TELFORD VICE
Before last week, many South Africans had never heard of Siphe Mzaidume. He is among legions of his compatriots quietly plying their trade as professionals in English club cricket. More unusually, he also plays grade cricket in Australia.
After Mzaidume hit the headlines last Friday, more of us knew who he was. In some, he evoked empathy. Others were inspired to know that their dreams of following a path similar to his were not over. In still others, irritation rose to irrational levels.
Mzaidume did this by saying things black South Africans are, apparently, not supposed to say - that the system is set up for black cricketers to fail, that black cricketers would do better to leave SA and its insidious racism behind.
Not once in our interview did Mzaidume say he was good enough to play at a high level. He did say he and others of his race are denied opportunities in this country because they are black.
Cue the hitting of many nerves within the unbearable whiteness of SA cricket. The shrill torrent of reactionary outrage was stuck in one of two gears: “Mzaidume isn’t good enough to play international cricket” or “black South Africans don’t play cricket in large numbers”.
The first is a denial of a claim that was never made, a clumsy attempt to avoid the elephant in the dressingroom and thus irrelevant to the debate.
Besides, how would anyone know if Mzaidume or any black player is good enough when the people who should be key figures in their advancement do not understand the game’s racial imbalance as a problem.
“ ... it (transformation) must be in all sports - soccer?” a former Border cricket selector who served during Mzaidume’s time in the province, said on social media. Told that soccer did not need racial transformation, he replied, “So why cricket? If they are not good enough then they don’t play. It has to work both ways.”
With apologies to Vernon Philander, sometimes stats do lie: who knows how much black talent goes unnoticed because players do not get a fair shake from selectors who can’t or won’t see what’s wrong with SA cricket’s pale picture at higher levels?
It is also patent nonsense that blacks do not take a significant interest in cricket. Last February, SA had 767 registered cricket clubs. As many as 167 of them - 22.77% - were classified as black African. Cricket was played in 28.5% of black African schools. What are all the black South Africans locked into those numbers doing if they aren’t playing cricket?
The real question is where those players go. The system suggests they disappear into real life. Mzaidume tells us they are still there, but are ignored by a system that is determined to look past, around and through them. Then they lose interest, and disappear into real life to pay the bills.
Much of the reaction to what Mzaidume said last week was handed down with the kind of eye-rolling that becomes knowing winking in conversations between those who share the same prejudices.
Apologists for cricket’s failure to represent most South Africans at franchise and international level couldn’t stop their knees from jerking. Others branded Mzaidume as “dangerous”.
And all this because one person dared to say that the emperor was marching down main street stark naked. How hard can it be to understand that SA cricket is not nearly black enough? Why can’t we talk about why that is without resorting to rubbishing people, even when we think they are talking rubbish?
Mzaidume generated a lot of noise. It was the sound of guilt.
http://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2014-01-17-siphe-mzaidume-top-spinner-of-yarns/#.UuJ4OdL8Jko
Do you still stand by your article or do you feel you were also fooled by Siphe?
Interesting. I'm concerned that Siphe Mzaidume is not that excellent a player to be taking such a heavy handed approach.
I live in the UK and have never heard of him.
Club cricket is nowhere near County level & County level some way below international. If you're saying Mzaidume has been denied a chance to play for South Africa because a) they don't pick black cricketers b) cos they racist & c) both, fine. Problem is he wasn't selected to play County Cricket in England meaning he is just not good enough.
In development in South African cricket, I don't know. Is there enough chances afforded? I'm not sure. CSA can fast track all they like at school & provincial level but if you're not good enough then that's that.
At the highest level, the best play, not because of race or religion or creed. That is how sport is, or it's not sport. For every Mzaidume, there is a Kevin Pietersen.
Sport is tough but only the best survive. The Proteas, are one of the best teams in the world now and have been for a while. This is because nearly all of them would play for most other teams; they are some of the greatest cricketers playing & will be legends of the game. Very tough to make that grade so merit is the key not tokenism. Keep that for corrupt politicians not corrupt cricket administrators with only self interest at heart.
Interesting. I'd never heard of Siphe Mzaidume either. But I haven't heard of every cricketer plying his trade.
My understanding is that he's upset with opportunities afforded black cricketers in South Africa. Firstly, club cricket: anyone can play; you just join a club. International, provincial, County cricket, you get selected on merit.
Sport is about the best players v the opposition's best players. No tokenism, only merit. I live in UK and therefor am out of the loop on current promising players (white/black) but for every Mzaidume, there's a Kevin Pietersen, who widely states that he left because of the quota system that stood in his way of being a cricketer. However, I know of other cricketers in UK who left because they felt they would struggle to play for provincial or Proteas' team because they weren't good enough. Not always about racial divisions or undertones.
Regarding the Proteas; most of the best from the rest of the world would struggle to make the South African team. Right now we have one of the truly great SA teams in any sport: some players will be world greats. If this is a problem for Mzaidume then he is deluded. When he gets selected to play County Cricket or provincial cricket, then he can open his mouth, but club cricket is open to anyone that pays the membership fee.