'Sober up', Bok coach told
Springbok rugby coach Peter de Villiers should "sober up" when making press statements as his words may come back to haunt him, says the Minister of Sport and Recreation, Makhenkesi Stofile.
Stofile said he liked De Villiers very much and knew him as a good rugby player from his playing days in Boland, but suggested the more the Springbok coach talked, the more he got confused.
De Villiers had been presenting himself lately as a rugby spokesperson.
"The role of the coach is to prepare the team," said Stofile. "The role of the spokesperson is to represent the union."
Stofile said De Villiers could get away with such things while the Springboks were winning.
"When we are losing it will be a serious problem. He will be the first to be fired. Coaches get fired for teams not performing, not because they are not doing their job."
Stofile said he was pleased with the way South Africa had handled major events such as the Confederations Cup tournament and the British and Irish Lions tour.
South African teams had also excelled in the country's major sports.
"I was thrilled with the way Bafana Bafana played in the Confederations Cup," Stofile said. "They confounded all their critics. They punched well above their weight and did their country proud."
But Stofile was disappointed with the way league football had deteriorated.
"South African football has gone down a very great deal. I don't know why."
This should not be the case, he said, as football was being played throughout the country. "There is a lot of football in South Africa."
Stofile was also pleased with the South African cricket team and did not think its failure to win the World Twenty20 tournament was altogether a bad thing.
"The cricket team lost to the ultimate winners of the tournament. That cannot be an embarrassment. In the same way, Bafana Bafana lost to Brazil, who finally won the tournament. We should be proud of that."
He said the loss of the cricket team to Pakistan would do some good.
"A streak of victories tends to bring on an element of complacency."
Stofile was concerned, however, that not enough sport was being played in South Africa's "black schools" and felt changing attitudes were largely to blame.
"In my generation the teachers at the schools were the main drivers of school sport and that is now not the case."
Those were the days, he said, when "black Springboks" were being produced in the bundus of Alice and the rural areas of Transkei.
Stofile said the teachers of today were the students of the 1970s, who did not have the same experience of sport.
"It is our responsibility to continue motivating our teachers."
He said the facilities available to the schools of today were no worse than those of his generation and in many cases were better.