Ken Borland

Quinton de Kock said on Thursday that he comes from a mixed-race family and has always believed Black lives matter, and he will now be taking a knee along with the rest of the Proteas team in the remainder of their T20 World Cup campaign in the United Arab Emirates.

De Kock’s turnaround came after he issued a statement strongly denying any racist intent in his refusal to take a knee before this week’s match against the West Indies, as directed by the CSA Board, and his subsequent withdrawal from the game. The wicketkeeper/batsman said he was deeply hurt by people calling him a racist.

The chairman of the CSA Board, Lawson Naidoo, and two other directors also met virtually with the Proteas on Wednesday night to engage with the players and clarify why they wanted a unified stance on Black Lives Matter from the squad and management. According to a CSA statement, De Kock then agreed to follow the directive and issued an apology for his actions on Thursday morning.

“For those who don’t know, I come from a mixed-race family. My half-sisters are Coloured and my step-mom is Black,” De Kock revealed in his statement. “For me, Black lives have mattered since I was born. Not just because there was an international movement.

“I was raised to understand that we all have rights, and they are important. I felt like my rights were taken away when I was told what we had to do in the way that we were told.

“We were previously told we had the choice to do what we felt we wanted to do. … I didn’t understand why I had to prove it with a gesture, when I live and learn and love people from all walks of life every day.

“When you are told what to do, with no discussion, I felt like it takes away the meaning. If I was racist, I could easily have taken the knee and lied, which is wrong and doesn’t build a better society,” De Kock said. 

The key batsman is therefore available for South Africa’s match against Sri Lanka on Saturday and the whole BLM saga, that has rumbled on for over a year, is hopefully now over.

De Kock’s initial defiance is also, however, a warning to the new CSA Board that reactionary leadership and issuing edicts from upon high without properly consulting the players is only going to cause further divisions.

Even CSA’s apology for the timing of its directive – on the morning of a key match – is mealy-mouthed, merely saying that they “regret … that the timing … may have been unsettling for the players”.

The one man who is emerging from this week’s crisis with credit, however, is Proteas skipper Temba Bavuma, who De Kock praised in his statement when he said “he is a flipping amazing leader”.

Brisbane in Queensland has emerged as the most likely contingency plan to host the remainder of the Rugby Championship tournament.
Despite South Africa offering to host the rest of the competition and there being some interest in France and the United Kingdom, New Zealand media were reporting on Monday that the four Southern Hemisphere teams would now be based in Queensland, whose state government has agreed they can quarantine there in the midst of the rising Covid numbers on both sides of the Tasman Sea.
The Rugby Championship looks set to restart though in Perth on September 4, when the All Blacks will take on Australia in the match they were meant to play this weekend. South Africa and Argentina, who are both waiting in Gqeberha for clarity on the travel plans, will by then be quarantining in Queensland.
Meanwhile, the Springboks issued a medical update on Monday confirming Jaden Hendrikse’s worst fears that his leg is indeed fractured. That will rule him out of the rest of the Rugby Championship and his fellow Sharks scrumhalf Grant Williams has been called up to the national squad for the first time.
The 25-year-old has been in fine form in the Currie Cup and his searing pace has caused many difficulties for opposition defences.
The Springboks also confirmed that the scrumhalves who played in the 2019 World Cup final, Faf de Klerk (leg) and Herschel Jantjies (hip), are both recovering well from their injuries and should be available to play when South Africa return to action, probably on September 11.