The end of Bok rugby as we know it is nigh

Khompela: 'Why White must go'
Thursday 18th October 2007

Bhutana Khompela, the Chairperson of the Parliamentary Committee on Sport, believes that despite all Springbok coach Jake White's achievements in this year's World Cup, the sooner he relinquishes his job the better for South African rugby.

In an interview with Cape Talk DJ Aden Thomas on Thursday Khompela said that White had "invited trouble" by meddling in politics with his statements about the merits of the current team.

White, who in recent weeks has used sections of the South African media to gain publicity ahead of the release of his biography, made it clear that he is unlikely to continue as national coach after the World Cup - even if the Boks beat England in the World Cup Final in Paris on Saturday.

However, he has suggested that it is the underhand tactics of back-stabbing South African Rugby Union (SARU) officials that will force him out.

Some reports in the White media camp even suggested that Bulls coach Heyneke Meyer was promised the Springbok coaching job before the Boks left for the World Cup - claims denied by Jonathan Stones, managing director of SA Rugby (Pty) Ltd (the commercial arm of SARU).

Furthermore, Stones said SA Rugby was interested in retaining White within its structures.

However, the campaigning and publicity for White in the media - not to mention White's own public controversial statements on the coaching saga - have not gone unnoticed.

Khompela revealed that the ruling party, the African National Congress (ANC), would never support any bid White made for a second term as the coach of the national side.

"If he goes today, South African rugby will be better off," Khompela told Cape Talk's Aden Thomas.

Despite earlier this year threatening to withhold the passports of the players if the team's composition did not reflect the demographics of the country - in which 80 per cent of the population is black - Khompela said it is the administration and selectors (including White) that are to blame and not the players.

"You can't punish the players, you must punish those that are responsible for the composition of the team," he said.

He warned that if the leadership of rugby - including White - was full of racism and hated black people, they should be punished.

"I've been saying for a long time that because of the passionate hate that Jake White has; I think [his being removed as coach] is long overdue - and I don't mince my words," he said, without clarifying who and what it is that White actually hates.

"The ANC will never support Jake White if he bids for the second term - even if they propose that his contract be renewed on the basis of his being liked by the rugby fraternity and the argument that we can't micro manage rugby," he added.

"We might accept their decision but deep down we will definitely not support Jake White."

Khompela went on to say that he did not view White as the coach who had put the Springboks in the World Cup Final, but that he saw him as a divisive force in the national side, someone who pushed people "poles apart from each other".

He went on to accuse White of inviting trouble by making political statements.

"Look at the statement that he is making around the issue of the merit and all that, statements that a coach should not be making.

"He rise at the political level and therefore I must engage him at the political level," Khompela said about White political statements.

"I think if I was him I would have been a humble coach and leave the issues of the race to those that are dealing with it in politics, because it is a political matter.

"Now if Jake puts it there, he is saying to me as the ANC, 'Here I am challenging you on the question of the mandate of the code and the race'."

The outburst followed comments from White that he did not racially discriminate in his selections, but found it difficult as a coach to be forced to fill quota requirements.

"South Africa is the only country where if a winger is injured, you are obliged to change the prop [should the injured player be black or coloured]," White told journalists in France.

"They [the players] know me and know that I never want to be strong-armed into playing a guy because of the colour of his skin. That is a dreadful thing to do to a player. With me it's a case of if you deserve to be in the starting XV or not and the coloured players are aware of that."

Khompela said that such comments from the Springbok coach were unwarranted.

Khompela added that transformation in rugby was a non negotiable and that the administrators and those elected to represent rugby in the country had not tapped into the talent pool, and did not select sides that reflect the potential of South Africa's 80 per cent black population.