UCBSA's plan not good for South Africa (8 December 1998)

8 December 1998

UCBSA's plan not good for South Africa

The Jamaica Gleaner

The United Cricket Board of South Africa (UCBSA) has come up with a plan which it hopes will ensure the end to all-white national teams.

According to the plan which was proposed and accepted during Saturday's executive meeting, the selectors will be instructed that national teams should include players of colour, and if they cannot select a player of colour because of injury or loss of form, they must consult a special committee consisting of Board president Ray White, vice-president Percy Sonn, managing director Ali Bacher, and executive member Gerald Majola.

The special committee also will have the power to direct the selectors to include a player or players of colour in a squad, and if an all-white XI is selected, the committee can refer it back to the selectors with a request for a change in the racial balance.

The plan goes further to say that when a match can no longer affect the outcome of a series or a competition, the committee can also direct the selectors to include a player or players of colour.

All that sounds good, and there is certainly nothing wrong with the Board, any Board, including the Jamaica Board and the West Indies Board, instructing its selectors on a matter of policy.

There could be problems ahead, however, for although the plan subtly says that the selectors "should" and not "shall" select a player or players of colour, the intention is clear - the UCBSA, because of political reasons and the fear of a backlash, wants a team that is not all-white.

If that is so, the team will not be selected on merit - and there are many, whites and non-whites, who believe that South Africa must be represented by its best players and are opposed to any selection not based on merit.

That could be one problem, and although they will have no choice but to obey, another could be the selectors who believe that their responsibility is to select the best team - not for example, the best nine whites and the best two non-whites.

On top of that, the selectors, who, right around the world, are accustomed to autonomy, may feel that they serve no purpose but to present a short list to the special committee. Why, for example they may ask, will it be necessary for them to consul the committee if a player if injured, or if, in their opinion, he is out of form.

A national team selected on any basis but merit, is an insult to those selected without merit, it will make a mockery of international sport, and for South Africa, it will be difficult to maintain team spirit. It would be interesting to see how players on a team selected, not on merit but on the colour of one's skin, react to a player selected not on merit and who fails to perform with the bat, with the ball, or in the field.

As Minister of Sport Steve Tswhete insists, South Africa is a special case - and who should know better than a man who fought for the freedom of his people and who, because of that, and like president Nelson Mandela, spent many years in prison on Robben Island.

The blacks of South Africa should be careful, however. Victory today, in the form of getting non-whites into the team, could backfire.

If non-whites are good enough, they should be selected - no question about that. If, on the other hand, they are not good enough, are selected, find themselves out of their depth and fail, it could damage the cause.

Source :: The Jamaica Gleaner (https://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/)