Ken Borland

I never met Senzo Meyiwa or dealt with him, but by all accounts he was a wonderful human being and obviously a very talented footballer. A person being cut down before their prime, especially in such violent, totally senseless circumstances, is always a great tragedy.

But this crime had a whole extra layer of circumstances surrounding it, in the form of Meyiwa, married with a child, being murdered at his girlfriend’s house, with whom he has another child.

While I unreservedly mourn the death of Senzo, a thought occurred to me while I considered the tawdry situation – imagine if this had happened to one of our other national captains. Imagine if Jean de Villiers or Hashim Amla, both married, were actively pursuing an adulterous relationship and had children outside of marriage. What would the reaction be?

Top-class sport is all about discipline and many coaches will tell you that a player who is ill-disciplined off the field will struggle to be disciplined on it.

However much of a hero Meyiwa was on the football field, it is yet another moral failure of our country to not recognise that this was a person who broke his marriage vows, humiliated his wife and tore apart his family.

Whether or not Senzo planned to marry Kelly Khumalo, either his son by her or his daughter with wife Mandisa Mkhize were going to grow up without the regular influence of a father in their lives. There are numerous studies that point to the negative influence an absentee father has on children’s education, future relationships and even their ability to function properly in society. I would wager that the thugs that conspired to take Meyiwa’s life are, ironically, from fatherless families themselves.

And before people point to culture and say it was acceptable for Meyiwa to have his bit on the side, may I point out that many black commentators I have read are terribly disappointed by his behaviour.

If we as humans use “culture” as an excuse to propagate destructive behaviour then we are never going to progress. Such evils as slavery and Apartheid were considered culturally acceptable as well, and the oppression of women is still practised in many cultures around the world.

There seems to be a double standard at play here. If it had been revealed during Oscar Pistorius’s court case that he had been cheating on girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, the public would probably have clamoured for him to get capital punishment!

Not all top-class sportsmen are saints and I’m sure if we had all the information about our national heroes we would be shocked, but perhaps Bafana Bafana can take a leaf out of cricket’s book where the ProteaFire campaign is as much about how Amla’s world number one team performs on the field as about how they behave off it.

As a boy growing up in the sub-tropical agricultural town of Tzaneen, Tian Koekemoer loved Jonty Rhodes and Dale Steyn and was used to enjoying plenty of success as one of the most talented cricketers at Merensky High School.

Despite Steyn and fellow pace bowlers Marchant de Lange and Ethy Mbhalati all coming from the Limpopo province at the northern edge of South Africa, the region is the poorest in the country, a large rural expanse of mostly tribal area, and is not known for producing many cricketers.

So despite dominating at local level and starring for the Limpopo U19 team, Koekemoer knew that he still needed to be really tested as a cricketer. That has come since he enrolled at the University of Pretoria and studied BA Languages, and started playing for the Assupol Tukkies team.

It’s a star-studded Tukkies team, the most powerful club side in the country, and Koekemoer often has to wait for an opportunity to bat or bowl.

In the Red Bull Campus Cricket Finals against Steinhoff Maties, he once again sat patiently waiting for his chance to shine, bowling just two overs in each of the first two games and not getting the chance to bat.

And then the final game gave him his chance. Tukkies finally batted first, and the absence of an unwell Aiden Markram and a few errors by the top-order gave him his chance.

Koekemoer responded with a crucial innings of 19 off 11 balls that lifted Tukkies to a competitive total of 144 for nine, and he then ensured that it would be a day to really remember as he claimed three wickets to stop a strong Maties chase and win the man of the match award.

“I don’t often have to come in under pressure moments, but today I had to and I liked the challenge,” Koekemoer said after the game.

“There are only a few good cricketers in Limpopo, but in Pretoria you’re up against the whole Northerns Premier League and it was an eye-opener. I haven’t really been exposed to that level of cricket, you get used to being the only good player in your team, but this really pushes you.”

Another measure of how well Koekemoer adapts to whatever life throws at him is the fact that he has only been bowling seam since last July.

Prior to that he was an off-spinner, but he broke his finger and was unable to grip the ball and obtain as much turn as previously, so he changed to pace.

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Talented young flyhalf Kurt Coleman led the way for the SWD Eagles with his boot as they beat the Ford Pumas 22-16 and wrecked their hopes for a second successive victory in their Absa Currie Cup First Division match at Outeniqua Park in George on Friday.

Coleman was in fine form with the boot as he succeeded with all five of his shots at goal – kicking four penalties and a conversion – while his tactical kicking was also instrumental in pinning the Pumas in their own territory and keeping them under pressure.

The Pumas had dominated the opening exchanges as flyhalf JC Roos kicked a penalty and flank RW Kember was driven over the line for the opening try, but the rest of the match was all about the Eagles as they overturned the 8-0 deficit and in fact led 22-11 until conceding a try on the final hooter.

The visitors’ discipline was not up to scratch and they granted Coleman shots at goal in the 16th, 23rd and 37th minutes, the 22-year-old’s three penalties giving SWD a 9-8 lead at half-time.

Coleman kicked another penalty in the 44th minute and then converted the try by livewire scrumhalf Johan Herbst that largely settled the contest, before retiring to the sideline on the hour mark on a miserably muddy and cold evening in George.

The replacement flyhalf, Theuns Kotze, then kicked a penalty in the 68th minute to stretch the lead to 22-11 and ensure victory, especially since the Pumas were down to 14 men with replacement centre Dewald Pretorius yellow-carded for a dangerous tackle.

The Pumas did close the gap on the final whistle with a try by replacement flank Renaldo Bothma, but they were outplayed on the night, the chief reason being a superb showing by the Eagles forwards in conditions they revelled in.

SCORERS

SWD Eagles – Try: Johan Herbst. Conversion: Kurt Coleman. Penalties: Coleman (4), Theuns Kotze.

Ford Pumas – Tries: RW Kember, Renaldo Bothma. Penalties: JC Roos (2).

http://www.supersport.com/rugby/currie-cup-first-division/news/120713/Coleman_kicks_Eagles_to_victory