12 September 2019
The South African Communist Party (SACP) sends heartfelt condolences to the family of South African rugby legend, Chester Williams, who died on Friday 6 September 2019, aged 49. We send words of comfort especially to his wife, Maria Robson, and three children, Chloe, Matthew and Ryan. We also convey our condolences to his father, his sister and his brother.
Nicknamed, "The Black Pearl", Williams, the only black player in the Springboks squad which won the 1995 Rugby World Cup, inspired many youngsters to believe that they could achieve great in any sport or discipline. The prowess of Williams inspired many black children, in particular, helping to draw them into a sport which hitherto had been presented and thought of as a whites-only sport. A towering figure in the sports community, shortly after South Africa's 1994 democratic breakthrough he became one of the key faces of reconciliation in a nation that had been beleaguered by centuries of colonialism and racial oppression of the black majority.
Williams was not a mere "black face" in the Springboks, meant to merely add colour in an otherwise all-white national squad. During the 1995 World Cup, he scored four tries against Western Samoa in the quarter-finals and was instrumental in the final win over New Zealand which boasted the talent of legendary Jonah Lomu, the late, among others. In the preceding year he had been named South African Rugby Player of the Year. Additionally, he was clear in his detestation of the quota system in so far as it was used merely to present a picturesque rugby world when the reality was the exact opposite.
The SACP continues to call for sports transformation, particularly in the fields of rugby, cricket, and other sports in which segregation still dominates, to ensure more inclusion and development of Black people. This transformation drive must necessarily include making facilities, training experts and other material necessities easily accessible for children in the townships and rural areas, where many black children are concentrated. The transformation of rugby, including all previously segregated sporting codes, must go beyond racial transformation, however. It must include gender transformation and, with the same intensity, or even more, empower young women and girls to take an active part in the sport; from playing, to coaching, managing and directing.
ISSUED BY THE SOUTH AFRICAN COMMUNIST PARTY | SACP
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