Springbok arm bands reek of hypocrisy

In the third test against the British and Irish Lions the Springboks all wore white arm bands with the slogan “Justice 4″ as a protest over the suspension of lock Bakkies Botha, who was given a 2 match suspension for a dangerous clean out on Adam Jones which left the Welsh prop with a dislocated shoulder. Unfortunately for the Springboks, this is just another example in a long line of incidents where they view themselves as victims of the system, rather than taking responsibility.

Botha is hardly a player to be held up as a paragon of virtue who was hard done by in front of the judicial panel. Botha is one of those players you love to have on your team and hate when he’s in the opposition. Physical, abrasive and always in the action, some would call Botha dirty, others would argue he just plays hard.

His record, I think, speaks for itself. He began his test career by picking up a yellow card on debut against France for stamping, received an eight week ban for “attacking the face” of Wallaby Brendan Cannon who claimed he was both eye gouged and bitten, and was suspended for three weeks earlier this year for punching Phil Waugh during the Super 14.

The reason given for the protest by South African Rugby Players’ Association CEO Piet Heymans was perceived inconsistencies. “Bakkies hit a ruck just before the one in question in a similar style and was not penalised. The inconsistency has upset the players and they want to send a clear message that they require the IRB to have an urgent look at the law. We will be consulting our legal team next week to consider all our legal options available to assist Bakkies Botha and provide him with a sense of justice,” Heymans said.

So would it be that Botha’s biggest crime was getting caught? Not only does he hit this particular ruck without binding, he also goes in with he head below his hips, both of which are not allowed in the game of rugby.

Springbok coach Peter de Villiers also showed that perhaps the greatest crime committed by Schalk Burger, who was given a limp eight week suspension for eye gouging, when he tried to deflect blame away from Burger pointing out other perceived incidents. “In the first minute already there had been a lot of needle and if you watch the whole game you will see how many yellow cards they were let off,” de Villiers said.

So once again South African rugby is trying to play the part of the victim here, ignoring the fact that Jones will now require surgery on his shoulder and will miss six months of action, and the victim of Burger’s eye gouge, Luke Fitzgerald, could have potentially suffered a life altering injury. Oh no! These are not the true victims here, the victims are the South African players who were caught and punished for their rugby crimes while others are free to continue playing. Yeah right!

Similar Posts:

• How the Boks should have dealt with the Botha suspension
• The fallout from the headbutt
• England need vast improvement if they are to challenge Habana and the Boks
• South Africa must improve discipline if they hope to compete at World Cup
• Winners and losers from Bledisloe II

The Springbok arm bands reek of hypocrisy by Hamish McBrearty, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.