Black coaches remain in rugby's shadows

"Where are the black Cats?" the headline of a front-page lead story screamed on the streets of Jozi two decades ago.

It left the then Cats coach Laurie Mains incandescent, but 20 installments of Super Rugby later it can easily be replaced with "Where are the black coaches?"

That Chester Williams and Allister Coetzee remain the only black coaches to have taken charge of Super Rugby teams since the tournament's inception in 1996 is an indictment on SA Rugby, but mostly its franchises.

Of the 29 coaches (excluding analysts and consultants) listed among the four Super Rugby franchises 24 are white.

Last week SA Rugby felt compelled to call their franchises out for their lack of representivity. "We're not happy with the make-up of the franchise coaching teams," SA Rugby president Mark Alexander said then.

Investment in coaches skewed

To a large degree SA Rugby have fast-tracked black coaches under their direct jurisdiction. At franchise level, however, the picture is bleak.

The Bulls, with two of the richest South Africans as investors, have a lean coaching group, with no black representation.

The Lions coaching group has an eight/one white/black ratio.

Five of the Sharks' eight coaches are white, while four of the Stormers' seven coaches are white.

The investment franchises are prepared to make in white coaches compared to their black counterparts appears disproportionate.

The Lions, for instance, have a head coach with no Super Rugby experience, two assistants with two years experience and another who has not coached at all.

Balance that with the fact that a coach of Jonathan Mokuena's standing is routinely overlooked.

For commentator and retired Springbok hooker Owen Nkumane there is a pattern of behaviour. "This is a second- and third-generation problem since readmission."

Fumbling franchises fingered

"Guys like Deon Kayser and Ricardo Loubscher have the playing credentials as Springboks, and they were in the coaching set-ups a long time ago. By now you would have expected them to be experienced Super Rugby head coaches.

"Often when a black coach is overlooked for a higher position it is said he must still learn. But from who?"

Former Bok sevens coach Paul Treu believes the fact that SA Rugby cannot wield a big stick to hold their franchises accountable contributes to the problem. Franchises, after all, are in part privately owned and will consider their autonomy sacrosanct.

"At the end of the day it cannot be forced down the franchises' throats," said Treu.

He argues SA Rugby are yet to stare down the beast that is transformation. "The problem is SA Rugby haven't debated these awkward questions. We don't want to engage the difficult issues."

He then pointed to cognitive bias. "There is an unwillingness to transform and often one can trace this back to religious beliefs. If someone is unmoved in their religious beliefs, change for them is difficult."

Problem not unique to rugby

Nkumane also raised an interesting phenomenon. He believes the shunning of black coaches isn't unique to rugby. "We see this in soccer too. Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates have had how many overseas coaches while overlooking local coaches. Chiefs had Steve Komphela and despite his pedigree it is as if the club and supporters didn't trust him.

"We must be more results driven whether the guy is white, black or green."

Nkumane doesn't see things changing any time soon. "Why would it change?" Nkumane turned the question. "Unless ownership at franchise level changes then, this situation will absolutely remain the same."

Treu believes the parameters for the appointment of head coaches seemed to have shifted. In the case of new Springbok coach Jacques Nienaber, as well as Ivan van Rooyen at the Lions, men who started out in the conditioning of players ascended to top jobs.

Treu didn't question the quality of the pair but he made an interesting observation. "If the criteria for becoming a coach at the highest levels has changed, then surely that message needs to be conveyed to the people involved."

Official Super Rugby coaches list

Bulls

Head coach: Pote Human

Assistants: Pine Pienaar, Chris Rossouw, Daan Human

Sharks

Head coach: Sean Everitt

Assistants: Brent Janse van Rensburg, Andrew Filer, Mike Ntombela, David Williams, Robin Williams, Thulani Ntetha, Adrian Carolan, Mike Marshall

Lions

Head coach: Ivan van Rooyen

Assistants: Wessel Roux, Neil de Bruin, Mziwakhe Nkosi, Julian Redelinghuys, Rupert Oberholster, Sean Erasmus, Warren Whiteley, Philip Lemmer

Stormers

Head coach: John Dobson

Assistants: Thomas Squibb, Riefaat Jappie, Rito Hlungwani, Norman Laker, Labeeb Levy, Dawie Snyman