Statement by Minister Anroux Marais: Sport should not penalise youth with quotas

It is with great disappointment that I heard about the demotion of the Western Province u/16 team at the recent Grant Khomo week rugby tournament due to not meeting the quota targets through injury to some of their players.
 
While we have seen great strides made in sport in our country, we cannot allow the joy of the game being taken away from our young players due to circumstances outside of their control. The Western Cape Government has seen the positive impact that participating in sport makes on our young people – from building their confidence, teaching them life skills and connecting them to others. We have also seen that playing sport offers our young people opportunities to make positive choices and join “good gangs” where they can grow and thrive, rather than going down a path of gangsterism and violence.
 
For many young people, playing sport is their only positive interaction outside of school hours, where they get a chance to get away from the negative influences that often surround them and where they can experience a sense of belonging, as well as renewed hope and joy for the future. We should not take this away from them when circumstances mean that some players cannot play due to injury.
 
Over the past years, we have seen renewed energy and joy in supporting our national sporting teams as they compete at World Cup events. When Siya Kolisi lifted the Rugby World Cup in 2019, he showed that anyone can achieve success at the highest levels, regardless of who they are and where they have come from. 
 
Let us not stand in the way of nurturing future sport stars and developing the confidence of our young people due to political interference.