Rugby used to be a game of courage

This should probably contain a trigger warning. Sensitive viewers might be offended. But honestly, when did rugby players become such wimps? Such cowards? What happened to the days when rugby players were real men? When the only thing that would stop them was a serious concussion or a chewed-off ear? When they laughed in the face of danger?

What happened to the days when the South African Rugby Union (SARU) had more than oval rugby balls?

Full disclosure. No one ever mistook me for a rugby player – or pretty much a sportsman of any kind. Further disclosure, I was pretty much the second-to-last kid picked for any sports team at school, and that was because I was better at motivating than the last guy who was an asthmatic who had lost his inhaler. To this day, I’m not someone who cares much about rugby. Unless South Africa is in the finals, and it’s more about being South African than it is about being an expert at the game.

What I do know is that no sport is ever about the sport. It’s always about something more. Which would be the ethos and values of the game.

Otherwise, why bother?

This is the reason that I googled the “the ethos of rugby”. I wanted to understand if, perhaps, SARU was missing the point when it disinvited Israel to participate in a tournament in South Africa. The reason it did so was because it didn’t want this focus to be political. Which is ironically what it did when it allowed politics to dictate its decision.

According to “World Rugby”, rugby is about “integrity, passion, discipline, and respect”. It’s also said to be, amongst other things, about “moral courage”. That’s ironic in the case of this particular decision.

According to The Tel Aviv Heat, they were surprised and disappointed to learn of the decision taken by SARU to withdraw its invitation to the team to compete in the upcoming 2023 Mzansi Challenge.

And so they should be. Especially if one considers that the decision isn’t based on anything other than the fear of reaction. Israel participates in global sport. Aside from real human rights abusers like Iran, it has never had an issue or challenge in this regard, and there is no sanction, no directive, or precedent for this. Add further that Zimbabwe, one of the greatest human rights abusers on the African continent, is still included, and it becomes embarrassing. And indefensible.

The decision is clearly a cowardly one, one based on fear, which flies in the face of the ethos of the game. It’s shameful and embarrassing, and should be condemned not only by the lovers of the game but all who value everything it stands for.

Like balls.