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Port Elizabeth - Kings captain Luke Watson
has admitted to, and expressed shame and embarrassment for, some of his past statements.
Speaking to SportsTalk in a radio interview, Watson addressed some of the controversial episodes that have dogged his career.
For the first time Watson admitted to once saying that rugby in SA was ‘run by Dutchmen’.
Watson expressed remorse for the incident: “I have tried to deny it in the past, but the fact of the matter is I slipped up and made a mistake. In a heated debate and discussion, I used those words,” Watson said.
“It is the one thing in my life that I regret more than anything. In a heated moment, I took out my anger and my frustration, all the hurt and the tough times I have been through in my life”
“It’s something that even to this day I am deeply ashamed and deeply embarrassed about, because I have loads of Afrikaans friends, loads of people in my life that have supported me and invested in me in the Afrikaans community.”
Watson stated that it had not been his intention to discriminate against Afrikaans people, merely to highlight the imbalances and the inequality he believed existed in South African rugby.
“I never meant it in that regard. Do I believe that there is still a massive need for transformation in this South African rugby? Yes. Do I believe that South African rugby is still controlled by white people? Yes. Black people are not afforded the same opportunities that they should be afforded. The black community is not invested in, in the way it should be,” said Watson.
Watson said he wanted to make a “constructive contribution” and be a “good role model”
for young rugby players in the future, and was committed doing his best to promote top flight rugby in the Eastern Cape.
