It occurs to me here in Nelson (even further away from South Africa than Perth) that maybe, just maybe, there are comparatively few black/coloured people who are actually interested in playing Rugby. On those (admittedly infrequent) occasions when I see SA Soccer teams play, it is very much a case of "spot the whitey". I seem to recall that Bafana Bafana had a white goalkeeper at one time. Soccer in SA appears to attract hugely more blacks/coloureds that whites. Is that a fair statement?
What was the "ultimate" aim of the quota system? If it was to eventually have blacks/coloured playing Rugby Union in a comparable ratio to the overall demographic of SA, then it was surely doomed to failure from the start. There would just not be enough blacks/coloureds interested in playing, so I cannot see any possibility that Springbok squad of 22 would ever be made up of two whites, two coloureds and 18 blacks.
Its a difficult one.
At school level, there is a much 'healthier' spread of demographics than provincial/ national level, but obviously varies from school to school. I'd say a big problem in terms of transformation lies in that the top echelon of rugby schools in SA still have a relatively poor demographic spread. Now, obviously these schools run intense rugby programmes, fitness regimes and quality coaches, so they provide the vast majority of SAs pro and club players. There was even a study done a year or two back showed that most of the black/ coloured players that left these schools did not pursue rugby careers (pro and club), why they did or did not wasn't covered. So I'd certainly say there is a grass roots and social/ economic problem that needs to be addressed before senior levels of rugby are looked at. The school fees at most of these schools are simply too high for even most middle class blacks/ coloureds. However though it must be noted that the demographic spread is 'improving' quickly.
With soccer, most of the 'English whites' in SA do watch and 'support' a soccer team, most of the time a foreign club and not a local one. In my experience a lot of predominantly white schools have only adopted soccer as a sport in the last 8 years or so, mainly because of the world cup I suppose, but the focus is still on rugby and such. There are far more professional white players plying their trade in the PSL and National 1st Division than Bafana Bafana squads suggest, its a matter of opinion but I feel that most of these players are rightly overlooked, they are simply not as good as their coloured counter-parts. Whether or not an increased participation of whites would lead to an increase in white Bafana players is hard to say, look at England/ France, blacks there are a minority but often dominate the national team's numbers.
As for the quota system, as I posted in another thread, it works both ways. My cousin (whom is white) was part of a athletics team, but they were barred from entering a competition because the squad did not have enough white athletes in it. Fast forward a few years , she was back in Durban and part of the KZN swimming team, whom were similarily barred from a tournament initially because there were no black swimmers, despite none making the provincial trials. A swimmer was drafted in and they competed.
The goal of the quota system? To encourage the participation of the sport affected from all racial groups, to simply ensure there is a 'fair' representation of demographics, or to ensure that there are fair and equal opportunities for all race groups to advance in the sport free of the threat of prejudice? The same can be asked of the BBBEE policies, there are mixed messages being sent out by the government imo, and whether or not the quota system has contributed to whatever their goals are is hard to tell, for reasons I outlined in the first two paragraphs.
Then again, I take a foreign view on things in SA, and could easily be missing out on things that a 'local' would not , so take what I say with a pinch of salt
