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Cape Town - The president of the South African Rugby Union Oregan Hoskins and Springbok coach Peter de Villiers are planning to visit Palestine to help build relationships by conducting coaching clinics there.
Hoskins and De Villiers visited Israel earlier this year. However, the visit was not well received by certain sectors of the South African rugby community because there was a perception that the president and coach were choosing sides in the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.
Former SARU rugby players were so upset about coaching clinics conducted by the Bok coach in Israel that they threatened to burn their Springbok blazers.
But Hoskins said that the whole incident reported in daily newspaper in Cape Town, was blown completely out of proportion and he wanted to set the record straight.
“We don’t want to create the perception amongst the rugby public in South Africa that we are pro-Israel and anti-Palestine,” Hoskins said in an exclusive interview.
“Our visit to Israel was private. SA Rugby did not contribute a cent to the trip. The Chairman of the Jewish Board of deputies in South Africa provided the funds. We wanted to visit the holy land and all the holy sites including places like Jerusalem. We also visited a kibbutz to see how communities live there. We came across a kibbutz where we met Afrikaans speaking South Africans. They play rugby and they asked Peter to sharpen their skills. There were a few journalists present and that is obviously how it got into the news,” explained Hoskins.
The president said he recently met with the Palestinian ambassador to South Africa, Ali Halimeh, at his residence in Pretoria with the intention of holding clinics and coaching courses in Palestine next year to build relations.
“We want to spend time in Palestine with young children to promote rugby as a sport. It’s important for us as rugby leaders in this land not to give people the idea that we are choosing sides.
“People should know that we stand for a free and independent Palestine. We support our government’s stand on this,” he added.
Cape Town - The president of the South African Rugby Union Oregan Hoskins and Springbok coach Peter de Villiers are planning to visit Palestine to help build relationships by conducting coaching clinics there.
Hoskins and De Villiers visited Israel earlier this year. However, the visit was not well received by certain sectors of the South African rugby community because there was a perception that the president and coach were choosing sides in the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.
Former SARU rugby players were so upset about coaching clinics conducted by the Bok coach in Israel that they threatened to burn their Springbok blazers.
But Hoskins said that the whole incident reported in daily newspaper in Cape Town, was blown completely out of proportion and he wanted to set the record straight.
“We don’t want to create the perception amongst the rugby public in South Africa that we are pro-Israel and anti-Palestine,” Hoskins said in an exclusive interview.
“Our visit to Israel was private. SA Rugby did not contribute a cent to the trip. The Chairman of the Jewish Board of deputies in South Africa provided the funds. We wanted to visit the holy land and all the holy sites including places like Jerusalem. We also visited a kibbutz to see how communities live there. We came across a kibbutz where we met Afrikaans speaking South Africans. They play rugby and they asked Peter to sharpen their skills. There were a few journalists present and that is obviously how it got into the news,” explained Hoskins.
The president said he recently met with the Palestinian ambassador to South Africa, Ali Halimeh, at his residence in Pretoria with the intention of holding clinics and coaching courses in Palestine next year to build relations.
“We want to spend time in Palestine with young children to promote rugby as a sport. It’s important for us as rugby leaders in this land not to give people the idea that we are choosing sides.
“People should know that we stand for a free and independent Palestine. We support our government’s stand on this,” he added.
