As the Sprinkboks come under fire for their nearly all-white World Cup team, Daily Maverick visits an academy taking racial equality into its own hands

When a key player had his boots stolen on the morning of two big matches, Twitter came to the team’s rescue with a concerned follower dropping off a pair of shoes as the first game was about to start.

“People on social media were great when our coaches got robbed,” says Murray Ingram, who runs a rugby academy in Khayelitsha township outside Cape Town. “We asked people to help us out and we quickly raised the funds.”

Ingram and his partner Yanga Qinga founded the academy, Connect, more than five years ago to teach local children to play rugby and help them participate in competitive games.

The pair have watched the debate about the racial composition of the Springbok rugby squad participating in the 2015 World Cup with interest, and laugh at suggestions that black children are not interested in the sport.

We’ve found the opposite to be true, says Ingram. In the last year the academy has grown from a handful of children playing touch rugby to a fully fledged feeder team for 8-13-year-olds. It has also increased its coaching staff, employing five coaches from the township.

Lack of black players in South Africa team puts race under spotlight before World Cup | David Smith Read more

For Connect, recruitment has been easy, the founders say, as young people in the deprived area are happy to have something to do. But despite the focus on “transformation” in South Africa today, Qinga and Ingram say their organisation has received little state support and still relies on private donations.

“This is not a sustainable way to operate,” says Ingram. “We have almost become victims of our own success. We have identified a huge talent pool that basically come from within a few streets of each other and the more talent we identify the more our costs escalate.



“We have been quite surprised at the reluctance from corporate South Africa to help us keep the academy running. It’s everyone’s responsibility.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest ‘It is not uncommon for kids to come to our academy with signs of malnutrition, swollen bellies and bad skin’ Photograph: Antoinette Muller/Daily Maverick

Safety

Connect holds two open training session in Khayelitsha every week. It is through these sessions that young talent is identified, but the children need support on all levels. From kit to food and transport costs, the academy needs donations from the public to keep functioning.

Ingram adds: “Every single thing [other teams may] take for granted is something we have to factor in for the academy. We have to feed the kids at every match and training session because, for many of them, this will be the only meal they have all day.

When one of the kids had his boots stolen on the day of a match, it was a Twitter user that came to the academy’s rescue

“It is not uncommon for kids to come to our academy with signs of malnutrition, swollen bellies and bad skin. We cannot allow kids to play rugby if they are not properly fed, these are the kinds of things people who do ‘drop in’ clinics often don’t consider. Nutrition is critical.”

The academy is proud of its hands-on approach. Building relationships with families is critical, as is providing transport home if training runs late to ensure their safety. But even this has its dangers. Recently, three of Connect’s coaches were robbed at gunpoint after walking players home. Gone were the 40-plus bus tickets the academy used to transport the players.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Rugby training in Khayelitsha Photograph: Antoinette Muller/Daily Maverick

Resources

Funding is one thing to overcome, but Connect is also trying to change the perception of what “transformation” entails. While nobody denies that there is an element of institutional racism in South African rugby, the larger problem is at grassroots level. Access to resources is one of the biggest challenges when it comes to developing talent.

Around 40% of professional rugby players in this country come from just a handful of schools Murray Ingram

“Around 40% of professional rugby players in this country come from just a handful of schools. These schools have access to the best resources, from playing fields to coaches. That’s where the biggest challenge with grassroots development comes in,” Ingram says.

In the short term, the academy is providing those resources to talented youngsters with a long-term plan to ensure they have the opportunity to go to those top rugby schools.

And it’s not just boys who are benefiting. Girls, too, have started to rise through the touch rugby ranks and Connect has formed a strong partnership with the Western Cape Islanders, under the mentorship of coaching stalwart Labeeb Levy.

There is nothing glamorous about the academy’s efforts. For the men in charge, it often means starting their days at 5am and working through until late at night.

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But while many will view the work Connect does as something unique and special, for Ingram it’s simply the only way forward.

“It’s easy to grandstand about transformation and talk about it and get angry about it on the internet. To take action and do something about it is a different story. But we cannot sit back and let this talent go to waste.

“There are millions of other talented children we haven’t even seen. Just imagine what could be possible if everyone had equal access to opportunities? You cannot live in a country like South Africa and sit back doing nothing,” Ingram says.

A version of this article first appeared on the Daily Maverick