OPINION: Other SA teams have some work to do to match the Boks
· Citizen
What would we do without the Springboks?
In a sports mad country, there has been a lot to look forward to this year, but the Boks continue to stand alone in keeping our heads up.
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At the recently concluded Women’s T20 World Cup, the SA team reached the semifinals, but they stumbled again at the penultimate hurdle.
Most concerning is that between the national men’s and women’s cricket sides, they have reached the play-offs at 10 World Cup tournaments since 2017, but they still haven’t lifted a trophy.
Of course, the men’s team won the last edition of the World Test Championship, but the relatively easy path they were given to the final has been well covered, and we’ll see if they can stand up again in an attempt to retain their crown.
At the ongoing Wimbledon Championships, South Africa has been represented by junior and wheelchair players, but the country had no competitors in the main draw for senior able-bodied players.
While the depth of local tennis seems to be growing, no SA player has progressed beyond the third round of the main draw at a Grand Slam tournament since Lloyd Harris reached the US Open quarter-finals in 2021.
Other sports
In other sports, at the last four editions of the World Athletics Championships since 2019, the SA team have bagged just one medal (in the men’s 4x400m relay in Tokyo last year).
On the netball court, the Proteas have not secured a medal at the World Cup since they earned silver in Birmingham in 1995.
And on the football field, we need to stop celebrating mediocrity. Yes, it’s the most competitive sport in the world, and we can appreciate that Bafana Bafana reached the play-offs for the first time at the ongoing Fifa World Cup in the United States.
But they haven’t won the Africa Cup of Nations since 1996, and though it’s good to see they’re improving, considering the resources available for football in this country, the standard needs to be raised a lot higher.
Even in the swimming pool, the likes of Pieter Coetzé and Kaylene Corbett have earned medals at recent editions of the World Aquatics Championships, but we will have to wait for next year’s long-course showpiece to see them in action again at a major global championship. And we are still missing truly global stars like we’ve had in the past.
The only team we can really rely on are the Boks. They’ve won the last two editions of the Rugby World Cup, and they have so much quality and depth they can put a B team on the field and still be competitive.
That’s the standard every national squad should be aiming for. They have set the bar, and everyone else is playing catch-up.
Let’s hope they pull up their socks and get there soon.