Voortrekker Ruck
Rugby's role in the new South Africa is the subject for tonight's programme in the series examininganation'sidentity through sport.
Former Springbok skipper
Morne du Plessis began to realise what was happening in his own country when he encountered thousands of anti-tour demonstrators in Australia in 1971, and now admits that "we should have seen what was going on". One who did was
Springbok hero Cheeky Watson. He realised he either had to "live a life as if blacks don't exist, or turn my back on the Springbok blazer". Having chosen to play in the townships he endured ostracism by the rugby establishment, warnings of assassination, threats to his family, arrest, and the need to enter townships hidden in the boot of a car.
While some speak enthusiastically of the results being achieved by the rugby
"development clinics", Watson dismisses them as window-dressing, when wealth and resources are so unfairly apportioned. But the film finds both optimism for the long road ahead, and fears over the possibility of sporting equality in an unequal society. Director David Fox
Producer Peter Day
A Faction Film production for BBCtv