Fourth Blog - LITERATURE REVIEW

 

LITERATURE REVIEW

For the purposes of this study, the literature review will follow a deductive reasoning pattern, linking to the research questions as outlined above.

Representation and identity politics

In understanding representation and identity politics for this research, we need to understand the relationship between sport and politics. According to Germmell (2004), sport is a reflection of the society in which it is practised. Germmel (2004) argues that attitudes to participation, competition and even which sports are played are determined in the main by factors outside sport itself.  

According to Vahed (2001: 320), South Africa was isolated from world cricket in 1970 when British Home Secretary James Callaghan bowed to public pressure and asked English Cricket Board (ECB) to call off South Africa’s cricket tour to England because of the apartheid.  There was rapid change from the late 1980s and particularly after the release of Nelson Mandela and other political prisoners and the unbanning of the African National Congress (ANC) in 1990. 

Following negotiations brokered by Steve Tshwete of the ANC and Roelf Meyer of the National Party (NP), the South African Cricket Union (SACU) amalgamated with the South African Cricket Board of Control (SACBOC) in June 1991 (Vahed 2001: 321).

Since re-admission into the International Cricket Council (ICC) on 10 November 1991, South African cricket administration has been under constant social and political pressure to be more inclusive and representative in its sport. Many perceptions are being formulated in the media and in society in general of what constitutes a truly representative South African cricket team.

This research study will focus on what steps are taken especially by the media to educate the black communities in South Africa about cricket as a sport. This research will in addition focus on the development of black sporting talent in South Africa and the role the media plays in the development of black cricket talent in South Africa.  

During the years of isolation from international cricket, white South African cricket administrators invited leading international cricketers and cricket teams to tour the cricket in what was termed “rebel” tours. Black South Africans developed profound misgivings about these “rebel” tours and openly supported touring teams especially teams from the West Indies a black players-dominated team and Sri Lanka an Asian country. The Black South Africans supported these teams even though they opposed the tour politically. They could associate themselves with the West Indies and Sri Lankan teams.

In 1991, the United Cricket Board (UCB), which was the new cricket body in the ´new´ South Africa stated that the cricket development programme it embarked on to develop cricketers in the rural and township areas was not only about developing future stars. It was also about assisting the build through cricket a proud, united and democratic nation (Gavel, 1998). Ten years later, the first black Managing Director (MD) of the UCB Gerald Majola, pronounced that cricket ‘can be used to assist the government in nation-building and reconciliation efforts’. (Natal Mercury 12 Jun 2001).

South African sport administrators seek to address inequalities of the past through politically convenient identity politics. In the process, they utilise instruments such as race-based quotas, while ignoring historical class divides that formed a basis for modern day sport formations (Cleophas 2017).

In 2015, Cricket South Africa (CSA) attempted to introduce new transformation numbers, which stipulate that there have to be six players of colour – including three “black Africans” – in any team of 11. The move was met with some resistance from white cricketers mainly from Pretoria and Bloemfontein players. The CSA the board was attempting to address what they perceived to be an imbalance in the demographics of the South African domestic cricket. While the protesting players, on the other hand, argued that the presence of one more black African player often weakened or unbalanced the side. The resistance from white players shows sport in the country is still colonial. 

Media Ethics

Any study of media ethics must begin with the question: What is ethics? To answer this question we can say that ethics is a combination of self-awareness, history, self-criticism and anthropology.

This literature review will look at the media coverage of the development of black cricketers. It is an attempt to explore the ethical consideration of the Sport journalists over the years. South Africa has a history of apartheid and racism; this will play a big part in the ethical considerations of the journalists and broadcasters. The quota system and merit selection is also a constant headache for cricket sport writers and broadcasters. This is also an ethical consideration from the journalists.

A leading cricket correspondent and broadcaster Neil Manthorp emphasised this ethical consideration from journalists by stating, it is easy to understand why the ‘culture of silence’ still exists. Nobody wants quotas to be the subject of conversation when talent should be the discussion point (Business Day, 31 Mar 2015).

Players still need to be selected on merit despite their colour of their skin on all sport codes including codes which were dominated by whites to avoid finishing careers before they even begin.

However, the media frenzy, which followed, the selection of a black player ahead of a white player during the Sydney test match in Australia nearly ended the careers of both players.  Jacques Rudolph a white cricketer from Pretoria and Justin Ontong a coloured middle-order batsman from Cape Town never had good test cricket career after Ontong was selected ahead of Rudolph in a test match in Australia, despite Rudolph a white player being more talented than Ontong a coloured player.

Rudolph went through one of the most traumatic moments of his playing career in Sydney that year. He was named in the test XI on the eve of the match against Australia, but hours later, he was withdrawn from the team because it did not satisfy the UCB's criteria of giving players of colour an opportunity of playing at test level.

The then Sports Minister Ngconde Balfour, questioned the furore following the selection of Ontong. Balfour’s spokesperson Graham posed the question: "If this was any other player but a black player, would we have had this media frenzy?" He added that the controversy was an issue for cricket to deal with, and he lambasted the media for its "negative" reporting about the saga (Cape Argus, 2 Jan 2002).

 ‘Race’ and Sport in South Africa

Since 1994, South Africans have been constantly bombarded with the much-publicised words of Nelson Mandela: “Sport has the power to change the world; it has the power to inspire. It has the power to unite like little else does. It speaks to youth in a language they understand. Sport can create hope where once there only was despair” (Cleophas; 2019).

However, Oates (2019) argues that, nearly 25 years have passed since South Africa returned to the international playing field, but issues as to why they were banned in the first place, remain. 

Manthata (2018) argues that, history has shown us that given current inequalities within the country particularly in sport in general.  it is foreseeable that when a young aspiring sport person  thinks of South African Cricket, the names of the recent  heroes that more often spoken about are AB De Villiers, Faf Du Plessis , Jacques Kallis, and Dale Steyn and a few of the black names such as Makhaya Ntini, Kagiso Rabada and Temba Bavuma, will come up.

 Manthata (2018) states that commentators and writers in South Africa have conceded that affirmative action has achieved nothing more than "the lowering of standards and the promotion of historically disadvantaged players”. Most quota system programmes in South African cricket have been plagued by problems created by the effort to relieve the guilt and to be politically expedient.

The White Paper on Sport (1997:12) articulates that the concept of sport is for every South African and it is based on the values of equity and access, which can only be realised through a concerted effort of integrated programmes that will include people from disadvantaged communities. Indeed, in terms of the transformation in South African cricket, at the heart of Cricket South Africa values and operation, is the goal of contributing through cricket to transformation, reconstruction and nation building in society.

In evaluating the cricket landscape since readmission into International Cricket Council, Oates cites Willie Basson, a sports ministry panel member overseeing racial change in sport who states that “[the processes to change the face of sport over the past 20 years have been largely ineffective”(The Guardian: 2019).

Arizona State University’s South African Humphrey Fellow Sebenzile Nkambule further argues that, economics can be the reason for the lack of inclusion in cricket and rugby. Nkambule agrues that, these are all sports that are more expensive to play and prepare for.

To clarify the point, Nkambule makes some comparison between football and cricket. According to Nkambule the beauty of soccer is that you can create a ball out of anything. However, with equipment costs and player fees, rugby and cricket are on the costly side. Because of this, many mixed raced and black South Africans simply cannot afford to play those games (Oates; 2019).

List of Sources

Cleophas, F. 2019. The Rugby World Cup is reminding South Africans that sport, like society, is still divided. Quartz Africa. 20 October. [O]. Available. https://qz.com/africa/1731639/rugby-world-cup-reminds-south-africa-its-still-divided-on-race/ Accessed 30 August 2020

  Desai,A. The race to transform: Sport in post-apartheid South Africa. Cape Town: HSRC. 

Gemmel, J.2004. The politics of South African cricket. London: Routledge. 

 Manthata, L. 2018. Race and Sport in South Africa: The politics of Social Exclusion: Transformation of Cricket in Gauteng Cricket. Doctoral thesis. Johannesburg: Wits University.  

Manthorp, N. 2015. Selection controversy is occupational hazard for Protea captain. Business Day. 31 March: 19

 Oates, K. 2019. South Africa’s sports lack progress in the post-apartheid era. Global Sport Matters, 16 April. [O]. Available: https://globalsportmatters.com/culture/2019/04/16/south-africas-sports-lack-progress-in-the-post-apartheid-era/ Accessed 1 September 2020

 Vahed, G.2001. ‘What do they know of cricket who only cricket know?’: Transformation in South African cricket, 1999-2000. International Review for the Sociology of Sport 36 (3): 319-336.