At any given time in the national squad, more specifically in recent years, you would be bound to find at least 6 or 7 coloured players in the first team of the national squad. This is more than 50% of the team and is a remarkable statistic bearing in mind the fact that we form less than 10% of the national population. How do we get this right in a country where race plays such a huge role? We live in a country filled with quota systems and xenophobic fans that only want to see local players in the squads, more specifically Black players. We saw it at Amazulu recently where the team was performing well but according to the fans they had too many coloured players.
This led to an exodus of coloured players from Amazulu and the immediate demise of the team and they have been yo-yo’ing between the first division and premier league ever since. The rest of the world does not care what nationality or colour their team players are and this is evident by the number of fans that turn up for English games despite the English representation being minimal.
Fortunately, in South Africa, at national level at least, this kind of thinking and influence on the game by the fans does not happen. This can clearly be seen by the amount of representation that coloureds have in the national team. Surely if a team like Kaizer Chiefs or Orlando Pirates had that sort of representation there would be a huge cry from the fans. So we can safely assume that this does not happen at national level. Or does it? Let’s take a look and see. Currently we have Quinton Fortune, Delron Buckley, Steven Pienaar, Benni McCarthy, Shaun Bartlett and Nasief Morris all in the national squad. Now in my opinion and surely the opinion of the masses of footballers that understand the game, these players are in the side totally on merit. Are there any other deserving players who have not been given the opportunity?
There have been fringe players like Elrio Van Heerden, Stanton Fredericks, Rowyn Hendricks, Tyrone Arendse, Moeneeb Josephs, David Kannemeyer and Fabian McCarthy. There are also younger players like Giovanni Rector and Lance Davids who could be staking their claim or should be by now. What is your opinion on the way things are? Do you think that we have enough players in the side, too much or too little? If you think we have too much then who should be out and who should take his place. If you think we have too little then who should be in and at the expense of which player.
To me and I am sure that most of you share this view, I do not care whether the player is black, white or coloured and whether he is claiming allegiance based on his great grandfather being a citizen. To me, as long as the player is capable and passionate and helps us realize the goal of….dare I say it. Winning the World Cup in 2010.
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Lester Ash
