Johannesburg - South Africa finally came full circle this week thanks to the Springboks once again, and before the first ball in the Rugby World Cup final was even kicked. England flanker Tom Curry was overheard in the 23rd minute asking referee Ben O’Keeffe what he should do since Bongi Mbonambi had called him a “white c#nt”?
The referee handled it perfectly, but certain elements of the English media went into full Karen mode, harrumphing about racism. It is typical of the unbelievable arrogance of the former colonial overlords, who once boasted an empire upon which the sun infamously never set after illegally occupying vast swathes of land, that they wouldn’t let the facts stand in the face of a good story.
South Africans rose up as one, with perhaps the exception of Ernst Roets, to explain that Mbonambi was actually signalling in Afrikaans to his team mates that the ball had either gone onto the white side or the wide side. It’s perfectly logical. It’s also a very far cry from what our other sporting legend Benni McCarthy was screaming from the touchline two years ago when he was still coaching Cape Town City.
He was shouting “you mustn’t push”. To English ears, that would sound logical, but to those who know, that’s not what he was saying. This ridiculous slur against Mbonambi has brought most South Africans even closer together than Siya and his charges have already managed.
World Rugby this week said that there was “insufficient evidence” to pursue a case of the alleged use of “discriminatory language” by Mbonambi but it will probably have done the team the world of good, too, to get focused for tonight and leave it all on the field.
Tom Curry, England Rugby and World Rugby really need to be taught once and for all that when it comes to South Africa, “you mustn’t push”!