This is a follow on to my analysis of the distinctly amateurish practices, which characterise our country’s so-called professional franchises. Regular readers of my epistles will know that based on watching, analysing, playing and coaching rugby since 1957, and having correctly predicted the Boks world cup triumphs in both Tokyo and Paris, I have described Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu as not merely the best flyhalf I have ever seen, but also as the key to our three-peat Down Under in 2027. But allow me to hasten to add, my confidence is firmly predicated on one proviso: that we — Bok head coach Dr Rassie Erasmus, uncle John Dobbo and all, including Bok supporters — must and soon come to terms with the fact that Sacha is our first rugby super star.
This is not to diminish the talents of Danie Gerber, Hennie Muller, Frik du Preez or Naas Botha, but rather to emphasise that Sacha is to rugby what Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, and maybe Kylian Mbappe are to soccer; what LeBron James is to basketball, what Aaron Judge is to baseball, and Tom Brady is to American football. All are not only outstanding record breakers, but in fact superstars who command previously unheard of packages by way of salaries, bonuses and merchandise endorsements. They ply their trades anywhere that can afford them, rather than being bound to a franchise, or a hometown, or even a country.
They extend their careers for as long as possible, by taking steps to avoid as much as possible injuries, and reserve their best for the most lucrative games. Thus, the biggest game in American football. the Superbowl is watched by the biggest TV audiences, and is often played in New Orleans’ Superdome.
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Performing during the half-time show is the preserve of Beyonce and Taylor Swift. So whether one likes, appreciates or understands these American “sports”, one has to recognise and come to terms with the level of professionalism to which these athletic events have evolved. For example American football grew out of the various versions of rugby played in England, and transplanted on the campuses of Harvard and Yale in the 1870s. At Yale, one Walter Camp transformed the 11-man brand of rugby, played on a narrower field than the 15 man game favoured at Harvard, and he introduced a line of scrimmage to simplify the mass pile ups in the scrimmage in those days, as well limiting a teams possession to only four attempts to gain 10 yards, and that in turn necessitated the drawing of lines across the field which then resembled a grid iron.
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