For our research day on the 12th, the members of the Xhosa group split up throughout Cape Town to cover various aspects of sports media coverage. Overall, we were looking into how race influences sports and perceptions of athletes.
Christian and Kyle went to the Mercedes Benz Golf Hall of Fame while Cam and Ryan visited the Rugby Museum. Emmie and I visited the office of the Cape Argus, a local newspaper located on St. George’s Mall. As a branch of IOL News, the Cape Argus covers local, national, and international news for South Africans. We had the opportunity to speak with Lance Witten, Cape Argus News Editor, and Jermaine Craig, Cape Argus Executive Editor, about their experience with sports in South Africa. Both are South African natives and are avid sports fans.
From our interview, we were able to better understand the contrast between the American versus South African sports culture in regard to race. Whereas in the United States minorities are often not provided the same athletic opportunities, the majority race in South Africa is the one most often excluded from sports. A prime example is the South African national cricket team which has seven white players, two colored players, and two black players. This eighteen percent black representation on the national team is in stark contrast to the eighty percent of South Africans classified as black. While many try to fault this discrepancy to black people not playing cricket, there is a growing population of black fans and players in school and regional leagues.
Lance and Jermaine discussed the influence that privilege has upon an athlete’s career. In order to make it onto a South African National team, you must be selected from a franchise team. Franchise teams pick their athletes directly from university teams, which are predominantly composed of privileged white players. Without the opportunity to pay for a university, there is no way of making it to a franchise or national team, which therefore excludes a large number of blacks and colored South Africans.
This concept of privilege was a key aspect of Curt’s play he performed in our class on the 13th. In his portrayal of his son Aston at cricket practice, he highlighted the privileges that his white teammates had. The teammates that were able to afford private lessons in addition to team practice developed additional skills and strengthened their abilities as players. As a result, they received more playing time and had a better chance at excelling.
However, this is not a problem isolated to South Africa. It can be seen very similarly in wealthy suburban neighborhoods where the kids can afford to join Club sports and traveling teams that feed them into college sports teams. I have seen this same disparity between the kids in my neighborhood and the ones I work with at an afterschool center for low-income students. While some of the kids that I work with excel at sports at the Center, their parents often cannot afford to pay registration fees for soccer leagues or to buy uniforms. As a result, they become untapped potential without a way of developing their talent. This is very different from the athletes in my own neighborhood that get chauffeured by their parents or nannies to practice and private lessons every afternoon. It is only natural that the students able to afford the extra development are more likely to make it onto college teams and go further onto success.
Overall it is a systematic cycle in which those with more privilege continue to excel and those that are already disadvantaged continue to fall behind.
Through our conversation with Lance and Jermaine we were able to deepen our knowledge of how South Africans react to the racial composition of their nation’s various sports teams. In particular, they discussed the tension that has risen due to the unrepresentative nature of cricket and rugby teams. As a result of the demographics of South African team rosters, many Cape Town residents support the New Zealand national team, which is nearly all black. This lack of local support for the Springboks illustrates the lack of unity South Africans feel towards their still racially divided country.
While black athletes are slowly gaining more representation on the fields, they still struggle with the way the media portrays them. In general, media outlets hold black athletes to a high standard than their white counterparts which can be a difficult barrier for some players. Recently, the first black player of color was named as the national captain of the cricket team but due to a lot of pressures and questioning of his credentials he stepped down from his position. This sort of societal influence is a clear demonstration of the need for progress and change in South African athletics.
