SARU offer reward in racist crackdown
Oregan Hoskins: Tiny handful soured occasion
The South African Rugby Union is offering a reward of R10 000 to anyone who can identify the perpetrators of a racist attack that took place during Saturday's Tri-Nations Test between the Springboks and Australia in Johannesburg.
SARU and the Golden Lions Rugby Union - who hosted the match - are pursuing all avenues to identify three white males who racially abused and assaulted a black female Springbok fan at half-time in the corridors of Coca-Cola Park.
"There were 54,000 people in the stadium enjoying a thrilling Springbok victory but it takes the racist actions of a tiny handful to sour the occasion," said SARU President Oregan Hoskins.
"This was a despicable act by three men whom every Springbok on the field that day would have roundly condemned. But what's as alarming is that other supporters passed by without intervening.
"Rugby is committed to rooting out this kind of behaviour and every time even an isolated incident rears its ugly head we shall come down hard on the perpetrators - when we can identify them. I don't want them in rugby - they should stay away from our game."
Golden Lions and SARU staff contacted the victim to offer their apologies and express their sympathy as well as attempt to identify the individuals responsible.
"They will have friends and acquaintances who saw what happened and we urge them to contact our offices so that we can take action. If they need any encouragement there is a R10 000 reward on offer," said Hoskins.
"We will also be contacting all fourteen of our provinces to underline that we have zero tolerance for this kind of behaviour - anyone found guilty of such actions will be banned from our stadia."
As a result of the incident the Golden Lions are investigating placing anti-racism stickers on stadium seats. The sticker will contain information about an SMS number supporters can use to immediately identify racist incidents.
"I shall be writing to the victim of this attack to offer my personal apologies," added Hoskins.
"This kind of attitude has no place anywhere and certainly not in South African rugby."