Prince fed up with ‘rubbish’ about transformation

Published 22nd July 2017

Ashwell Prince pic on Instagram

This from iol.co.za:

The dreaded “T” word in sport has reared its ugly head again.Transformation is back in focus after former Proteas cricketer Graeme Pollock said that the national team will have to accept being a “middle-of-the-road” Test side if they stuck with racial quotas.

His comments, which followed South Africa’s defeat against England at Lord’s two weeks ago, drew widespread criticism.

Pollock backtracked yesterday, with a spokesperson releasing a statement saying his comments were “misconstrued”.

“Speaking from London, Graeme Pollock wishes to convey his heartiest congratulations to Faf (du Plessis) and his team for their excellent Test victory at Trent Bridge. With the series now level at 1-all, this sets up the series for a fascinating outcome,” said spokesperson Basil O’Hagan.

“Graeme also extends his sincerest apologies to CSA Board and the South African cricketing public for the manner in which his comments at a recent function in London were totally misconstrued.

“Graeme fully supports the endeavours of the transformation process as further evidenced in the radio interview he had on July 6 with Jonathan Agnew of BBC’s TMS broadcast.”

Ashwell Prince, a former Proteas captain and batsman, and current Cape Cobras coach, said, Pollock’s comments were “most disappointing”.

“They (Pollock’s comments) most definitely struck a nerve. Not just with myself, but it seems the overwhelming majority of South Africans,” Prince said.

“Quite frankly, as a former Protea, one has reached the point where you simply just cannot sit back and allow people with these kind of mindsets to keep feeding the world this kind of rubbish and just let it be.”

In August, former Proteas batsman, Daryll Cullinan, caused controversy after he told ESPN: “My issue around that (transformation in cricket) is, it’s inherently not a black man’s game in the country.”

Prince continued: “Some people and certain media in this country with similar backward mindsets feel its their duty to tell the world that non-white people, people whom they have never met, sometimes never seen play, and know absolutely nothing about, have nothing good to offer our national teams, simply because they’re not white.

Full story here:

http://www.iol.co.za/weekend-argus/prince-fed-up-with-rubbish-about-transformation-10415065