As a blogger and ‘web-master’ I’m probably breaking one of my biggest rules… never post anything in the dead of the night! Especially not after a South African side just managed to demolish a New Zealand team and the adrenaline and the inevitable brannas & coke that go with it! KWV’s finest IS after all, available even here in the Far East. Cheers Bulls!
I am typing this at 1am on Sunday morning (February 22), just after the Bulls ran over the Blues and waiting for the Lions vs. Sharks game to start.
The reason I decided to break my cardinal rule (while watching the Bulls game on my laptop nogal) was the fact that I was struck by just how much online activity there are (on my desktop) from within South Africa as well as all over the world, for the game that we all love.
Keo.co.za was probably one of the first to harness this support with their online “chat” function during live games. (217 comments and counting for the Bulls vs. Lions game) For expat South Africans and passionate rugby supporters who have online access, this was a massive application, one that I have been participating in for more than 6 years to the day.
Earlier tonight, I mailed (FaceBook-ed actually) Howie Kahn, one of the movers-and-shakers behind the recently staged Cape Town Tens tournament. I wanted to share with him my story on Bob Skinstad’s impending appearance here in Hong Kong for the Hong Kong Tens (to be held in the middle of HK Sevens-week). While doing so, I happen to notice the absence of the South African Rugby Union’s logo (SARU) from the Cape Town Tens website. In fact very little mention (if any) was made of the ‘custodians of the South African game’ anywhere on the site. I should also mention that the Cape Town Tens website is probably one of the first South African rugby sites (other than BlitzBokke.com) to very successfully integrate all aspects of the internet’s social network scene (FaceBook, Blogs and YouTube).
Does that mean that SARU was not involved in this ground-breaking event?
It wouldn’t surprise me, I concluded. After launching my own online-support-initiative for the South African Sevens side a while ago, after several e-mails to Newlands, all I got was a “Thank you for your support, but…” e-mail from Johan Prinsloo. Ironically I receive regular updates, pictures, releases and other fantastic support from the media-machines of the other regions that form part of the IRB Sevens World Series. Non whatsoever from our own Union.
Earlier this evening, while logging on to iol.co.za I caught a glimpse of a report on how South African political parties are embracing the online world as part of their campaign towards the impending 2009 elections. Clearly US President Barack Obama’s successful use of the internet in his Presidential Campaign has rubbed off on the South African political scene.
When will SARU wake up to this reality or are they just too busy protecting their own rugby empires?
I am glad to say that, while BlitzBokke.com was always a going to be a fan’s site independent of the Newlands HQ,despite this snub, this initiative will continue in it’s quest to muster online support for the Sevens Springboks.
The support of all the fans out there will carry BlitzBokke.com
For the love of the Game.
Nuff said.
It’s kick-off time…
