Jackie Zvoutete: “What is your good name?” – one of the first questions I was met with on arrival to India.
There I was, in the midst of a new social group, so much occurring around me; three wheeled rickshaws (which I've fondly grown to call Tuk Tuks), the sound of mucus and spitting shocking my ears and making my stomach churn; standing in front of an Indian man waiting to register me and again he asked, “What is your good name?”
Call me lazy, but when I watch a movie, I want the screenwriters to have made the ending obvious. And by that, I don’t mean that I want the ending to hit me over the head screaming “Hello, it’s me you’re looking for”. All I’m asking for is to know the movie has finished before the titles roll up.
As far back as the 14th century, a simple idea was created by not so simple minds. A monster it was, with no sex or gender. Still a foetus in the age of the Protestants, it sprung to adolescence in the 19th and 20th centuries with a face so vile and a heart so violent, its creators had to shelter it with some sort of glamour so the world would choose to look upon it.
In 2008, a rugby tournament was founded to promote the ideal “student athlete.” These rare and beautiful creatures are capable not only of great feats on the field, but also of academic prowess off it.
For many promising highschool rugby footballers a choice loomed large, between professional rugby on the one hand and a competitive education on the other. The Steinhoff International Varsity Cup sought to propose a middle ground and in doing so provided a breeding ground for the future of the sport, and for life after retirement. Noble sentiments indeed.
But today, in 2013, the tournament faces a crisis, not of finances, but of morals. The University of Pretoria has been found guilty of fielding illegitimate players.
The tournament constitution requires that 18 of the 23 match day players be ‘bona fide registered students’. This requirement, read together with the purpose of the tournament, gives the impression that it defines registered students as those attending the University in the fullest sense, pursuing Bachelor’s degrees or possibly a Postgraduate degree. This may be what the constitution intended, but it is not what it says. In order to meet these criteria a player need only be registered for one course, and although on paper this would be sufficient, in reality it is a sham.
These are the allegations made against Tuks, that many of their players are not genuine students and far from attending class and submitting essays, can barely recall the name of the course they were signed up for in order to don the Tuks colours.
Although the extent of the breach is not known, the breach itself is no longer up for debate. Guilt was pronounced following an audit conducted by Advocate Jannie Lubbe. He recommended that rather than docking the team points for all four games, or disqualifying them from the competition, Tuks should be issued with a reprimand.
It is worth noting at this point that this was not the first time, but rather the fourth time, and that is only in the 2013 competition. In 2012 they were found guilty of the same offence, notably when the rules were more relaxed, requiring only 16 students in the match day 22. The result of that infringement? A reprimand. Recommended by? Advocate Jannie Lubbe.
Having paused to take in the gravity of this injustice, consider for a moment that Tuks finished last year at the top of the log and went on to beat Maties in the final. They were not docked points or disqualified. At the time of writing they are second on the log. This competition no longer reflects values of student sport nor does it remain a student competition. Unless the wording of the rules is changed and/or more strictly enforced, UCT and every other university should withhold participation in protest.
Every Monday students from around the country gather on fields and in front of TVs to “back their boytjies”, but ask yourself, whose boytjies are they?
Go to publisher's site: http://varsitynewspaper.co.za/sport/1431-boytjiegate-who-s-to-blame
Uthman Quick : There is a place in the world today where people of different ethnicities are separated by concrete walls.
On one side of the wall, residents enjoy a life similar to that available in some developed European cities. On the other side of the wall most people live under constant humiliation, degradation and enforced poverty.
Stephanie Venter: When Oscar shot Reeva, the dreams of a nation died. When Lance admitted to doping, faith in sport quaked. When Tiger slept around, the core idea of a family man was shattered. And when Hansie accepted a bribe, the world ended.
What did these men have in common? Gender. Great talent. Great success. Life in the public eye. And of course, sports. These scandals have been called the death of the sports star, the fall of the heroic role model, and the consequence of modern, branded heroism. It hasn’t helped that three of them were sponsored by Nike.
Uthman Quick: On March 5th, Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías died after possibly one of the most public battles with illness a head of state has ever had to face.
Immediately after the announcement, twitter feeds, 24-hour news tickers and newspaper articles were all unable to talk of the his death without adding that he was a person who divided opinions and polarised his people.
Angela Kirykowicz: The terms ‘beauty’ and ‘elegance’ are widely used in the mathematics circle, which tends to leave those uninitiated a bit perplexed. As a general rule, most people are used to applying these terms to a wide range of disciplines including Art, Music and Dance, but not to Mathematics.
Uthman Quick: Whether you believe Oscar “the blade runner” Pistorius, is guilty of premeditated murder or of simply being an unbelievably reckless gun-owner who fired four rounds into his own bathroom door without knowing who was behind it – the point that should not be lost is that another women has fallen victim to the epidemic of femicide plaguing this country.
Anna Insam: With the release of the Blackberry 10 looming, the question being raised yet again is, Blackberry or iPhone?
The question itself has been heard more than Justin Bieber’s “baby baby baby ohhh,” but now that Blackberry users will need to purchase standard data bundles like those of IOS, Android and Windows phones, a whole new dimension has been added to the debate.
