Give Jan the red card
23 Mar 2009
Keo, in his weekly Business Day newspaper column, writes Vodacom’s Player 23 campaign is an insult to the cosmopolitan South African rugby supporter.
For 10 years South African rugby’s marketing team did everything to reflect that in a new South Africa there was a new South African rugby culture far removed from the brandy and coke potbellied types that stereotype the traditional white Afrikaans male’s bond with the game.
Zulu dancers were introduced as part of pre-match entertainment at Tests, playing quotas ensured black representation on the field and slowly blacks were enticed to experience an afternoon at the palace of what was once a white’s only affair.
There was an effort being made to change perception and to kill off stereotyping, but South African rugby could guarantee nothing outside of their control – and they don’t control who pays to go to a ground. They could not foresee Piet van Zyl, dressed in jeans and a Springbok jersey that couldn’t accommodate his barrel gut, casually wondering onto the field and assaulting Irish referee Dave McHugh when the Springboks played the All Blacks in Durban in 2002, and they could not be accountable for the actions of an unidentified individual who racially abuses another at a game.
All that South African rugby can control is that over which it has influence, and that is why the endorsement of Vodacom’s 2009 rugby campaign is baffling because all it has done is reinforce that the South African rugby fan is everything the organization has tried to convince us is no longer the case.
Vodacom, as the primary sponsor of rugby in South Africa, is celebrating the year of the fan. His name is Jan, he is player 23 in the team and he is a clone of the 1970s white Springbok rugby supporter – a walking caricature of what has always repulsed. Only they’ve given Jan a personality of being a jovial and hugely popular bloke, but perception is stronger than fact and the physical appearance of Jan and what he represents in the stands adds to the perception that rugby in South Africa is still a game supported only by grossly overweight brandy and coke potbellied types.
I have sympathy for the well-traveled and likeable modern Afrikaans-speaking South African who loves his language, loves his rugby and loves living in South Africa. This modern Afrikaner certainly doesn’t look or act like Jan and he must cringe every time he sees the advertisement.
In an evolving South African rugby audience market, Jan is in the minority at Stormers and Sharks matches, which says player 23 should be a celebration of something more than a pot-bellied Afrikaans speaking supporter. What of Gert, who is sophisticated, lean and intelligent? What of Sipho, who digs his rugby almost as much as he does soccer? What of Alice who never misses a game? What of Peter, who has always put the Springboks first on a Saturday afternoon?
Vodacom will defend their choice of Jan as good natured fun and SA Rugby will see nothing offensive in it, yet continue to wonder why the perception that their game caters only for conservative and racist whites.
The game in this country is more cosmopolitan in support than it has ever been and that is the pity of the advertisement because it reflects the past when there is so much of the current to be showcased when the British & Irish Lions visit in June.
This is not about being politically correct, but about accuracy in who supports the Springboks. There is more to South African rugby than Jan, but thanks to Jan it will take another 10 years to convince critics of South African rugby that there is life beyond the 23rd member of the team.
Things off the field have changed in our rugby and innovation would be celebrating this in the same way the Bulls and Sharks celebrated what hasn’t changed on the field, which is the ability of a good South African team to turn defence into the most lethal form of attack.
The Bulls and Sharks were brutal in defending their line against the Hurricanes and Force respectively, and the skill in maintaining defensive composure is equal to anything a team does when given the ball.
Rugby is a game played as much without the ball as with it, and at the weekend we saw two very good South African sides reinforce the stereotype that South African teams are more dangerous without the ball.
And, unlike Jan, that is a stereotype the cosmopolitan South African rugby fan should never find offensive.
1,374 Comments
Pages: « 1 2 [3] 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 … 28 » Show All
23 Mar 2009, 13:10 pm
I wouldn’t have made such an appalling ad that speaks only to one section of a support base when all involved in rugby keep on preaching of the need to recognise and promote the diverse nature of who watches games
It is a throwback to white conservative and racist South Africa. You look at that and you know why the world took (and still does take) the piss out of white afrikaans South Africans
23 Mar 2009, 13:12 pm
#95 Sheriff:
PIETMAN
Is that you????
23 Mar 2009, 13:12 pm
#98 grootblousmile:
Spot on! Some guy wrote in to the Sunday times yesterday moaning about the ad. I p*ssed myself laughing.
Now Keo does the same thing; standards are slipping with his ideas big time!
23 Mar 2009, 13:12 pm
Keo, I think it’s time you got off your high horse and accepted that any character used for the campaign would be based on a GENERALISATION. Do you not think people would be scratching their heads if Vodacom had used “Alice who never misses a game”?
Do you think Leon Schuster intends for his character to be enjoyed only by silly racist ********? I would say I have friends from a reasonable cross section of society within South Africa and I based on conversation all of them love the ad.
Your article reaks of sh*% stirring!
23 Mar 2009, 13:13 pm
#101 keo: most certainly not in the corporate world, my friend. My experience of how white, afrikaans South Africans are viewed in the corporate world ( in the UK, at least, and clearly in Aus – if you look at the professional roles they fulfill there) is not one of the piss being taken out of us, but one of respect. But then again, maybe I’m too thick to notice that the piss is being taken…
23 Mar 2009, 13:13 pm
#86 keo:
and south africa doesn’t have any players in europe, uk, oz, japan?
There are over 160 south african professional rugby players in France alone.
No excuse for being as bad as they are, The Bulls and Sharks are the only SA teams performing this year from an SA perspective, the reason being they have been playing together for a few years and the unions have great structures bringing players to top form!
23 Mar 2009, 13:13 pm
#85 grootblousmile: Doners stout GBS!
23 Mar 2009, 13:14 pm
#100 racheltjiedebeer:
I think by “cosmopolitan” he means more “colour”
23 Mar 2009, 13:14 pm
#83 Some Bloke:
lol, and what is wrong with that?
Thats not a repulsive south african, go to a foreign test match and watch some half-pissed leery dros soeking kak with the ppl around them and jeering macho monoslyllabic aggressive grunts until some boyo from the valleys resets their clock.
This oke looks pretty harmless, i think its well done. the blonde cheerleaders are as wrong as all hell, but its perfect, no rugby lover will complain at all.
23 Mar 2009, 13:14 pm
Jan’s poppies are more of a stereotype and even more demeaning.
But – damn! – who doesn’t want to see more of that booty shuffling shot?
And it’s a lag to watch the rugby players taking the piss out of themselves?
Also, I think Jan could very well be more sophisticated than the average British soccer supporter.
Roll on 2010, roll on.
23 Mar 2009, 13:15 pm
#102 Dawn:
Moenie gatkruip by Mark nie, dit sal jou niks in die sak bring nie.
23 Mar 2009, 13:15 pm
Mark Lottering wouldn’t have been a bad subsitute … but then I don’t see Kanko touching his ***.
23 Mar 2009, 13:16 pm
#100 racheltjiedebeer:
He is just like a friend of mine in Cape Town.
He is a 26 year old hen pecked husband who drinks only 2 glasses of Chardonay after the game, hates red meat, goes to gym 4 mornings a week, in an arrangement with his wife, where he goes home straight after the 2 glasses to babysit.
He spends a lot of money on male grooming products, designer jeans and is currently reading about “modern parenting”
He is the future of rugby!!
23 Mar 2009, 13:16 pm
#110 puff: amen to that my man.
23 Mar 2009, 13:17 pm
#111 Sheriff:
Leave me alone, you lackey.
Waar’s jou baas vandag.
Ja baas nee baas.
23 Mar 2009, 13:17 pm
So I recon to keep you happy they must make an ad for all races.
Player23:
Jan
Sipho
Gatiep
Yusuf
etc.
The budget for ad campaigns would have to be raised a lot.
Small things amuses small minds….
23 Mar 2009, 13:17 pm
#101 keo: “I have sympathy for the well-traveled and likeable modern Afrikaans-speaking South African who loves his language, loves his rugby and loves living in South Africa.”
aaahhh, the *** afrikaans speaking folk…
23 Mar 2009, 13:17 pm
I wonder if Kanko’s had a “stort” yet ??
23 Mar 2009, 13:17 pm
#86 keo:
Of course, you could take a step back and admit that your article is being exposed as a less than properly thought through piece of work. Or on the other hand, you could just remain defensive and take it out on me instead.
Wonder which option will produce the better results?
23 Mar 2009, 13:18 pm
#113 tight head:
Does he watch rugby????
23 Mar 2009, 13:18 pm
#113 tight head: hates red meat??????? what kind of barbarian is this that you consider your friend. grrrrrrrrr…..
23 Mar 2009, 13:19 pm
#101 keo: You aren’t the real Keo.
He always kaks himself if you write badly (for example: omitting puntuation, capitalization etc.).
Use your real name.
23 Mar 2009, 13:19 pm
#116 Sh@rk:
Put ‘em all in one ad!!!!
23 Mar 2009, 13:19 pm
#113 tight head:
Ha ha ha ha ha! Well said.
23 Mar 2009, 13:19 pm
Those poppies look MUCH better from behind.
23 Mar 2009, 13:21 pm
#119 Tacitus: The only person on this thread who actually agree with keo’s BS article is NED. That’s a healthy minority mark…
23 Mar 2009, 13:21 pm
agree=agrees
23 Mar 2009, 13:21 pm
#115 Dawn:
Van nou af aan dring ek daarop aan dat jy my baas Sheriff noem, ho?
Vee altyd eers voor jou eie deur. Gaan dink na daaroor.
23 Mar 2009, 13:21 pm
tacitus … first you tell us you have a masters degree and now you get all sensitive on me … I am taking nothing out of you, merely highlighting your ignorance, which isn’t a first. If you want a cuddle then just ask
23 Mar 2009, 13:21 pm
No way, Keo. Sheesh, man.
Simnikiwe has done this EXACT story to death and you have the balls to have Business Day to pay you for this ****?
Jissis, ou, where’s your integrity?
23 Mar 2009, 13:22 pm
#120 Dawn:
Only on those Saturdays when his wife says it is allright.
23 Mar 2009, 13:23 pm
#122 King Shark:
yes and usually keo had a border around his blog!
23 Mar 2009, 13:23 pm
#113 tight head:
no god, lets hope not. f’ck me, i already look at all our metrosexuals coming thru and cringe, where are the ware boerseuns?
so what if they get the piss taken out of them. Ollie le roux feeds off it.
23 Mar 2009, 13:23 pm
I would say it is an unhealthy majority, which says a lot more than it does about the minority.
23 Mar 2009, 13:23 pm
95% of the bloggers think it is a stupid article. Own up KEO, everyone can’t be wrong.
To the other 5%, how’s the struggle treating you.
23 Mar 2009, 13:24 pm
#128 Sheriff:
Where’s your baas Pietman, handlanger.
He says W Cape is racist, you say exactly the same thing.
Do you have your own thoughts?
Any of them?
23 Mar 2009, 13:25 pm
Keo, i like you. I respect your views on rugby and the I find the articles (rugby ones) insightful and informative. But you seem to have a bit of a bee in your bonnet about afrikaans okes. Wat het ons aan jou gedoen dat jy so moerig is? Ek se weer, daai add is kommin, maar lekker.
23 Mar 2009, 13:25 pm
keo
you sound
like
a little boy
who found
out
he is
just
a little boy
and he doesn’t
like it
23 Mar 2009, 13:25 pm
#94 Dawn:
Ha ha……… The Fliksem!! hehe
23 Mar 2009, 13:26 pm
#131 tight head: Farrkkk Tight Head, this “friend” of yours sounds as bad as some of the bloggers here who cannot keep control of the DSTV remote on a Saturday and do not have the balls to tell wifey and kids to sod off when they want to watch cartoons and **** !
Saturday is rugby day and basta with the rest!!
23 Mar 2009, 13:27 pm
#133 cab:
Cab it is just not PC to be a ware boerseun any more.
Apparently they are going to send some of Bakkies genes up in a space capsule to open up in future just in case we lose the whole gene pool to SAA staff.
23 Mar 2009, 13:27 pm
Helloooooo everyone, sorry I am late, bit hectic over here.
This thread is soon going to hit the ‘thread of the day award’…..hehehehe!
23 Mar 2009, 13:28 pm
just another anti afrikaaner white south african article from keo
23 Mar 2009, 13:28 pm
I have to admit a good quality chardonnay is darem lekker. But at least a bottle.
23 Mar 2009, 13:29 pm
come on keo, i think the ad campaign is brlliant( and thats from a darkie.It is funny because thats exactly the same type of person i’ll see when i go to loftus and piss it up with them afterwards at a pub. I dont take offence to the soccer ads because thats what you’ll see when attending a soccer game. Jan appeals to the masses that enjoy their rugby and dont give a hoot about what a typical”Jan”looks like.
23 Mar 2009, 13:29 pm
How would the song have sounded with a different name??
Gert gert gert is die soul of the ??? You cant have span….
Alice alice alice.. in wonderland..no…
Sipho sipho sipho is die soul of the ???
23 Mar 2009, 13:30 pm
1. Sheridan
2. Flannery
3. Vickery
4. O Callahan
5. O Connell
6. Williams
7. Jones
8. Powell
9. Phillips
10. Jones
11. Williams
12. D arcy
13. O Driscoll
14. Kearney
15. Byrne
16. Jenkins
17. Reese
18. Murray
19. Shaw
20. Wyn Jones
21. Worsley
22. Croft
23. Heaslip
24. Blair
25. Wilkinson
26. Shanklin
27. Henson
28. Roberts
29. Bowe
30. Armitage
75% accurate?
23 Mar 2009, 13:30 pm
#140 grootblousmile:
HA HA GBS!!
That’s my man!!
23 Mar 2009, 13:30 pm
#141 tight head:
Nee man.
I won’t rest until I find a ware boerseun.
23 Mar 2009, 13:30 pm
#141 tight head:
lol
Pages: « 1 2 [3] 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 … 28 » Show All
Have your say
You must be logged in to post a comment.