SABC DEPRIVING BLACK RUGBY SUPPORTERS & FAILING THE DEVELOPMENT OF RUGBY IN UNDERPRIVILEGED COMMUNITIES

Feb 15 • General News, National • 2247 Views • Comments Off on SABC DEPRIVING BLACK RUGBY SUPPORTERS & FAILING THE DEVELOPMENT OF RUGBY IN UNDERPRIVILEGED COMMUNITIES

Border Rugby Union would like to call on the SABC to re-evaluate its decision to discontinue broadcasting rugby on its radio platforms.

Rugby is the second biggest sport after soccer in South Africa, and it is the main sporting code in the Eastern Cape where Border Rugby administers rugby for the 2/3 of the population in the province.

SABC seeks to deny access to their culture that they have adopted since 1864.

The majority rugby loving population of the Eastern Cape and within the Border Rugby Union jurisdiction, in particular, are for the reasons of historically lopsided economic development of the country, in low paying employment and thus unable to access the pay TV. We note the curious confluence of actions by the media houses of Supersport and SABC, to deny the largely black and poor access to rugby. While we understand, with pain, the profit motive of Supersport, our firm view is that SABC is breaching its public interest mandate, and we feel deeply wounded by even the thought of the action they contemplate. Their action should not be countenanced by all South Africans.

We submit that the popularity of rugby in disadvantaged communities is slowly dying because of the lack of broadcasted TV matches on free to air television. The decrease in the number of young disadvantaged kids playing the sport is also an indication that the SABC is not playing its part in transforming rugby in South Africa.

Observing this trend, yet again, we charge SABC for dereliction of its constitutional duty to broadcast national sport on free to air platforms. Rugby, has taken the brunt of the elite-oriented decisions of SABC, as only rugby of the three top sports in the country are not broadcast on SABC platforms. We believe SABC decisions are based on alarming ignorance and ahistorical understanding of rugby in South Africa. It feeds on a falsehood that rugby is a white sport and therefore a sport for the rich. A fact defied by history of rugby in South Africa and the contemporary fact that 40 % of the rugby playing population is in the Eastern Cape.

We call on SARU to engage the SABC to stop the envisaged action regarding the radio broadcast and while on it, to take with energy and conviction the issue of live broadcasting on the free to air television. We call on all rugby unions, and mass social movements to stand in solidarity with Border to stem this media despotism being visited on the most disadvantaged rugby supporter of the country.