Stransky weighs in on Rugby World Cup

MIRAH LANGER

“Can we win the World Cup? The answer is absolutely, yes we can, and the reason is we have so much talent in this country. If you look at the squad that is going to the World Cup, how good they are, they have the ability, and on any given day, they can produce the result that counts,” said Stransky. However, he said, “Will we win the World Cup? The answer is probably not.”

Stransky offered a number of reasons for this, including that South Africa had drawn a difficult lot, which meant it would need to beat New Zealand, its fellow top contender, twice.

He was speaking at a function organised by the Dr Herzl Lodge at the Hebrew Order of David in Orchards, Johannesburg, earlier this month. The event was in support of Stransky’s charitable foundation, Lumo Hawk. The lodge raised enough money to buy a mobile auto refractor that would be used to test the eyesight of underprivileged school children.

Stransky suggested that World Cup success could also be hindered by the fact that “rugby in our country sadly is not in a good state of affairs”. While the talent in the country was “pouring out”, there were other problems.

As an example, he said that the money earned from television rights was not sustainable enough to build strong teams, especially with the country having so many unions. In particular, said Stransky, the national system needed to be strong enough to ensure that players were not tempted to play overseas.

“To see our players playing overseas means we cannot possibly have a strong rugby [logistical system],” he said.

Picking players who were working overseas for the national side was only a short-term solution. “If you don’t have a strong system at home, your youngest [players] come through in a weak system. They become only as good as they system they are playing.”

This has ripple effects. “If they come through a weak system, without that competition, with no senior players passing the baton and mentoring the younger guys, they will be just average players.”

The changes in rugby needed to come “from the top”, he suggested. The game, like many other sports, had become “fraught with politics”.

“The only way to solve this is to get rid of the blazer brigade, and bring in businessmen to run the game. We need financially astute people who understand the game, and who understand finances to make sure that the game can grow and succeed.”

Stransky said there were some similarities in the position of this year’s team and the one that won the World Cup in 1995. Stransky was a member of this team, and gained fame for his winning drop goal in the final.

“[This year’s] team will come out of a country that is experiencing a little uncertainty. Hopefully it will have settled down a little by then, but we are still in that period of uncertainty now as our president puts our cabinet together, and then sees where we are going to go.

“This rugby team will come out of a society that is divided. Maybe, like cricket and soccer, it can play a role in uniting a nation around a sports team again. That’s what we were very fortunate to do in 1995.”

To win, the team needed a little bit of luck and a catalyst – “a magic moment” – like in 1995, when then President Nelson Mandela become iconic in his support of the team.

Special moments that inspired success were still possible today. “You need something that inspires a player, whether it be a person, a tackle, or a break at the right time that propels you to greatness.”

During the event, Stransky, who comes from a Jewish background, also shared an anecdote about an encounter with Danie Craven, a famous rugby player and administrator. Craven, he said, was an advocate of the idea that “in every Springbok team, you need to have a policemen and a Jew”.

Shortly, before South Africa re-entered the international sporting arena, as apartheid came to an end, Stransky was injured.

One day, he met Craven in a lift. He said to me, “You need to get yourself back to full fitness because we are now re-entering international rugby and need to have a Jew in the Springbok team.

“I looked at him. I wasn’t quite sure how to take it, because as a player, you don’t want to be selected on your race, colour, or belief, you want to be selected because you are the best.

“So I said to him, ‘Doc, surely this fallacy of having a Jew on the team can’t be the truth?’”

He said, “No, absolutely, we have to have a Jew on the team.’”

“I said, ‘Why?’”

“He said, ‘Well, we need to have someone to blame when things go wrong!’”