I watched it and loved the professional way it was done. It's about time that the Springboks got the proper documentary treatement. love the style. This will help with the Springbok lore in the future.
It's awesome that they have this footage for such a great time in our history rugby wise, we are in for a treat.
I felt they overplayed transformation in the documentary, not only in the narrative but also in their selection of commentary. It's clear that SARU issued this directive, which came from government and I understand that the first episode was how Rassie took ownership of this directive. But the documentary had an almost absolute focus on transformation, even so far as making 95% of the commentators black, then focusing on Gwijo squad supporters, looking at the townships and Siya. As if that's all the Springboks are about. We are much more of an intricate team then a team focusing on one element such as transformation for it to really be the focus of a whole episode.
I saw no message of our diverse culture being incorporated, people from the townships to the city from stellenbosch schools to Soweto schools for that matter. I saw no recognition that the Springbok is 100 year old brand with traditions, history and culture. No recognition of famous stalwarts such as Jan Ellis, Danie Craven, Corné Krige and Victor Matfield for a recent name.
In short i feel the first episode was almost to portray that the Springboks are currently what they aim to be in the future, that they are a team that represents a black majority country with a black majority team, and a black majority fanbase.
While the players are starting to reach those transformation targets, the fanbase is still what it traditionally has been. But it's not made out to be like that in the docu. That to me feels like the documentary might be a little disengenous particularly if it continues with this trend in the next few episodes. A admittedly well done visualisation of what we want to be but not what we are. With the revelation of what the MultiChoice CEO said to Jurie Roux on that beach about what the Boks must become , it feels like they (multichoice, DStv) want to use this documentary to come across as the heroes for transformation, and to build, and to infuse that into their making of the documentary. Almost a self pat on the back.
