Sunday 28 June 2009

When will they ever learn?

I noticed a few supporters of the British and Irish Lions rugby team (could they not come up with a more meaningful name for this team?) were dressed in the style of the British soldiers who defended Rorke's Drift in January 1879. What were they trying to say? Could it be 'we beat you South Africans then and we will do it again today?' In the event the Lions were defeated. Whilst the British apparently held out against larger enemy numbers at Rorke's Drift, the enemy were in fact the indigenous people, that is, the Zulu tribespeople; the British were of course the colonial masters and as such, exploiters of land and people. The army was ensuring South Africa remained part of the Empire, like much of the globe at the time. Colonialism caused misery in terms of slavery and death far and wide. Some will claim that colonialism benefited the colonised. This claim is usually made by the colonial power. It is not something to be lightly celebrated in carnival fashion by well-heeled sporting tourists. I have found colonial insensitivity almost endemic insome people. r.

The game was exciting for both sets of supporters. Many Lions supporters claimed that the referee was biased against them in allowing the last minute penalty, or indeed the earlier try which looked to be 'scored' by a player whose foot was illegally in 'touch'.