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British Lions' Mike Phillips, right, clears the ball as South Africa's Bakkies Botha, left, looks on during their international rugby union match at King's Park, Durban, South Africa, Saturday, June 20, 2009. AP Images
The decision of the Springboks to wear ‘Justice4Bakkies’ armbands was unprecedented, bizarre, Orwellian, and misguided. The IRB have finally decided to do something about the decision which it (correctly) states is a clear disregard of its disciplinary process and a matter that brings the game into disrepute.
I call the decision Orwellian because Bakkies Botha has been a serial offender on the rugby field who has too often got away with his thuggery.
To claim that it is unjust that he receives a two-week suspension for dislocating the shoulder of an opponent with an illegal charge distorts truth in a manner that Big Brother in 1984 would be proud of.
When I wrote about this for the Sydney Morning Herald, I received dozens of emails from irate South Africans, most of them living in Australia, taking the same line as the Springboks – that a grave injustice had been inflicted on Botha and that the Springboks were right to make their protest the way they did.
The argument most of them made was that it is common practice for players to clear out rucks with shoulder charges. The British and Irish Lions, the Rugby Club, and sundry other rugby people and institutions, they claimed also, all said there was nothing untoward about Botha’s action.
One correspondent even told me that Botha is a gentle man off the field.
I replied that so was Richard Loe but “try telling that to Paul Carozza’s nose.” Try telling the dislocated shoulder of Adam Jones, which required surgery to fix up, that off the field Botha is fine chap.
The fact of the matter is that you are not allowed to shoulder charge opposing players standing as pillars beside the ruck/maul, and if you charge into a ruck/maul you have to be bound with another player.
It is true that these laws are often not policed as thoroughly as they should be and players get away with these charges, as Botha has for years.
But what made this particular play actionable was the fact that an opponent was badly injured.
The injury raises the claim of reckless play, and reckless play which causes a significant injury invariably gets punished (or should be) with a suspension.
Think about this in terms of going through a red light.
Most times people go through red lights safely and nothing happens to them. But if you run into another car or a pedestrian while running a red light, you are in trouble.
In rugby terms, Botha ran a red light and hit someone. Hence he correctly got into trouble with a suspension.
For the Springboks to call his two-week suspension an injustice and to wear armbands calling for ‘Justice4Bakkies’ is misguided. It is also arrogant. It suggests that the Springboks believe that they are above the laws and processes of the game.
One South African supporter made the point that Botha isn’t the only hit man in international rugby. He cited Paul O’Connell, Simon Shaw, Phil Vickery, Justin Harrison, Brad Thorn, Stephen Moore and James Horwill. He did not mention Butch James, who should join any hitman list, too.
I wouldn’t go to bat for Justin Harrison, but the other players on the list, while being guilty from time to time of thuggish play (Simon Shaw should have got more than two weeks suspension for his crass kneeing of Fourie du Preez), do not constantly indulge in foul play the way Botha and Schalk Burger do.
In the Herald I wrote this: “Burger and Botha play the part of the hit men of the Springboks pack, the enforcers. They launch themselves, illegally like missiles into rucks and mauls. They constantly provoke opponents off the ball. They are persistent offenders in the rucks and mauls. Burger going off his feet to kill the ball and Botha coming in from the side and invariably lying on the opponents’ side of the ruck. They tackle around the head constantly.”
With this sort of history, it boggles the mind to think that the Springboks even entertained the idea of protesting the justice of the two-week suspension of Botha.
The hypocrisy in the call for justice is that it totally disregarded the real injustice done to Luke Fitzgerald with the risible eight-week suspension handed out to Burger for recklessly attacking his eyes.
In my view, and I’m sure that of others looking at the incident without bias, Burger was intentional as well as reckless in his attack on the eyes of Fitzgerald.
His fingers seemed to be gouging for a long time, and he did some damage to the eyes of Fitzgerald. As I posted earlier, Burger should have received a six-month suspension, at least.
No player or union is bigger than the game.
The IRB needs to send a strong message by way of a significant punishment to the South African rugby community that unrestrained and illegal might is not right.