Boer War @ the Sharks?

[PaarlBok]

Sport24

Afrikaners upset Sharks skipper

Cape Town - Sharks captain Keegan Daniel is reportedly unhappy that there are too many Afrikaners involved in Sharks rugby.

The Beeld website reports that this statement, apparently made recently by the Sharks skipper, has upset the majority of the players.

It has led to a divide in the Sharks team, who have lost their last five Super Rugby games. They are currently languishing at 11th spot on the overall Super Rugby log.

Only six players out of the 22-man squad which lost 32-17 to the Reds in Brisbane last week are not Afrikaans. They are Daniel, Lwazi Mvovo, Patrick Lambie, Kyle Cooper, Odwa Ndungane and Monde Hadebe.

According to Beeld's sources, Daniel feels isolated leading the team, which apparently also has so-called "cliques" among its ranks.

Furthermore, there appears to be trouble in the Sharks boardroom as well, which led to a so-called "Operation Cleanout", with Sharks CEO Brian van Zyl being the first victim.

Van Zyl will be replaced by former Springbok captain John Smit, who will start his new role on July 1. Sharks coach John Plumtree and commercial manager Rudolf Straeuli are apparently the next targets.

Smit last week told a Sunday newspaper the toughest part of his new job will be to "make decisions about the future of people I know and had a close working relationship with in the past."

The Sharks are currently in Perth where they conclude their Australasian tour with a game against the Force on Friday (13:45 SA time).

 

[Sully]

Is there still a great divide amongst the whites in SA?

 

[qwerty51]

Funny how these off field issues only seem to arise when the on field isn't doing too well.

 

[Bairdy]

Looks like they might be a Rebels-like Sharks meltdown in Perth if the article's hinting at disunity is in fact true.

 

[Sully]

Keegan Daniel always seemed an odd choice for captain to me. He doesn't fit the mould I have in my head of a Saffer captain.

 

[PaarlBok]

Is there still a great divide amongst the whites in SA?

I wont call it great but it is there. Traditional the afrikaans speaking Saffers (Dutchmen) will always be big in rugby, the endlish speaking Saffers (Souties) will be in sports like hockey and cricket. Pretty much part of our culture. You still have afrikaans schools like Paarl Gym, Affies and Outeniqua who is big on rugby. You do get many double medium schools like Grey Bloem, exct and they'll always have the afrikaans lot in their rugby teams. Souties like Watson use this to make political statement and now Daniel look like doing the same thing. If this is true I can garantee you he'll get the same treatment at Loftus/Osfontein, exct from the supporters.

 

[PaarlBok]

Never forget you have the likes of Strauli in the background and Natal is the Last Outpost of England. Compare Battleship vs Daniel and you get the sum and total for disaster. Sharks aint the same without Battleship. They need that boer monster.

 

[rugbysmartarse]

Keegan daniel tweeted earlier:

@KeeganDaniel: Just getting a quick lesson in Afrikaans before training. Your thoughts? http://t.co/fV555xKuXS

 

[Rassie]

Is there still a great divide amongst the whites in SA?

In South Africa there are several groups of whites. The two main groups are the Afrikaans speaking and the English speaking ones. The Afrikaners are the descendants from mainly Dutch, Flemish, French, German and some other Western European backgrounds. The Afrikaners have a unique culture, their own language and they are mostly protestant.

The English speaking whites of South Africa are from mostly British background. They are made up of English, Scots, Welsh and Irish descendants...as well as a large contingent of ex Rhodesians. These English speaking Whites of South Africa can today not be referred to as British anymore. Very few hold British passports. They developed a unique accent and culture in South Africa and are fully South African today.

The problem is the Sharks poach their players and develop very little. SO you will end up with local produced talent which will be your English speaking guys which will be a couple of blokes vs the guys you poach from places like the Freestate and Grey College.

So Keegan Daniel is actually moaning about too little local talent given the chance and too much being ripped from the States, the Freestate and WP. Sharks have said they are only going to poach ten guys this year.

The other union who use the Lottery money and goverment grands for poaching rather than development The Bulls have buggered themselves. Because running and signing half the u/20 squad and Serfontein who they had to lure with a huge amount of money they had to ask the other players to take a pay cut. Now the pay is what made a place like Pretoria bareable to stay in. Now getting less Side Show Bob, Vermaak, Venter, Visser, Olivier, Kruger and there is mopre to follow have all rejected the contracts and the pay cuts. They do not have the funds to pay them better so they are going to be forced to let them go. Knowing the Bulls they will sell them off to European clubs and they will be lost to SA rugby. That is what they been doing all these years. THey got the funds for development instead they spunged of other Unions who pumped the money they got into schools and academies.