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
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23 Mar 2009, 14:15 pm
#248 Ig: how’s life treating you, my man?
23 Mar 2009, 14:15 pm
#246 Ned: Hey, druk ‘n spoorweg trok op waar die son nie skyn nie, mal seun !
23 Mar 2009, 14:15 pm
#248 Ig: i thought you left the keo team? good to see you are still alive and well!!!
23 Mar 2009, 14:15 pm
#247 grootblousmile:
Like OMO for only black clothes with the witch in it?
Hugely offensive…
23 Mar 2009, 14:16 pm
#252 grootblousmile: lol…cool….dit kan spel en tik!!!!!
23 Mar 2009, 14:16 pm
I think snob Keo would love if we all, like Thabo Mbeki, aspired to be good English gentlemen.
Guess what Keo. South Africa is in Africa no part of middle England. Were Afrikaners.
Now go and have a koeksister and chill out.
23 Mar 2009, 14:16 pm
#253 Ned:
He has left the team. He’s independent now…
23 Mar 2009, 14:17 pm
#186 Dawn: Agreed.
They are a fashion statement and that statement is :”I’ve given up”
23 Mar 2009, 14:18 pm
#257 WP Till I Die Moet Sy Plek Ken: i c
23 Mar 2009, 14:18 pm
AG KERELS…EK STIR NET SO BIETJIE…OU JAN IS SEKER NIE SO SLEG NIE. EK’S SEKER JY KRY VET ENGELSE MENSE OOK WAT HOU VAN RUGBY.
23 Mar 2009, 14:19 pm
#248 Ig:
Are you independent, you sexy thing you.
23 Mar 2009, 14:19 pm
#254 PissAnt: Mr Min maak jou huis so skoon en so blink….
Hehehe
23 Mar 2009, 14:19 pm
#250 Dawn:
The list Dawnie, the list.
You asked for it, I presented it, your comments?
Forget about Harry, he is just embarrassed for making an arse of himself on keo about his sexual escapades, nothing to do with it.
Your comments are still pending, look at it!
The whole bunch of you are right there in Waaaainburg almost, what does that tell you?
23 Mar 2009, 14:19 pm
#238 allamapstieks: Jan is guy everyone loves just doesn’t want to be or admit to being.
23 Mar 2009, 14:19 pm
#233 KingKong: Soccer hooligans? Can`t remember a stampede at Loftus or any other rugby venue. Remember Ellis Park soccer stampede?
Funny how that happens at the soccer only. SA, UK, Italy and S America.
Bulls may be rowdy, but that is pure passion not unlike the mass histeria that accompanies most of the soccer ( BIG PUKE ) matches.
23 Mar 2009, 14:20 pm
#251.All good Veltie, Killing time at work. Howzit your side brew?
Ned, indeed i did. Alive and very well thanks.
23 Mar 2009, 14:20 pm
#258 filthy Luca:
I’ve only ever seen tree hugging shapeless bad-haired loony baggy-shorts environmentalist vegans with gnarled skin wearing them.
23 Mar 2009, 14:21 pm
#246 Ned: AND YOU???
23 Mar 2009, 14:21 pm
#266 Ig: same here, my man. only monday and already in the mood for a dop…you still down in the Mother City?
23 Mar 2009, 14:21 pm
#263 Pietman:
I looked at the list, oh Grand Wizard.
SO WHAT!!!!
It’s nothing to be ashamed of. They are amongst the best and smartest bloggers here.
23 Mar 2009, 14:22 pm
#261…Of independent mind and soul.
23 Mar 2009, 14:22 pm
#251 Veltie:
You must let us know when you come down.
23 Mar 2009, 14:23 pm
En nou is ek RERIG uit hier.
Cheers almal.
Sal more lees Dawn, watse slimmighede jy en ‘seun’ mee opkom deur die nag………..
23 Mar 2009, 14:23 pm
What is the ABSOLUTE WORST TV advert ever in SA ?
… and..
What is the ABSOLUTE BEST TV advert ever in SA ?
23 Mar 2009, 14:23 pm
#256 allamapstieks: Hahhaa… Keo still believe in the British Empire`s ultimate goal. To recover the whole world for the British. They are after all the direct descendants of ******. The queen with her divine right of kings and all that silly little nonsense.
23 Mar 2009, 14:23 pm
269. Yup. A cold draft would be a fine order to place right now.
23 Mar 2009, 14:23 pm
#273 Pietman: Mooi bly Pietman.
23 Mar 2009, 14:24 pm
I actually thought the add is brilliant but i really couldnt give a f*ck about race.
23 Mar 2009, 14:24 pm
#273 Pietman:
‘seun’???
23 Mar 2009, 14:25 pm
#274 grootblousmile: beste is Robbie Wessels en vodacom. Tennis balle krieket balle.
23 Mar 2009, 14:25 pm
#276 Ig:
You loafing again?
23 Mar 2009, 14:25 pm
#275 The-Pill: You pair of dills… Keo’ name is Irish ya dimwits.
23 Mar 2009, 14:26 pm
#273 Pietman:
Ek wag nog vir bewyse vir jou beskuldigings van my, of andersins ‘n verskoning.
Ek dink nie ek is onredelik nie.
Totsiens!
23 Mar 2009, 14:26 pm
#270 Dawn:
ruck would disagree, especially on your friends DaOne and Oddball, and all of those other ‘smart’ ones like KhoisanKing….
Yoor company, not mine….
23 Mar 2009, 14:27 pm
well Keo, if you feel that strongly about the add, why don’t you shoot your own ad as part of the new player23 competition: http://www.player23.co.za/fanzone/fanzone_videos.php
23 Mar 2009, 14:27 pm
#274 grootblousmile: ek is mal oor die vodacom adds.
23 Mar 2009, 14:27 pm
#254 PissAnt: What?? Me thinks that witch is nogals damn sexy.
Do you know where the legend of the witches originated? Hilarious. Google it. I am not sure if i can post it here. Very sexually explicit some may say.
23 Mar 2009, 14:27 pm
#274 grootblousmile:
Best:
Any of the old Corsa adds by Raj and Raj II.
Worst:
Those 24 hours of freedom ads…
23 Mar 2009, 14:28 pm
#283 WP Till I Die Moet Sy Plek Ken:
‘verkrampte Dutch Reformed boys’
‘laager mentality’
And then ‘Allah, peace be upon him’…
en so aan en so aan…..
Jy weet goed waarvan ek praat….
Geen verskonings van my kant nie, jammer ou klong….
Ghoebaai.
23 Mar 2009, 14:29 pm
#284 Pietman:
Don’t you speak for her.
She can speak for herself.
23 Mar 2009, 14:29 pm
#288 PissAnt: Any Nando’s add, must surely be considered the best. Especially the one with the dog…lol
23 Mar 2009, 14:29 pm
#282 RugbyRulz: So what??
23 Mar 2009, 14:29 pm
Jan’s thread = more hits = more money in Keo’s pocket.
He is a clever man old Keo.
23 Mar 2009, 14:30 pm
ACLA.
Angry Cullert Lawyers Association.
23 Mar 2009, 14:30 pm
#289 Pietman:
You are not allowed to say “Allah” WITHOUT “peace be upon him”.
23 Mar 2009, 14:30 pm
282 – well i am particulalry talented in that field.
23 Mar 2009, 14:31 pm
#294 Sheriff:
Get back under your desk.
23 Mar 2009, 14:32 pm
#289 Pietman:
Nou raak jy belaglik. Verduidelik vir my hoe presies “verkrampte Dutch Reformed boys” en “laager mentality” (waarvoor ek om verskoning gevra het op daai tyd) jou “mense en kerk” beledig het? Wat presies het ek gesê wat so verskriklik was?
En hoe is “Allah, peace be upon Him” ‘n aanhaling uit die Koran? JY het die stelling gemaak dat ek die Koran aanhaal “asof dit my dagboek is”.
Nie een enkele aanhaling nie. Dus het jy GEJOK. Verskriklike ding om te doen, of hoe?
23 Mar 2009, 14:32 pm
#288 PissAnt: Worst. Remember that Debie ad? Also something political. Can`t remember was long time ago. Think about 11 or so years back. WOW. People almost moered their tv`s stukkend. Debie was an acronym for something.
23 Mar 2009, 14:32 pm
#296 Ig:
You ovary-scrambling sexy beast.
You KNOW you talented all over the show!
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