News
PDV faces up to media storm
June 29 2009
In what could be best described as one of the most entertaining media gatherings of the year, Bok coach Peter de Villiers has stood by Schalk Burger whose act of eye-gouging made bigger headlines than his side's 2-0 series win over the British and Irish Lions over the weekend.
Burger was found guilty of making contact with the face in the eye area of Lions winger Luke Fitzgerald in Saturday's second Test, won 28-25 by South Africa.
The Springbok flanker escaped with only a yellow card from French referee Christophe Berdos - a decision taken on the advice of New Zealand touch judge Bryce Lawrence, who spotted the offence.
Incidentally, Burger has now been banned from the game for eight weeks after being found guilty of committing an act contrary to good sportsmanship.
On Monday, a room full of journalists - mostly British media - were gathered like a colony of vultures to pick at De Villiers' claims following the Test match in Pretoria, when he said that Burger didn't deserve a yellow card for the incident, let alone a citing.
The coach had an opportunity to retract that ludicrous statement and concede that he was wrong. Yet he remained resolute in his flawed view. These are the questions asked in the press conference, and more importantly, De Villiers' eyebrow-raising answers word for word...
Q: Eye gouging is on the increase throughout the rugby world, what is your view on it?
PDV: I'm against anything that is not in the spirit of the game. Anything! We won't go to the lows of not being negative in such a positive game we have. We've got brilliant players in this country, they are world class - most of them. To try and even compare them to little small things that belong outside in the bushveld...(pause for thought). If we want to go eye-gouge any lion, we go out to the bushveld like we normally do, eye-gouge them and see if we can outrun them or see if they haul us in. We will never NEVER encourage anybody to be part of negative play or bring the game into respute. Schalk's nature and character, if you know the man as I know him, is that he won't ever (eye-gouge). He's too physical, I think he's more physical than any other rugby player in the world! To go to those kind of measures to show he's the boss on the rugby field... he will never ever do it. And I don't think he did it. Eye-gouging, biting, head-butting and high-tackling is something we as a team, especially me, will not stand for. We want to promote this game amongst our youth and amongst everybody to see how passionate we are about this game. We want to bring that passion above anything else in our country. We want this game to be the biggest national-building tool that we ever can be. But by encouraging stuff like that (foul play), we are fighting a lost cause. And if that happens, then I shouldn't even be here. I will never ever be part of doing anything like that.
Q: Do you think longer bans on foul play will discourage players and coaches from implementing these acts?
PDV: I'm part of this lovely game and I'm very honoured to be part of this lovely game. And there are some things I will enhance whilst I am part of this lovely game. Negativity is not one them. I don't make the laws, I don't write the books about sentences, I only abide by them. I don't appoint judicial officers, and I don't always agree with them. But again, I'm part of the system, and if you can't work within the system,and you want to have your own system - then you creating your own world. There are a lot of things that I don't like in life, but as long as I am part of this world, I have to adjust to make it work.
(Four journalists throw in questions at the same time, which doesn't go down well with De Villiers)
PDV: You can't ask questions at once. One at a time! I mean like...
(Silence)
Q: You don't think Schalk did it? Have you not watched the television footage?
PDV: I'm telling you, I watched the TV footage and I'm not saying anything otherwise I will go against everything we decided as a team. I watched the TV footage and I am still convinced there was nothing that he did on purpose. For Schalk himself when he watched it, he was like (imitating Burger): 'Oh my!'. But he never meant to go to anybody's eye. And I will stand by what I said, we will wait until we got the report and then we can make a great report back to you guys.
Q: If you don't think he did it, then how come his fingers made contact with Luke Fitzgerald's eye?
PDV (raising his voice): Some of us have got a hearing problem! I said, that we stand us a group with what the team said. We are waiting for the report. And if the report BY ANY MEANS comes out and says "Schalk Burger is guilty of eye-gouging", then we just have to abide by that. But I believe it won't be the case and we stand by that.
Q: What do you think he's banned for eight weeks for then Peter?
PDV (becoming visually uncomfortable, raising his voice once more and speaking as if to a three year old): We ...are ...waiting... for... the... report! And then, I can answer your question. I can't give you any answer without the report.
Q (same journalist): It sounds to me like you are ducking the issue?
PDV (looking shell-shocked): I'm not ducking the issue. It's just the I'm working within the system. I'm not like you (the media), who have no systems! You can word whatever you want to word. We are working in a system where we wait until the report has been tabled... then we will react.
Q (confusion amongst the media): Did you not have any representatives at the hearing to report back to you following Burger's disciplinary?
PDV (again, stretching his words): We are waiting for the report to be tabled so that we can disect the whole thing. We will then come back to you with an INformed answer, and then we won't MISunderstand each other again.
(At this time the South African media manager tries to calm down the situation by saying he will be sending out a response from the Bok management following their 'report')
Q: You said after the game that the incident did not deserve a yellow card. Do you now in hindsight regret saying that and believe it was worth a card?
PDV: Let me tell you something. Look at the footage properly. When you know the man you working with properly... then you can see why he is innocent.
Q: Have you spoken to Schalk since then?
PDV: Come again?
Q: Have you spoken to Schalk since then?
PDV (with a smile and chuckling): Yes, definitely. We not cross with each other. We sat down at breakfast this morning too. We sat down last night until quarter past twelve waiting for them (the judiciary officers) to finish up inside. So ja, I spoke to him and as I expected, he is an honourable man. If you take him away from rugby, he will be the best person to have around you.
Q: So Burger denied any wrong doing?
PDV (long pause): I didn't ask him if he denies he was wrong. I sat down, and I spoke to him... that's what you asked me.
Q: When you look at the report, is there any chance you will appeal?
PDV (calmed down after the question was asked by a South African journalist): Again, I think we should just wait for the report to see what the wording is in there and then as a team - whatever decision we make - we'll go all the way in clearing (stutters his words) his... his... his name. For us it will be the best thing to do.
Q: You say that Schalk is an honourable man and there is obviously a lot of emotion involved. Do you think that will win you the appeal?
PDV: What we must understand here very clearly is that rugby is a contact sport. And so is dancing. So guys (players and media) who can't take it, must make the decision of their own. If you guys (the media) really sat through that entire game, you'll find there were so many incidents (from the Lions players) that we could have gone and said: "We want to cite this guy for maliciously jumping into a guy's face with his shoulder," and stuff like that. Why didn't we do it? The reason why we don't to stuff like that, is because this game will always be a game to us and sometimes you get away with things that you don't even mean. Sometimes you make decisions that are either right and wrong , and get away with it. We are so proud and honoured to be a part of it. If we are going to win games in boardrooms and in front of television cameras like this, then we should say to ourselves: "Do we really respect this game that we honour so much... and the passion for it? Do we want to be part of it?". If you are going to complain about every incident we might as well go to a ballet shop and all get tutus and get a great dancing show on for all to see that has no eye-gouging, no tackling, no nothing and we can all in enjoy it! (It's at this point when the media are looking around the room, wondering whether to laugh or take him seriously). But this game will have collisions, and the guy who wins that collision the hardest, that's the guy we will always select. And if we are going to make it soft, because we won a Test series and people don't like it... I can't do anything about it.
Q: Peter, are you upset that the whole Burger incident has overshadowed what has been a historic series win over the Lions?
PDV: That is exactly how I feel. You know what, 29 years we've waited for this grrrreat occasion. 29 years! And we are going into the third Test with the series sealed. We are the winners of the British and Irish Lions series, and we are happy about it. This country can now rejoice and be positive for the next twelve years. So I would love the Lions supporters to honour the fact that we won this thing. It was tough and the hardest Test series I have seen in a long time. We came back from a a poor start and I never thought we would be able to do that, because this is a brilliant Lions team that we are up against. We are so... (at this point, De Villiers is interrupted by the same journalist that earlier asked if he was 'ducking' the questions)
PDV: Hey, don't be so rude!
Journalist: Sorry, I wouldn't dream of it.
PDV: Good. (Continues) What I would love for Lions supporters is to just stand up and take it on the chin and say: "Well done South Africa! Well done for what you've achieved in this series." Just like we did in 1997.
Q: Has Lions coach Ian McGeechan congratulated you in person?
PDV: Well, nobody has really congratulated us up until now. But maybe they will do so after the third Test.
Q: Peter, congratulations on winning the series...
PDV: Thank you my man, you are the first one!
Q: Now that you've got the series in the bag, how are you going to approach the third Test?
PDV: We going to look at this Test, the same we have looked at all the others. We respect the Lions and they are still a good side. To bring the best of Europe over here is not a walk in the park. But remember, we are proud people too. We not going on to the field just receive payment, we take the field with pride. There's a lot of people in wheelchairs that can't play the game like we do., so we play the game for them. So we still have an obligation for our country and towards ourselves. So won't go out there on Saturday just to give it away. It will be great if we can make it 3-0. But then again, we don't have any control over winning and losing. But we can control how we want to play the game.
Q: There have been reports in the South African media that say you are the weak link in the Springbok team. How do you feel about that?
PDV: I'm not disappointed with them (the media). Everybody in life has an opinion. I don't react to opinions, I react on fact. If people think I am the weakest link, then we are blady strong! I didn't know about the perception, and I do not even have time to think about it. I know myself that I am a God-given talent. I am the best ever that I can be, so whatever you think about me doesn't bother me. I know what I am, and I don't give a damn.
By Dave Morris in Johannesburg