‘Naive’ Boucher apologises
PROTEAS coach Mark Boucher offered an “unreserved apology” for his conduct as a Proteas player, which had been highlighted at Cricket South Africa’s Social Justice and Nation Building (SJN) hearings.
Former Proteas player Paul Adams had claimed that Boucher, along with other teammates, had called him “brown sh*t” in a team song that was sung at post-match celebrations in the late 1990s.
The reference to Adams had been, according to Boucher, created by another player he didn’t know.
“But I acknowledge that it has now become apparent, from testimony of former teammates, that some of what happened at those meetings was totally inappropriate, unacceptable and in retrospect understandably offensive,” he said in a written submission to the SJN, which was made public yesterday.
In a statement released in conjunction with his SJN submission, Boucher said he had informed the current national team, which will travel to Sri Lanka today, about the submission and invited the players to read it if they wished.
“I felt that it was essential to deal with the allegations prior to our departure, so that distraction from the main focus of the tour could be kept to a minimum,” he said.
Boucher outlined in his submission that he had tried to contact Adams, following the latter’s SJN testimony, although it wasn’t clear if the two have spoken.
“I apologise unreservedly for any offensive conduct, real or perceived, that has been attributed to me. We, the team, the coaching staff, selectors and CSA during the period in question should have been more sensitive and created an environment where all members of the team could raise and talk about these issues without allowing them to fester, which they clearly have,” Boucher said.
“I was clearly naive at the time I was selected to play for South Africa. I was a young man, barely out of my teens. In hindsight, we were all naive; the players, the coaches and the management. We were not only naive, but were also ill-equipped to deal with the new environment we found ourselves in.”
Boucher stated that at the time, players from different races had nicknames for each other that had a “racial connotation”.
“While at the time we thought it was playful banter within a team environment in which we all participated as a normal part of team dynamics, I deeply regret and apologise for the part I played in joining in with my teammates and singing offensive songs or using offensive nicknames,” Boucher said in his submission.
“While I was certainly naive, I do wish to state categorically that nothing I have ever said or done was motivated by malice and was certainly not motivated by racism.”
He further outlined how, as current Proteas coach, he had been part of initiatives to define a new culture for the current players.