MAKHADO (LOUIS TRICHARDT) - “Development means black” was the shocking discovery that three young cricket players made when they were taken off the field because they were not “players of enough colour”.

In a very upsetting incident on November 3 in Polokwane, three white cricket players from Ridgeway Independent School, a private primary school, were asked to leave the field. The fourth player, a coloured boy, was allowed to remain on the field for trials run by the Limpopo Cricket Union.

The four young players are part of the school’s cricket team that is affiliated to the Limpopo Cricket Union. Throughout the year they have played in the union’s leagues. Surprisingly, some of their players were not welcome at the trials.

One of the players, an avid sportslover and a good batsman and all-rounder in his cricket team, said on Monday that they were already on the field at Piet Hugo Primary School when they were asked to leave.

“They said it was only for black players. It wasn’t nice to know it was only for coloured players and we felt upset. At our school, everybody is part of the team and you don’t feel left out,” the young player said. He said that Jonty Rhodes is his sports hero and he also wanted to reach heights in his sport. The three unwelcome players and the adult accompanying them waited on the pavilion while the fourth player was allowed to play, because he had a little more pigmentation in his skin.

Ironically, the invitation letter from Limpopo Cricket Union reads “… all children of the above-mentioned age groups (U/11,U/12 and U/13) that you think can make one of these teams, must report to Piet Hugo Primary School at 14:00. The selectors will have a good look at all the children …” Seemingly, the selectors did have a good look at all the children, but to see the colour of their skin rather than their cricket abilities alone.

The letter said that the trials were for development players. When Mr Wilco Niemandt, the CEO of the Limpopo Cricket Union, was asked what the definition of development players was, he stated categorically that “development players meant players of colour.”

“It is a general term used to denote black quota players and everybody understands it that way. Ridgeway obviously didn’t understand it that way,” Mr Niemandt said on Tuesday. He said that Mr Danie Willemse from the Limpopo Cricket Union explained to the children on that Wednesday that they could not be selected. Niemandt said that Mr Johan Rudolph apologized to the school after the incident.

A parent of one of the children described the incident as “unfair”.

The adult who accompanied the children to Polokwane and grandparent to one of the players, Mr Rich Treurnicht, said that the players were waiting on the field while the selection team seemed to gather for a meeting. Thereafter, the three players were asked to leave the field.

“When they asked the reason, they were told ‘because you are white’. We really felt offended,” Mr Treurnicht said.

Treurnicht said that one of the children phoned his mother and the message got through to the school’s cricket organizer, Mrs Marie Fouché.

“She said that they must all come back, so I sent one of the boys to go and call the coloured boy, but Dagga (Leon Fourie) their Cricket Academy Coach, said that we should wait,” Mr Treurnicht said.

“Why should there be discrimination? You don’t find this in the tennis and soccer.”

Mrs Sharon Ward, principal of Ridgeway Independent, confirmed the school’s positive experience with soccer when Black Leopards coach Shakes Mashaba visited the school recently. Shakes inspired the 76 children.

“He told them that they all start together and work from the bottom and that no one has the excuse of apartheid. He said that they all had the same opportunities. We hope he will come again,” Mrs Ward said.

Concerning the cricket, Mrs Ward said that Ridgeway had been affiliated and trained through the Limpopo Cricket Union for the past two years. She sent the names and surnames of the children who were to take part in the trials to Union.

“One should have been able to see from the names that they were not black players.”

When the CEO, Mr Niemandt, was asked why the children were traumatized in that way when the organisers had had the names beforehand, he said that they had not looked at the names before the actual trials.

Mrs Sharon Ward said that, according to her, development is for all children.

“In our school, the ratio is about one third white, one third Asian or coloured and one third black. Our children don’t see colour at all. That is one of the things I am very proud of at Ridgeway Independent,” Mrs Ward said. Ward said that, because the children are not used to seeing colour, they were all the more upset by this appalling incident.

A local cricket umpire described the incident as “total discrimination, against all human rights and a crime against humanity” especially where young children are involved.