Siphesihle Ntuli wished the world were color blind. But it is also realistic. “You can’t help but see it, it’s so obvious.”
It is real.
Ntuli is the first black coach of the men’s hockey team in South Africa and is currently the only one of the major international teams in the men’s senior and junior programs. “It’s not something I consciously think about,” said the 32-year-old, who was South Africa’s assistant coach at the Tokyo Olympics. “I know I belong here.”
For a sport accused of having an endemic racial problem, natuli in the hole is a statement of breaking the glass ceiling. Rarely talked about diversity issues in hockey were sparked in the controversy that reigned during the height of the Black Lives Matter movement when a photo of Darcy Bourne, an England Under-21 player – partially covered face, looking into camera and holding a sign that read “Why end racism” discussion?” The virus spread after Martin Luther King Jr’s son shared it.
“There are a limited number of black role models in hockey. As a man you are looking for people who are just like you. I didn’t have that in hockey,” Bourne said.
Having Ntoli in the dugout is a statement to break the glass ceiling.
spark discussion
Bourne’s actions sparked controversy in the hockey world. According to The Guardian, South Asians involved in the sport in England urged the country’s hockey board to “address a culture in which talented black, Asian and ethnic minorities are afraid to report racism for fear it will harm their opportunities for advancement in the ladder.”
While Hockey Australia expressed its support for the ethnic minority reconciliation movement, it acknowledged the “unacceptable and racist treatment of indigenous peoples”.
And in the Netherlands, Terence Peters, the first black player to play for the national team, had an “emotional discussion” with his teammates, revealing that he had “hurt words”.
“Hockey calls itself diverse, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t racism. As a player from Almira (a city in the Netherlands) I was constantly called ‘Mowgli’ during the match every time I got the ball. I dare not say anything about her. Peters, who has a Surinamese mother and an Indian father, was quoted as saying in Dutch media by Dutch media: “You came to a club, people said, ‘Oh, you don’t see that often.’” Or when I say I are a hockey player: you? Do you play hockey? I thought, why not? Someone pointed to a soccer field and said, “You should be there.”
At the height of his life, Ntoli suffered a low back injury that brought his career to an abrupt end, forcing him to take up coaching.“White men’s sport”
Ntuli had similar hurdles in South Africa, where the distinction was clear. “In the past, hockey was probably seen as a white man’s sport… (so) it comes with a feeling of, ‘Am I out of that sport?’” First player and now coach in a sport that dominated ‘all white’.
But in a country as diverse as South Africa, with its complex social problems, that is not always easy. “If you don’t play sports in Langa, you take to the streets,” said South African Under-21 midfielder Zenani Kray. “What happens on the street is that there are ‘gangs’ and stuff. I didn’t want to get involved in that, so I mixed with sports. I played football and cricket, but then I played hockey. “
Langa, a town in Cape Town, has a rich hockey tradition, the seeds of which were planted by the late cricket coach Bob Walmer. But players’ paths from cities—the separate, backward urban areas where the majority of black and colored residents live—are not like those in other parts of the country.
Hockey, in South Africa, is self-funding, meaning players have to make ends meet even when playing for the national team. Next, they must fight to make it to the hockey field, then battle racial stereotypes before breaking through the rigorous selection criteria and spending a career earning the trust of their teammates, proving that they really belong there and aren’t. Only in the team because of the quota rules.
Cricket and rugby, two of South Africa’s biggest sports, have largely dominated the conversation about racial transformation, which focuses mainly on the increased representation of blacks. There has been a tangible change in both sports, but hockey has been sidelined for a long time.
At the forefront of transformation
We stood at the cradle of the transformation. After battling prejudice growing up in cities in Durban and Pretoria, he became one of the first generations of black players to play for the national team. Early in his life, he suffered a low back injury that brought his career to an abrupt end, forcing him to take up coaching.
Running the bunker in a sport where there are very few non-white coaches, Ntuli is now trying to overcome perception battles of a different kind. But he is comfortable in his own skin. “It’s no pressure for me. I have a lot of confidence in my abilities. It’s not about proving anything to anyone.” I have no control over how people see our team and what it looks like. But I am very proud that as a black African man, representing a large group at home, I probably never thought it was possible for someone like me to be the coach of my national team.”
She is indeed an inspiration to the younger generations. “It shows me that anything is possible as long as you have a vision,” says Cray.
Kray is one of six colored players in the South African squad here in Bhubaneswar, a departure from the past where there will only be one or two colored players. Maybe it’s just a coincidence that this shift comes when we’re at the helm. The coach states that the composition of this team is a clear indication that hockey “is no longer among the elite in South Africa”.
We’re trying to get everyone involved, not like we used to. As long as you work hard, you can make the team regardless of skin color,” says Cray. “It changes.”
And we are the face of this change. “You can’t help but see the color,” he says. “And I think we should embrace it.”
