SARU offers reward in hunt for 'racists'
Tue, 02 Sep 2008 00:34
The South African Rugby Union (SARU) have offered a ZAR10,000 reward to anyone who can identify the perpetrators of a "racist attack" that occurred at the Springboks Tri-Nations match against the Wallabies at the weekend.
The attack happened last Saturday, when the Boks recorded a record 53-8 Tri-Nations win over the Wallabies in Johannesburg.
In a statement SARU said together with the Golden Lions Rugby Union (GLRU), they were pursuing all avenues to identify three white men who racially abused and assaulted a black female Springbok fan at half-time in the corridors of the stadium.
"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," Oregan Hoskins, president of SARU said.
"This was a despicable action 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."
He added that SARU was committed to rooting out this behaviour and would come down hard on the perpetrators.
"I don't want them in rugby - they should stay away from our game," said Hoskins.
The Golden Lions and SARU contacted the victim to offer their apologies and express their sympathy as well as attempt to identify the individuals responsible.
Hoskins said they had 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 ZAR10,000 reward on offer.
"We will also be contacting all 14 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," he said.
As a result of this incident the Golden Lions were 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 to offer my apologies. This kind of attitude has no place anywhere and certainly not in SA rugby."
