngest under-ten boys, to the most veteran Springbok

MANDELA AND RUGBY'S RISING POPULARITY AMONGST NON-WHITES:

Thus what was immediately feared by Rugby nuts in SA, when the BEE gov initiative was announced by the Mandela admin, was that the government would force the National teams of the Springboks and Proteas to accept mediocre black/coloured players to meet a base quota, irrespective of their performances, and thus drag the team down, as every Rugby team is only ever as strong as their weakest link

And yes this was stated openly on Afrikaans and English radios way back in 1995-2000, and heavy resistance would be placed between the SA rugby union and the ANC, especially after Mandela retired in 1997/8.

It was especially relevant after the 1995 glorious Springbok rugby victory, which brought the glory of the Springboks into the attention of ALL south africans, including blacks/coloureds, which is noteworthy, because [1] TVs were becoming popular and cheap enough to mass import into RSA (since there were no Anti-Apartheid sanctions anymore) so that even poor everyman could afford cheap models, and [2] no media blackout censorship meant that people were free to watch whatever they desired.

And thus for the 1st time, many black/coloureds/indians desired the glory of SA provincial/national rugby now that it was legally open to them, and that they could witness International Rugby in all its glory in 1995!

https://www.history.com/news/nelson-mandela-1995-rugby-world-cup-south-african-unity

Now while there was a lot of positive feeling and roses and kittens from the 1995 SA World cup victory, it would also leave a lot of negative emotion and resentment from coloureds and blacks when they saw how the newly elected black president would greet a 100% white team.

=====(from article)

Truth, Reconciliation and Rugby:

In 1995, five years after walking out of prison and one year after being elected the nation's first Black president, Mandela formed the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to investigate apartheid-related crimes. The hope of the commission was that full disclosure of the truth about the era's atrocities would lead to healing in the racially divided nation.

Black South Africans wanted to destroy any symbols of the apartheid regime. High on the list: the Springbok, which had been the rugby team's mascot—and the sport's emblem of apartheid's National Party—since 1906. After the first free elections in 1994, all South African national teams had adopted a protea, the country's national flower, as their emblem—except the rugby team. In a country where rugby was the great national pastime, the Springbok emblem with its green and gold colors wasn't something many white South Africans were willing to give up.

=====(end quote)

Oh yes, in the early years of the fledgling Democracy, many ANC radicals wanted to go so far as to completely ABOLISH the entire Springbok team, or at least their emblems. This is understandable when you know that the NP regime utilized the Springbok team as part of their multi-decade propaganda campaign regarding white-supremacy in Southern Africa, and their sole right of rule.

It is because of this, why many non-safricans don't quite comprehend the monumental significance this act was on behalf of Mandela in 1995.

=====(from article)

Black Groups Criticize Mandela:

Mandela's conciliatory gestures to a harshly racist apartheid regime didn't sit well with Black South Africans still dealing with that regime's legacy of oppression and violence.

After his 1994 election, Mandela came under fire from militant Black groups who believed his ruling party, the African National Congress, was too conciliatory to the former apartheid regime. One of his most vocal critics was his estranged wife, Winnie Mandela, who believed he focused more on appeasing whites than on ensuring rights for Black South Africans.

To many Black South Africans, the Springboks continue to represent a brutal apartheid regime. The team had just one Black player in the 1995 matches and had only six in 2019 when it won the World Cup over England with its first Black captain, Siya Kolisi. "Just as Mandela's gesture in 1995 was hailed as a metaphor for racial reconciliation in the nation, so rugby's failure to transform is seen as a metaphor for disillusionment among Black people who gained political but not economic freedom," wrote journ*list David Smith in a 2015 Guardian column.

Still, Mandela's efforts to use rugby to bring together a new nation struggling to heal its old wounds became one of his signal achievements as president of South Africa—and a sign of what could be done for good through the power of sport. In 2000 at the Laureus World Sports Awards, Mandela said, "Sports has the power to change the world. Sport can create hope, where once there was only despair."

=====(end article)

FEAR OF B.E.E. QUOTAS IN RUGBY:

While Mandela at the time focused his BEE efforts on a mostly purely economic frame, after his retirement in 1998, the ANC which included many members who thought Mandela was way too soft on the whites with his reconciliation efforts, they desired to either gut the Springbok team, or endeavor to make it far more black.

Thus by 1999-2000, the Sauron's gaze of BEE was placed firmly upon the racial makeup of the Springboks, and many ANC populists would utilize the white legacy of the Springboks, which by the year 2000, was pretty much still a white majority organization, and it became a flashpoint for many black peeps as a microcosmic example of how little had changed economically for many black people, even 7 years post Democratization.

Combined with the fact that many coloureds and black peeps who didn't want to abolish the Springboks, but actually wanted to JOIN them and share in their prestige and sporting glory - there was now ever growing and mounting pressure for the SA Rugby Union, to appease a rapid introduction of non-whites into the team.

The problem was, was that the talentpool by 1999, for black and coloureds in SA was very very lacking, with both the combination of soccer stealing all of the top-tier black/coloured atheletes, and the still mediocre facilities and fields available for black-majority schools, there wasn't even any sufficient amount of referees for black schools to regulate or coach or hold matches for Rugby properly!!

Thus even if they wanted to, the SA Rugby Union, did not have the available talenpools, on a national scale, to recruit or train or lay the groundworks for, for International Springbok grade Rugby black players.

The ideal starting point for most of the historic white International Springbok Rugby players had usually began at the young tender age of 13, where the groundworks of hand-to-ball coordination and athletic instincts of the sport was developed at the most malleable period of the young athlete's growing period. With only about 8 years since full Democratization, the grassroots timeframe, even for top tier schools, with impressive support and facilities, was lacking to generate this black talentpool.

BEE VERSUS RSA RUGBY UNIONS:

Thus a massive multi-decade drama would escalate between the ANC and black peeps, and the SA Rugby Union and white Rugby supporters, with the crux of the matter being the competency of any enforced Black/Coloured Springbok members.

Many black peeps denounced the racist mayos attempt to gatekeep the glory of the Springboks against the black masses. Many whites were firm of the belief that most non-white Springboks were diversity-hires, whom were not qualified above even club or provincial grade rugby, let alone international standards.

Many black peeps could not understand the notion that while the Apartheid era institutions were discriminatory against OUTRACE, they were still meritorious for the INRACE, meaning that the top qualified whites in that area were accepted generally.

In contrast, for sincere Rugby Union Directors and organizers, to try and explain the complexity of the problem of attaining Springbok/International grade rugby players from the then currently finite black/coloured talentpools was a daunting task in such a short time. As national rugby players literally took decades to "Kweek" (grow/cook). The lame-sounding excuses of that there needs to be foundational facility support with grassroots growth in the black local rugby scene, from the bottom up , sounded like feeble excuses by racist mayos to keep the sport clear of non-whites.

DIFFICULT AND LONG ROADS:

Still, despite all the race flame wars time marched on and new blood came into being. The most famous coloured Rugby player Bryan Habana, would make his debut in 2003, in clubs, and would be earmarked by the SA Rugby Union for a fasttrack to the Springboks, where he basically showered himself with Glory

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bryan_Habana

Bryan is considered to be the best Backliner in SA Rugby history, and perhaps even the earth entire. He would become a household name, to the extent where even peeps who couldn't name a single sportsplayer in any sport, could at least name him.

I add his long history from Highschool (earliest shining from 2003) to eventual magnetic glory for Springboks in the mid-2000s just to showcase how even for the fricking best Backliner South Africa has ever produced, it literally took a fricking decade to train and prepare a dude who was fricking genetically destined to be a magnificent Rugby player, to become International grade good.

Many black peeps, understandably, just genuinely didn't believe that it would take time, for as much as 10 years, to cultivate a powerful coloured/black talentpool, to achieve players of the caliber of Bryan.

The astonishing thing was that the SA Rugby Union, WAS ACTUALLY COMPLYING with BEE in the mid-2000s to the highest degree that they could lol They legit were doing all that they could to scout out black/coloured/indian talent, to give sports-grants for universities, to hire and personally train outstanding athletes, and to fasttrack potential future Springbok athletes.

But as any of you guys who actually did any sport in school and aren't just f@ggot redditors who think Biological male transwomen don't have a critical advantage in female sports, for those of you can realize the monumental undertaking it requires to establish a talentpool where there had previously existed none.

And so black politicians would get pissed at the SA Rugby Unions, even as the fricking Unions were doing what they were asking, as fast as they could!!!

QUOTA REPUTATIONS:

Because of this, there was always the steryiotype that coloured/black players on provincial or local or national stages, were diversity-hires, because the ANC would politically enforce BEE, against the protestations of Team organizers and coaches that they weren't ready yet, or unqualified, while conversely the Black politicians were convinced mayo team organizers were bullshittting them.

Eventually by 2010s other areas of SuperSport would hire non-whites in other roles as well, like commentators and referees and TV presenters and so on.

Every 2nd year there on there would be an inevitable drama flashpoint in SA, about how Rugby/Cricket still doesn't have enough black players, and how the national sport teams of Proteas and Springboks are still emblematic of this racial inequality within SA.

SUPERSPORT WILLEMSE RACISM OUTBURST 2018:

So with this background in mind, maybe you dramatards can understand the context of the following event - in that non-white peeps tend to have a tender spot regarding the view of their qualifications in the eyes of their white peers. With many coloured peeps especially being sensitive regarding the issue of their deserving their post, as coloured men like Bryan Habana had demonstrated beyond all doubts.

Basically Willemse, the coloured Rugby commentator and Co-host, and ex-Rugby player, would lose his shit live on TV, and walk out of the post-match commentary session (the most boring part of any sport ),

because he felt that he had been miffed/mocked by his white co-hosts, for his perceived lack of actual Rugby knowledge - aka they laughed at him when he made a fool of himself regarding a technicality, and he attributed it to racism

https://www.businesslive.co.za/bd/sport/rugby/2018-05-22-ashwin-willemses-unhappiness-is-not-about-racism-says-supersport/

VERY PROFOUND

====(from businesslive article)

Ashwin Willemse‚ the main character in a crisis at SuperSport after he staged a walkout on air over dissatisfaction with his co-presenters‚ has said the issue is "very profound".

He directed pointed comments at fellow former Springboks Naas Botha and Nick Mallett‚ as he walked off set following the Lions versus Brumbies match on Saturday. Willemse‚ a former Springbok wing who played 19 Tests and was a member of the 2007 World Cup-winning squad‚ claimed he "can't work with people who undermine other people".

In a stunning monologue following a commercial break after the match‚ Willemse let fly at co-presenters Mallett and Botha. "I've been in the game for a long time like most of us here‚" Willemse said. "As a player‚ I've been called a quota for a long time and I've worked very hard to earn the respect I have now. "I'm not going to sit here and be patronised by these two individuals (Mallett and Botha) who played their rugby during the apartheid era‚ a segregated era."

====(end quote)

https://www.graaffreinetadvertiser.com/News/Article/National-News/sahrc-to-investigate-racism-at-supersport-in-wake-of-willemse-saga-201812120211

A metric shitload of dramarama would follow on Safrican twatter about this bizarre turn of events.

Black peeps were ready to the mayos. Coloureds aired their frustration that they weren't taken seriously by their white peers, and often attributed their posts as quotas (which they often were lmoa). Indians made money selling wingcuck shirts regarding this incident Mayos pointed out that in the specific incident in where Willemse was mocked, he did genuine say something r-slurred.... The whole rainbow nation was in upheaval! (on twatter)

Things got so bad, that the fricking SAHRC (South African Human Rights Commission) were directed to fricking investigate the SuperSport channel! (the channel network which holds monopoly over most sports in SA) VERY EXCITING TIME TO BE READING NEWS PAPERS

=====(from graaffreinetadvertiser article)

NATIONAL NEWS - SuperSport won't be let off the hook just yet for the Ashwin Willemse saga.

According to TimesLive, the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) will be investigating the circumstances surrounding the former Springbok winger's sensational walkout during a live rugby broadcast in May after he alleged on-air that he was being undermined by fellow pundits Nick Mallett and Naas Botha. [the two famous mayo commenters]

The inquiry will be public.

SuperSport were criticised for their own independent investigation into the matter by advocate Vincent Maleka, who admitted that his final report was flawed because Willemse chose not to provide input.

Maleka did, however, clear Mallett and Botha of racism and recommended that the matter be referred to the SAHRC.

=====(end quote)

As per usual in the South African manner, the circumstances of the slight was made to be in order of magnitudes more controversial than it actually warranted, basically SA wingcucks made an entire range of mountains out of a mole hill. Blowing things out of metric proportion is truly the south african way!

https://www.news24.com/sport/exclusive-why-supersport-said-the-willemse-incident-wasnt-racist-20180524

=====(from news24 article)

Willemse's on-air comments that he would no longer be "patronised by two individuals who played in an apartheid/segregated era" has led to a nationwide debate about how black people are treated in the workplace.

The reasons why SuperSport CEO Gideon Khobane [A BLACK GUY LMOA ] and MultiChoice CEO Calvo Mawela [ANOTHER BLACK GUY BATTING FOR THE WHITOIDS DOUBLE -LMOA ] announced after the meeting that race did not play a role in the incident can now for the first time be revealed.

According to Sport24's sources, this was the chronology of events that led to Willemse's dramatic walkout:

[blablabbla some boring shit follows proving there was no networking attempt was deliberate in making the coloured guy look stupid. Trust me dramatards the actual event doesn't matter jackshit - it's safricans reaction to it which makes this ]

======(end)

Willemse continued to make a fool of himself and would subsequently torpedo his career, as pretty much no one would want to work in the TV industry with such an unstable fool.

https://www.timeslive.co.za/news/south-africa/2018-12-14-watch--i-was-at-breaking-point-ashwin-willemse/

I was at 'breaking point'

You guys will notice if you read into this insanity, that though Nick Mallett and Naas Botha could be argued to have acted disrespectfully and maybe unprofessionally towards Willemse in his expertise blunder, there was no indication that they had done so for racism reasons!

And him going full nuclear and scrorched earth against his former colleagues of almost a decade was so wildly inappropriate and disproportionate to the crime for which he was accusing them of!!

Many of Willemse's detractors would accuse him of having acute (and I quote ) "American victim mentality" on the radio

Regardless his actions would pretty much poison the well for the next 5 years straight.

SAHRC DROPS PROBE INTO WILLEMSE INCIDENT!

Willemse would pretty much make himself a great deal of enemies, including from his former teammates, colleagues and coaches as he kept digging his heels deeper and deeper, and doubled down on not just accusing his two co-commenters, but stating that the entire SuperSport network, and Rugby Union administration was rotten to the core and still systemically racist,

which regardless of whether it was true, was spitting into the faces of many many white Union directors and coaches, whom had moved mountains to create a grassroots initiative to enable coloureds like Willemse to be able to train and qualify as national or provincial grade Rugby players.

It was like a slap to the face, that he was basically repeating ANC mantra, that the SA Rugby Union, despite the organization's immense multi-decade efforts to actually acquiesce the BEE demands of the ANC, and integrate coloured and black players into the nationwide training process,

to THEN come and state on national news, that the Rugby Union was still just as racist as the NP regime was 30 years earlier! Holy smokes what a betrayal and slap to the face lmoa.

Which is how many white Rugby players/trainers/organizers felt after his remarks

But the final nail into this coffin, was when the fricking SAHRC themselves publicaly declared they found no evidence of racism.

https://www.sahrc.org.za/index.php/sahrc-media/news/item/3649-sahrc-must-explain-why-it-dropped-willemse-racism-probe

GET A LOAD OF THIS GUY!

====(from sahr exerpt)

"The Commission closed the investigation due to nonresponse from Mr Wilemse." Asked whether or not the SAHRC would reopen the case, he added: "The Commission would have to consider the circumstances. The Commission could reopen the investigation if Mr Willemse responds to the Commission's correspondence." Human rights activist and researcher Nkosikhulule Nyembezi said the SAHRC should have investigated why the complainant was not responding. "Has he been threatened? "Is he traumatised?"

It would be strange for the Commission to say they just closed a case because the person was not responsive. They have the power to seek responses from people against whom there are complaints. The issue is that we don't know why the complainant is unresponsive. They need to make us understand and learn the circumstances which the complainant has to navigate to get jus tice.

====(end)

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

So basically what happened: after his blood had cooled, and he began to realize what an r-slur he had made of himself, and that not only had be burned every single bridge he ever built after 15 years in the Rugby industry, not only for his outburst and racism accusations against his former friends and colleagues,

but that this motherlover actually encouraged the involvement of the fricking SAHRC, which has a lot of fricking political power in the country,

But more significantly, he began to realize that SuperSport (the network) had a fricking ironclad case with timestamps and documents to demonstrate his tantrum would not be easily connected to racism as he had claimed running his mouth off in Twitter and the SA tabloid media.

So he had basically kept his mouth shut since, as he probably realize he had permanently torpedoed his career.

https://www.iol.co.za/capetimes/news/sahrc-must-explain-why-it-dropped-willemse-racism-probe-e4231af5-68bc-4580-96e6-e9c1a46ef45a

Even the rest of the usually anti-white mainstream media couldn't cajole a response out of the SAHRC, if the primary witness was gonna be a no-show, and the of this incident would assblast a lot of anti-mayo wingcucks for months to come.

https://mg.co.za/article/2018-06-19-no-racism-in-willemse-walk-out-says-supersport/

Anyways that's pretty much all there is to this event, and has been memoryholed since. I think this specific event also demonstrates how difficult it is/was for Rugby Union Directors to communicate against ANC directives to immediately apply BEE in all national sporting events, regardless if the said quota players are qualified or ready.

The sensitivity of this issue is constantly ongoing, but in the very least, some form of equilibrium has been reached. After all it was only last year, where the Springboks, lead by a black captain once again covered themselves with glory by winning the world cup. (and by cucking those filthy Frogs tooooo!)

Anyways, GOODNIGHT!