JOHANNESBURG Sidney Jones Eagles Jersey , Nov. 9 (Xinhua) -- South Africa's Minster of Sports and Recreation, Fikile Mbalula on Monday called for the racial transformation of the national rugby team, affectionately known as Springboks.
The minister said the team should be made up of at least 50 percent coloured players at the next Rugby World Cup.
Mbalula threatened to take action against the South Africa Rugby Union (SARU) if the colored representation target is not reached.
"SARU has four years to take heed of the call," Mbalula said. "It is important to note that half of the next World Cup players need to be players of the colour," he added.
The minister said his government would not support a team that is not transformed Derek Barnett Eagles Jersey , and "will not recognise the team if they fail to transform."
"I'm zooming in on rugby because it's as if nothing has been done and we can't bury our heads in the sand," he said, stressing that the policy of transformation has to be implemented.
The heads of the SA Football Association (SAFA), Athletics SA (ASA), SARU Dallas Goedert Eagles Jersey , Netball SA (NSA) and Cricket SA (CSA) all signed the Eminent Person's Report (EPG) on Transformation in Sports on May 18 at South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee House, the minister disclosed.
The SA Rugby Team lost to arch rivals and eventual winner New Zealand in the World Cup semi-finals before beating Argentina in the play-off for third place.
Before the team left for the Rugby World Cup in England, South Africans had called for the team's transformation. Despite the team's failure to do so, many fans were at the OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg to see them off. The coach of the team, Heyneke Meyer dropped most of black payers and replaced them with 13 white players in the national squad.
The 15 starting players during the World Cup included only two black players Womens Isaac Seumalo Jersey , Tendai Mtwarira and Bryan Habana and a further three non-white players (Siya Kolisi, Lwazi Mvovo and Trevor Nyakane) were placed as replacements during the game.
"I said on May 18 that the Springbok national team would not have been able to meet the targets but we agreed with SARU on 5050 (in the future)," Mbalula said.
However, some South Africans demand immediate transformation.