In a great chat with Duane Heath, now championing club rugby in South Africa as a consultant to SARU, and Martin Tucker, a died in the wool Hamiltons rugby club ex player and now committee member, Tank Lanning, presenting the new Front Row Grunt show on 2Oceans Vibe Radio, dug deep into the guts of club rugby in South Africa.
It seems we are seeing proper change from the bad “one settler, one bullet” days where some coloured clubs, new to the Premier League, saw it as an opportunity to “get back” at the so called “Whitey”.
Now, through actually playing against, and with, each other over a number of years, it seems that rugby has actually been the catalyst for the various communities to come together, rather than grow apart.
Sure there were teething pains, but like any ungainly kid finding his or her way, these come with the territory. And unlike at the very top tier of the sport where a lot of it has been about window dressing, going through the pain means that club rugby is now a key cog in this “Development” process so often maligned given the negative connotations …
Take a listen to this fascinating insight into club rugby, and it’s evolution …
6 min clip:
45 min podcast:
