Soweto rugby team attacked: Reports

Half a dozen players from the Soweto Rugby Club (SRC) were allegedly injured in an attack during a match on Saturday night, according to media reports.

The players were allegedly attacked by members of the opposition  team, the Edenvale Panthers, as well as spectators towards the end of their President’s League game.

   “I tackled their player to force him to score a try on the side instead of under the poles,” SRC player Sikelela Nazo, who apparently suffered concussion, told The Sowetan.

   “When I got up, one of his teammates ran over to me and pushed me. He called me a kaffir.”   

Zola Ntlokoma, secretary of the SRC, told The New Age that one of the team’s coaches and the bus driver had also been attacked.

   “After the fight had subsided, a player from the Edenvale Panthers said ’leave our town you kaffirs’,” Ntlokoma told the newspaper.

   Panthers club president Victor de Klerk reportedly said the SRC players had apparently racially abused his team before the violence  broke out.

   “We have eight players of colour on our team, but the things they were saying to the bench were not right,” De Klerk said.

   “And then when our player was tackled dangerously, that is when things got out of control.”   

Golden Lions Rugby Union club rugby manager, Pieter Visser, told  The New Age there were “two sides to every story” and he was waiting for statements from both clubs.

   Edenvale police told The Sowetan a case of assault had been opened on Sunday.