Proteas head coach and cricket legend Mark Boucher has been tossed into a racial scandal after his former teammate Paul Adams revealed shocking claims from the past.
Mark Boucher branded ‘racist’ in SJNB hearings
On Thursday, Adams, a former Proteas left-handed bowler, appeared before the Social Justice and Nation Building (SJNB) hearings to add his record of what life was like as a person of colour in the locker room.
Adams told the commission about a team chant that always rang loud after games, where he was referred to as a ‘brown s**t’.
This chant, Adam reflected, only triggered him once his wife Adrianna who, at the time was his girlfriend, noted with concern how offensive the phrase ‘brown s**t’ was.
“My now wife, back then my girlfriend, she would always make a comment to me about it. She [asked], ‘why are they talking to you like that?’ ‘Why would they call you that name?, it’s not right.’ I would just shrug it off,” he said.
When the commission’s questioning was turned to Boucher’s culpability, Adams admitted that while he never had many brushes with the Proteas coach, he allegedly was an active participant in the micro-aggressive chanting.
“I was caught up in the fun of being along in the team and not [wanting] to ruffle any feathers,” Adams added.
Social media reacts to Boucher racist claims
Cricket South Africa (CSA) has yet to issue a statement in response to Adams’ claims. However, the cricket authority’s note from earlier in July suggests that Boucher will be granted an opportunity to submit a response to the commission before it concludes its work in September 2021.
This is not the first time Boucher has been confronted with issues of cultural segregation in cricket. Back in 2020, the Proteas head coach drew ire from sport fans when he revealed, after his team went on a culture-building Skukuza camp, that the national cricket team would not take the knee at November’s T20 series against England.
According to Boucher, who spoke candidly to several news publications, including News24, the decision was taken following a positive turnout at the squad camp.
The coach, at the time, confirmed that the team was in great spirits and the systemic racism issues first raised by sprinter Lunga Ngidi were dealt with in a satisfactory manner.
“Our new value system is about respect, empathy and belonging and I think all of those lead to an environment where guys feel free and open to talk about these hard issues,” he said at the time.
While the rest of South Africa’s cricket fraternity has been calling for Boucher’s axing since the rise of these racism claims, Adams, the person who spoke out about the triggering experience, has suggested a different approach.
“Maybe he [Boucher] should come and say sorry. Maybe that is all that needs to happen. It is something that should not be brushed under the carpet. We should air it, if we want our teams within Cricket SA to have the right ethics, the right mentality, the right respect for one another, we should air these things.”
Here’s how social media reacted to the claims:
I'm shocked that people think Mark Boucher will be punished this is SA racists get rewarded here
— Malema4President (@PravinMustGo) July 23, 2021
Herschelle Gibbs wrote a book which made it clear to us all why Graeme Smith, Jacques Kallis, Mark Boucher & AB de Villiers should have nothing to do with national Cricket administration or coaching. Same with a lot Chester Williams said about Rugby. Sadly only Zuma books matter.
— TheSportsGuy (Mbali Hlophe) (@mbalimokoko) July 23, 2021
For Mark Boucher and Graeme Smith to leave CSA
— (@tintswalomegacy) July 23, 2021
This picture says it all. Mark Boucher pic.twitter.com/rcz3KFTaIF
— Nku9_ndlovu (@Nku9N) July 23, 2021