During the celebratory parade marking their Currie Cup title, members of South Africa’s Western Province rugby team distributed money to the crowd, resulting in a scuffle in Khayelitsha, Cape Town’s largest township. According to the Cape Argus newspaper, the incident occurred as players threw banknotes to the residents, eliciting varied reactions throughout the country.
The club’s leadership issued an apology the following morning, acknowledging that while the players’ intentions were good, their actions may have been somewhat naive. Thelo Wakefield, the club president, stated in a press release, “There was certainly no negative intention, only positive. If this was perceived otherwise, we apologize.”
Following the incident, a photo of Bryan Habana, the 2007 world champion with the Springboks, signing an autograph on a ticket before tossing it into the crowd gained attention.
It’s worth noting that rugby in South Africa has historically been perceived as a sport predominantly for white players, and the Western Province squad has few black players, in contrast to the “Coloured” population, who are mixed-race descendants of slaves from South-East Asia.
