St Luke slays Loftus louts
9 Mar 2009
Keo, in his Business Day newspaper weekly column, writes of a player’s triumph and defeat at Loftus.
The Stormers lost in Pretoria but Luke Watson definitely won against a Loftus crowd whose game plan lacked imagination and was devoid of all invention.
The crowd behaviour was as abysmal as the quality of rugby and indeed it was Watson who seemed to intimidate the near 50 000 voices by simply accepting their challenge of continued booing by asking if that was all they had to offer.
It reminded me of former All Blacks wing Jeff Wilson toying with the Newlands crowd a decade ago. Wilson, playing for the Highlanders in the Super 12, was jeered the first time he touched the ball, but midway through the match he was begging the crowd for a reaction as he scored his third try.
With both hands reaching for both ears he gestured for increased noise levels, as he could hear nothing coming from the crowd. It was hilarious and the vocal bullies had nowhere to turn but to further embarrassment. What did these morons do 10 years ago in response to Wilson’s third try? Predictably they booed.
It was the same in Pretoria. What else did the louts of Loftus have to give? Nothing, and when Watson calmly robbed Pierre Spies of the ball in contact and fashioned another clever turnover all the crowd could respond with was another boo as effective as South Africa’s cricket challenge in recent weeks against Australia.
The humiliation belonged to those attempting to ridicule.
Watson, like many of his fictional heroes in the Bible, thrives on confrontation and conflict. Adversity is another must in his working day, as is being condemned by those non-believers of freedom of speech.
In going to Loftus, all the above elements were script guarantees for the stereotype of the persecuted and defiant Christian and naturally, armed with self-belief and backed by God, Watson prospered.
The Loftus crowd, many of them believers of Christianity, misread the contest because effectively they were doing battle with one of their own, but whereas they lacked conviction in their application of resentment, Watson was committed to his stand of defiance.
Watson, disgusted at wearing a jersey with a Springbok emblem on it, is not popular for saying so. He is even less popular for calling South African rugby a game run by Afrikaners, even though there has never been a disciplinary to confirm if he ever did utter the supposedly wicked word ‘dutchmen’.
Watson, the public relations man, is a boring project because his rants and contradictions are as predictable as the Loftus crowd booing. His rugby, though, has more enterprise and is powerful.
He has never produced a Test performance of authority, but his international career has been brief and conditions and playing circumstances cannot compare to the environment of Super Rugby, which is a world made for the skills of Watson.
His Super Rugby pedigree cannot be disputed. Whether you despise his personality or revere him, he can play Super rugby and in Pretoria he did a damn better job of it than local hero Pierre Spies, who for all his athleticism still goes into mute mode when the Bulls tight five engine can’t get out of neutral.
Watson in the one-on-one match-up outplayed Spies, which does not mean I’d pick him ahead of Spies for the Springboks. I wouldn’t, but to dispute Watson’s superiority over Spies at the weekend would be a betrayal for anyone gifted a healthy set of eyes.
Watson is a clever player, whose athleticism is matched by an ability to read the game and by good skills. He may physically struggle in contact but his mind never battles to go forward.
These factors helped him beat the Loftus louts, but because of his persecution complex about being a privileged white Watson in a black South Africa these factors are meaningless in Watson’s fight to beat out of himself the need to be a South African rugby martyr; liable for the actions of those who lived in an era he has only ever read about.
Watson, the rugby player, won in Pretoria, but it is Watson the rugby player who never wins in Watson’s world – and that will always be the tragedy of a player whose world does not allow him to simply be a rugby player.
1,045 Comments
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9 Mar 2009, 20:17 pm
Pathetic article! Nothing more to say!
Keo, nothing fictional about the Bible or the heroes within
9 Mar 2009, 20:18 pm
#779 cab: Yeah, I was under the impression that straight legs meant “on his feet” but the whole Head down, bum up thing contradicts that. Interesting. Explains a few things.
9 Mar 2009, 20:19 pm
#798 grootblousmile:
hahaha…ek breek sommer jou bril.
9 Mar 2009, 20:19 pm
#786 hjk: You mocked the pain of a nation. You mocked the dead people who died, in places we do not know. You made pain, you cannot comprehend, a joke.
You think apartheid was no big deal. You think its funny that people were tortured. Even now, you say piece of cake, what are we moaning about.
Do you even comprehend how insulting it is. I have no hatred for white people and will never wish the evil that was done in this country on them. I was raised to see people as human beings. All people.
You were aparently raised to see me as nothing but disposable and an experiement to do cruelty upon.
Did you approve of the cruelty I wonder.
You mock what happened in SA. You say I do not kow you. You do not know me either.
The sick part is you do not even have the compassion and respect to appreciate how many people were broken by the evil of the past.
You are a monster as far as I can see. Someone civilized society ought to avoid. Sick, demented, without a soul.
I have nothing further to say to you.
9 Mar 2009, 20:20 pm
#803 Supa Die Bloubul: Dis OK, ek kan sonder donkerbrille klaarkom…. hehehe
9 Mar 2009, 20:21 pm
I honestly think keo is doing a great service to this society we have over here, he is giving free reign for every SA citizen and associated individual that needs some healing out of the glorious illustrious past this country has experienced to shed some of that inherent angst and aggression, not sure if it will ever go away, but at least it gets a chance to come out from under the tightly shut lids of the preconceived seething Pandora’s boxes.
It could perhaps almost go some way to rid the pent up psyche of many an angered soul of some inherent poison, seeing there are such mountainous reservoirs of the stuff it could be a long painful process, but such is the reaction to causation of eyes for eyes and teeth for teeth borne from out of the atrocities of prejudice and aggression that it may still take some time, but a healing could even eventually be on the way,
who would not welcome such an occurrence?
9 Mar 2009, 20:22 pm
#799 Supa Die Bloubul: Ek het my hopes op. Hoping Supa. A draw is fine it would be brilliant to come from that to draw.
If only they bowled them out sooner. Kallis and AB looking good at close to day. Just that new ball in the morning will be different to face that. Have to survive facing about 10 or 15 overs. They need to focuse.
9 Mar 2009, 20:22 pm
#804 hater: You insult me without even knowing a single thing about me. You project a whole lot of stuff on me and you have no clue. Say nothing, it’s OK. I hope your hate doesn’t consume you before it’s too late.
9 Mar 2009, 20:23 pm
#788 yliad:
ahh more verbal masturbation from the master..
9 Mar 2009, 20:24 pm
Cheers all.
Good luck to our cricket team tomorrow. One can only hope.
9 Mar 2009, 20:24 pm
#808 hjk: I hope you don;t murder someone tonight.
9 Mar 2009, 20:27 pm
#709 cab:
You say you werent much interested in SA military, yet you have so much to say about it. Thats stupid of you dont you think.
I think it it is.
And a visit to the apartheid museum will only ever tell one side of the story, whether you like it or not.
9 Mar 2009, 20:27 pm
#804 hater: Oh, so you #811 hater: Uh, YOU are the Hater, Hater. My money would be on you rather than me.
9 Mar 2009, 20:29 pm
#806 yliad: Great service?? By mocking his *Watsons* beliefs. I can not see any honesty in this article and only hidden agendas
If/when Luke reads this he will be insulted
9 Mar 2009, 20:30 pm
#804 hater: May i say from the bottom of my heart how deeply i felt your pain and share your abhorrence of what transpired in the past hater…this post of yours came from deep within your soul and i am truly moved….I am pleased you realise that not all so called ‘white’ people are as heartless as depicted by some bloggers…
9 Mar 2009, 20:32 pm
#810 Puma: cheers puma…holding thumbs
9 Mar 2009, 20:33 pm
#804 hater:
easy easy sister I hear your anguish, but as keo is using biblical references maybe one should even be willing to turn some other cheek and do as the good shepherd would have done and offered the consideration that ‘forgive them, for they know not what they do’.
I mean your hero was able to do that much, I know perhaps I would not have been able to be that magnanimous, but in the final analysis, every soul born into this flesh does not come about out of accidental consequences, every anguish and reward has a beginning and hopefully an end.
Eyes for eyes and teeth for teeth might have been the way of justice, somebody decided to end the recurrence and proclaim an end to the *** for tat to and fro actvity, and stop it in its tracks, this takes some doing, that I know, but ultimately it is the only way forward and out of the morass of continual coming and going, for ever and ever and again.
We simply just have to stop the rot, if at all this gets a chance, John Lennon gave it a go, and they shot him for his proposal, the good shepherd, well you all know who ditched the hope for sanity and called on the wrath of justice to do its dastardly deed, which way you want it to go this time around?
9 Mar 2009, 20:33 pm
#743 hater:
wow wee….you went from knit picking murderers to knit picking my posts.
At no stage did I say that the whites did the blacks a big favor during apartheid.
Simply stated(with my own creative writers licenceof course) that Communism and the Soviets was a far greater danger and crueller evil than apartheid ever was to world peace.
and that’s not an opinion…that’s historical fact.
But like I said earlier, you and your sort just keep looking and finding reasons to hold on to the past.
While nobody actually really cares anymore.
You, and I and everyone else who cares for Sa should be more concerned withregards to pending situations.
Again, it won’t be racism that destroys SA but crooked politicians.
How did Hitler come to power or Mugabe?
Baby steps.By changing law and consitution bit by bit to suit their needs until they where in positions to do whatever they want without sanction.
9 Mar 2009, 20:33 pm
#811 hater: You say that “I was raised to see people as human beings. All people.” Why do you wish the following on me then:
“If you think, it was fun, living in your racist apartheid “paradise” why don;t we arrange for you to be locked up in Robben Island for 27 years, and why don;t we try and electricute your testicals and rape your wifes and mothers and sisters, since it was all fun for us black people to be tortured and a “holiday resort” to be at Robben Island how about us locking you two up for the next 30 years! {Piece of cake right, you pieces of ****. And when you come out. Hopefully alive, I hope you are full of forgiveness and kindness. I hope you are capable of preaching peace. I hope the both of you can even dream of being capable of that.
Now F%ck off you inhumane pieces of ****.”
Why is YOUR nickname Hater? If you’re such a kind soul who sees people as human beings, why Hater? You definitely don’t see me as a human being, even though I wrote nothing of what you accuse me of. That’s certainly against your upbringing? How do you explain your own hate-filled writings, the things you call people, the evil you wish on them, and then you assume to play the saint here? I pity you, but seriously, get some help. Your hate will drive you postal one day. It will mean you will make the news over the world if you do, though…
9 Mar 2009, 20:33 pm
#804 hater: And you are melodramatic I for one would rather hear it from someone who actually lived through it. Not you!
9 Mar 2009, 20:35 pm
#809 gunther:
yeah its just for the likes of you, so that you can get your head out from under the rock its been hiding under for so long
9 Mar 2009, 20:35 pm
#743 hater:
And there are your true colours.
9 Mar 2009, 20:35 pm
#806 yliad: Great words
9 Mar 2009, 20:41 pm
The thread and the blog is not nice today….
Hate…… counter hate….. counter-counter hate….
I do not need this gemors in my life…
Cheers….
No more from me tonight here…. gone…
9 Mar 2009, 20:43 pm
#824 grootblousmile: cheers gbs….cant say i blame you…
9 Mar 2009, 20:47 pm
#814 JL1:
JL everyone comes at life from a different perspective, some from a religious one, others from a moral one, maybe some from a scientific analytical one. No one necessarily has all the truth or all the answers
Religion will give us certain clues, and science will give us others. Ultimately it remains in our own grasp or search to try and discover the reality from within all the clues and guesswork.
No-one should really have to take anything at face value or hearsay, we should all be able and committed enough to try test out the truth for ourselves from whichever approach or standpoint we challenge the question.
So there is no real holy grail here, just human beings all seeking some kind of conclusion or reason for their existence and their calling.
Hopefully out of all the huff and puff reactionary activity some clear sighted reason and clear light of day will emerge, I reckon if at all we are sincere about our concern for who we are, then we should perhaps be willing to at least make that much of an effort for the understanding of the whole entire shenanigan.
9 Mar 2009, 20:50 pm
#826 yliad: Nice one Skop.
9 Mar 2009, 20:50 pm
i see the reds have lost a prop and a lock to injurt this weekend….things really looking rosy for the sharks…
9 Mar 2009, 20:50 pm
Hola bloggers
9 Mar 2009, 20:51 pm
albert vd berg and waylon murray back as well…
9 Mar 2009, 20:53 pm
Aah well waddaya know
looks like I managed to finally put a real spanner in the works,
everybody baled
congratulations, all the teeth have stopped gnashing and the eyes aren’t getting gouged no more, whichever church or political platform we are prepared to live or die for
could it even be that somewhere down the line the puppets on the string that think they dance to their own tune realize its not them dancing at all, just someone behind the curtain pulling them strings and giving the impression of the jig.
9 Mar 2009, 20:55 pm
#827 blhoo:
thanks RJ, much obliged, glad you liked it.
9 Mar 2009, 20:58 pm
emotionally draining reading this blog
9 Mar 2009, 20:58 pm
#831 yliad: No-one’s bailing.
Bought this time laptop batteries start flashing red. Mine also – goodbye. 826 really good Skop,
9 Mar 2009, 20:59 pm
Any1 have an idea what the main price for the s14 competition is that’s being run on keo.
9 Mar 2009, 21:00 pm
While everybody is so ethically concious today, let me ask a overall question:
Why is it morally wrong to make laws telling people with a different skincolor to live only in certain places (apartheid old SA), but it is morally correct to make laws telling people they cannot live because they are not wanted by their parents (abortion new SA) ?
I really cannot see why the one regime has any higher moral grounds than the other, and if you say the one has more higher moral ground, by what authority or standard do you base your viewpoint ?
Thank you for all your answers
9 Mar 2009, 21:04 pm
looks like we more divided than ever….2 steps forward 3 steps back….and yet on the fields our rainbow teams seem to play like a band of brothers…young Frans Steyn and Adi…jean and Bobo…and here on the blog the exploits undermined by strange people with weird agendas…unfulfilled self righteous people …both on the far left and far right…trying to influence each other….all the time simply pushing each other further and further apart…while…j smit packs down with his brother beast…and januarie passes to his bra peter grant…..arent we the bunch of cyberspace plonkers …
9 Mar 2009, 21:04 pm
#826 yliad: His reference to his religion has sweet bugger all to do with this article. Keo brought it in to mock him, I say. Keo has no evidence to prove any of his statements when it comes to what he wrote about Luke’s religion (fact or fiction)
I still maintain that Luke will really feel offended to read Keo’s rubbish which could be seen as patronising or belittling Lukes beliefs.
Why? and what for? Surely this site ,the journos and articles are about rugby
9 Mar 2009, 21:04 pm
#836 alf:
two different issues and principles, don’t try confuse them, two wrongs don’t make any rights, deal with one at a time and then its no use trying to justify one wrong with the actions of another.
9 Mar 2009, 21:05 pm
#835 kwaggies: R1-99 and get discount for cash
9 Mar 2009, 21:06 pm
#834 blhoo:
so long
9 Mar 2009, 21:10 pm
#837 grant10: Hi, howzit Gorgeous?
Sometimes I don’t recognise this place!!
9 Mar 2009, 21:11 pm
#833 grant10: If it is as umpleasant as Saturday and Sunday shall I bother?
9 Mar 2009, 21:13 pm
#837 grant10:
We tend to underestimate the degree of hurt and anguish the policies of injustice has bred and created, its not something one can just wish away with a magic wand or a successful WC campaign. Or wearing a No.6 jersey on your back, these things usually take generations to get washed out the blood streams and the systems of anxiety.
So some hang on tight to their ideology, and others look for recompense from immense injustice and equal retribution.
I reckon there is still enough good will around, in spite of the extreme diversity and stand offs, fundamentally people in this country are still bigger than the hatred and the fallacy of separateness, and ultimately they will triumph over the shadows of our history.
It cannot simply take a couple decades to get over it, maybe even more than a couple generations, but I still reckon ultimately the underlying true nature of who and what we are will triumph over who we sometimes represent.
9 Mar 2009, 21:17 pm
#842 carol: hi princess..xx i tell you i read through after a hard days work and felt physically drained!! So went for a cool dip…i have a house full of turks and swedes and all these strange languages and cultures and everybody having sucj=h a great time…and then see a blog of saffas spewing hatred and crowing about military victories and kill ratios , etc…no Carol…seriously…i am not cut out for this…very disturbing…upsetting me badly…
9 Mar 2009, 21:17 pm
Good evening…It seems like I have converted Keo…the road to damascus..maybe not so. Keo understands that he needs to be a journalist at Businessday and this article was an attempt to get credibility with editor who has put him on probation…but he still found the need to show his true colours. This article was still anti-Luke..it was still about talking down his obvioulsy selection to the natinal squad…A wolf in sheep skin…A trojan…I will still not have dinner with this snake
9 Mar 2009, 21:18 pm
#843 carol: dont …makes me ashamed to call myself a saffa
9 Mar 2009, 21:18 pm
#839 yliad: Dit is presies die punt wat ek probeer maak. Of dit nou apartheid SA (voor 1994) of aborsie SA (na 1994) is, albei het sy ernstige morele probleme.
Hier is ‘n hele paar bloggers (met keo en puke as die ringleiers) wat egter dink die nuwe SA staan op beter morele grond, bloot omdat dit teen ‘apartheid’ is, maar daar is baie ander huidige morele, politieke, ekonomiese en godsdienstige probleme in ons land wat ‘apartheid’ na ‘n piekniek laat lyk.
Ek verdedig nie die een regime teenoor die ander nie, maar wil bloot wys dat elke regime het sy probleme. Niemand moet dink hul is hoogheilig bloot omdat hul teen apartheid is, en daarom die reg het om almal sleg te sê wat nie presies soos hul dink nie.
En nou is dit maklik om ‘n dooie perd te skop, maar die lewendige wilde perd te vermy …
Maklik om uit te vaar teenoor die verlede, en verby die huidige krisisse en probleme te kyk …
9 Mar 2009, 21:20 pm
#844 yliad: from your lips skop…pray it is sooner rather than later…
9 Mar 2009, 21:21 pm
#838 JL1:
You probably have a point about it
Its a bit of tongue in cheek journalism and also perhaps a little jibe at a persons belief,
but it could also be construed that perhaps a little too much attention is placed on biblical acquaintances when it comes to individuals actions in society or sport. Like that T-shirt that Jaco Vd Westhuizen wore when the Bulls won the S14 and climbed up the pole advertising it, such beliefs should I believe be private affairs and not proselytized all over the place,
maybe keo is having a silent little dig at that.
The reality though is that from what I gave read that Luke is quite a committed principled Christian, but then again so is Bakkies, depending which side of the ideological curtain we are sitting, which Biblical reference would put them both in the same fold, I wonder?
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