Opinion | Would CSA protect any other coach like they have Mark Boucher?

Proteas coach Mark Boucher has come under a new heap of scrutiny this week, with his not so apologetic apology as well as the stepping down of his assistant coach Enoch Nkwe at the forefront of it all.

Boucher had come out earlier in the week to finally ‘answer’ to the allegations levelled against him from various current and former cricketers at the CSA Social Justice and National Building (SJN) hearings, on the same day it had been leaked to the media that Nkwe wanted out. 

Boucher gave a seemingly half hearted apology

In his letter of apology, Boucher, interestingly enough did not admit to any of the allegations levelled against him but rather chose to use words like “Any offensive conduct, whether real or perceived” effectively stopping short of taking accountability. He did, however, claim that he would like to address the allegations levelled against him one on one with the concerned parties.

Surprisingly (or rather unsurprisingly) enough in a week where the allegations boiled over, coupled with the fact that his assistant coach of colour Nkwe had tendered his resignation, citing, according to sources, “feeling sidelined in the running of the team and decision making” Boucher and his position as Proteas head coach did not come under fire at all from his superiors at CSA.

READ | PROTEAS ASSISTANT COACH ENOCH NKWE QUITS, CITES REASONS

Now you might notice that the previous paragraph begins with a word followed by bracketed content. The bracketed content is not derived from a source of personal agenda, nor that of being sinister. But rather from a place of having prior proof which then causes exhaustion. Depending on the type of person you are, you may get tired from watching the same movie again and again, and when it comes to Boucher and CSA, this movie has been on repeat and therefore tiring (uninteresting). 

Boucher has long been backed by CSA

Even before Boucher was appointed as Proteas coach by CSA, they had already shown that they have his back. After CSA’s appointment of former long-serving Proteas captain Graeme Smith as their director of cricket, it became more and more apparent that his former long-serving wicketkeeper, who had been honing his head coaching skills at the Titans would be his pick to occupy that same role at a national level. 

Boucher, who undoubtedly has an impressive trophy haul to his relatively fresh franchise cricket coaching career, which includes five titles. The East London-born mentor had been coach of the Titans since 2016 and in the period of time before being approached for the Proteas job by CSA, had won two One Day Cups, two T20 Challenge titles and one four-day Sunfoil Series trophy.

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However, the biggest sticking point came with his qualification. Boucher is believed to hold a level 2 coaching qualification, while it has largely been reported within South African cricketing circles that, it is at least a level 3 coaching qualification that should get you a professional appointment.

According to an article from SACricketMag dating back to 2019, you only qualify to coach a franchise side when you hold a level 3 qualification, while a level 4 qualification allows you to coach a national team. The level 2 that Boucher had obtained is obtained automatically from CSA once you have played international cricket. 

Nkwe a more qualified and experienced coach

The man he had replaced as Proteas coach was non other than Nkwe, who had occupied the position under the tag ‘team director’ albeit on an interim basis. In contrast to Boucher, Nkwe is believed to boast a level 4 coaching qualification, the highest that could be acquired, and the desired qualification that should give you an undoubted edge for a role as a national team head coach.

One might then say, okay fine, more qualifications on paper may not necessarily equate to the requisite success on the playing field, so maybe that may not be enough to render Boucher superior over Nkwe. Ok then, so we will go and look at the latter’s trophy haul too. 

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Nkwe has won all of eight titles at various levels of his coaching, twice the winner of the second tier cricket competition in the Netherlands as a player-coach before returning to South African shores. Upon his return he led the Lions Cubs to the CSA Cubs Week title in 2013. He then moved on to the club scene that same year with Gauteng Strikers where he won all three club competitions offered by CSA. 

After a stint as an assistant coach with the Netherlands he returned to a Lions side that had been in dismal form having finished bottom of the log in the 4 day cricket format, and fifth in the T20 and ODI’s. Nkwe would then proved his senior coaching acumen by winning both the T20 and 4 day cricket tournaments in one year for the Lions. He followed that up by leading the Jozi Stars to the Mzansi Super League title in the tournament’s inaugural year.

Nkwe was appointed interim Proteas team director

So having amassed all of three trophies in his first year of senior coaching in the country, Nkwe was deemed good enough to hold the top job in the country, while warming it up for a coach who had less qualifications and overall coaching experience than him, in Boucher. 

When asked about Nkwe’s future as an international cricket coach in an article from a newspaper publication, upon the appointment of Boucher as the new permanent head coach of the Proteas, Smith insisted Nkwe’s best chance would be from gaining international experience as an assistant coach, presumably under the guidance of Boucher.

So Nkwe who had experience in a national team set up as an assistant coach to the Ray Jennings led SA U19 side in 2011 and then at a senior level with the Netherlands, and had also been part of the coaching staff for the South Africa “A” side on their 2015 tour to India, would have to gain International experience under the tutelage of Boucher who entered the international coaching arena without any prior coaching experience at either junior or senior level before the Titans? 

Boucher’s playing experience vs Nkwe’s coaching experience, which is more important for the Proteas?

Besides his trophy haul at a Proteas-laden Titans side, it was surely his experience as an International cricket player that would’ve earned Boucher favour over Nkwe for the role as Proteas permanent coach. But while Boucher played the sport, Nkwe was slaving away, enhancing his knowledge in different countries and levels, as a holistic student of the game, ensuring that when his opportunity came he would be able to give a franchise a well rounded product.

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That is why it is no coincidence that Nkwe won three trophies in his first season as a senior coach in the country. But the appointment of Boucher in itself showed that to CSA experience as an international cricket player is more valuable then learning the game as a coach at every level, having a good track record at every level in terms of results, trophies and gaining skills of being able to work with players of different kinds and levels on a daily basis, skills Nkwe had in abundance. 

Technically, Boucher shouldn’t of even been allowed to coach at franchise level if we going by the SACricketMag criteria, and was supposed to be nowhere near the Proteas yet he has been allowed to have careers at both levels at the expense of deserving and qualified coaches, and pure students of the game such as Nkwe, who’s only sin is that he never played for Proteas, despite all he has achieved as a coach over the years. Through that controversy, Boucher was protected. 

Boucher protected through many a racial and controversial storm

Fast forward to 2020 and at the heat of the Black Lives Matter debate, Proteas legend, Makhaya Ntini shocked the country when he opened up about the shocking treatment he received in a side that consisted of the likes of Boucher and Smith. Smith released a statement of support for Ntini and the movement and in the heat of it all was seen kneeling side to side with Ntini ahead of an exhibition match. 

However, just a couple of months later Boucher announced that the Proteas would not kneel ahead of their series against England, and that they would take an alternative gesture. Despite all of the heat that particular passage brought to the Proteas brand and CSA, Boucher never came under fire for all the controversy, Smith and the CSA once again, protected Boucher who escaped unscathed after that debacle. 

The months, games, tours, series’s would roll on with the Proteas hitting some dismal form in all formats of the game, with Test victories like the one at home to Sri Lanka coming few and far between in the midst of some heavy losses for Boucher’s side.

Proteas in dismal form

In full context, Boucher made his Proteas coaching debut in a home series against England in late 2019. The Proteas lost the 4 match Test series 3-1, drew the ODI’s 1-1 and lost T20’s 2-1. His side then followed that up with a 2-1 T20 loss to Australia before a 3-0 ODI win against the same opposition. They would then go and lose a T20 series 3-0 against England. Before that 2-0 Test victory against Sri Lanka that now seemed like an anomaly. 

Pakistan placed further emphasis on that as they battered the Proteas 2-0 in the Tests, 2-1 in the first T20 round, 2-1 in ODI’s and 3-1 in the final T20’s. So all in all that meant that the Proteas had played 13 series, lost eight, drew 1 and won 2 under the tutelage of Boucher. Nkwe came under fire as inexperienced and replaced after losing a series on tour to India, with a team in transition, a team that realistically didn’t stand much of a chance under any coach.

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Nkwe, the most qualified and most inform coach in the country was not even given the home series against England as a chance to prove his international coaching acumen in more suitable conditions. Instead, Boucher who didn’t even have the qualifications to coach at a franchise level has not come under fire even once by CSA for the Proteas dismal form under his stewardship. Once again CSA Protected Boucher. 

Would another coach been afforded the opportunity to board the plane to the West Indies and Ireland in that kind of form? It seems like that question doesn’t apply when you and your superior have been appointed by virtue of playing years of international cricket for the Proteas, of course CSA will protect their legends.

Take outs from this situation

So what have we learnt from all of this information and this whole debacle? 

One: CSA are usually quick to act whenever their brand comes under threat like when they suspended former CEO Thabang Moroe after they plunged into a questionable financial position, sponsors are also quick to pull out like how Momentum and Standard Bank did for the same reasons. 

Current sponsors and coaches still intact despite everything

But the same CSA and remaining sponsors will not act when the likes of Boucher get caught under several clouds of racial controversy and poor results. But perhaps it is the public that was too ambitious for expecting the same Smith who himself didn’t come under fire from CSA for his alleged mistreatment of former Proteas wicketkeeper Thami Tsolekile, to force Boucher to tow the line with regards to his own racial controversies. 

Nkwe had reportedly stated that he was being sidelined, reasons CSA reportedly saw as alarming and tried to deal with in private but not in public. Nkwe would certainly not be undermined by Boucher and co. due to his qualifications, so if not for that then what could possibly be the reason? You know what? Don’t even answer that.

The strangest phenomena here is perhaps the fact that it is the same former teammates of Ntini that apologised for not realising that they had mistreated him and sidelined him back then. They pledged that they now know better. Boucher said that he now knows better after his ‘Brown Girl in the Ring’ incident involving Paul Adams too. 

Yet, they are the same people who are reportedly mistreating Nkwe, the most qualified, young, talented and accomplished black coach in the country, to the point that he just couldn’t do it anymore. Yet, CSA has protected Boucher and Smith through this debacle and not much is being said or done about it, despite being as high profile and alarming as it is. 

Merit and qualifications are conditional

Two: The system values qualifications and ‘merit’ only under ‘certain’ conditions and when it suits a ‘certain’ demographic. Since the quota system was introduced it has been causing debate after debate and meltdown after meltdown. A player of colour gets selected for the Proteas, his credentials are immediately examined under a bigger microscope, the same as a coach of colour. 

Nkwe was supposedly a quota appointment due to his  ‘lack of experience’ as a coach, despite having almost 10 years of experience by 2019. Boucher with three years of experience and less qualifications gets the job and all of a sudden its not your qualifications coupled with your experience and achievements as a coach that get you a permanent Proteas head coach role, but rather the amount of years you played alongside your friend who then happens to be the director that appointed you.

CSA’s protection of Boucher and appointment of both he and Smith depicts a strange phenomena within the system which constantly sees it shift the goal posts to suit a certain demographic, while another is always forced to ‘understand’. 

System is constantly shifting the goal posts

In a system that values merit and qualification Boucher and Smith do not get appointed by CSA but because they’re Proteas legends, the people who rightfully question their appointments on behalf of qualified merit candidates, have to ‘understand’. 

The notion has always been that the South African cricket and Rugby systems mirror each other. So taking that to account, we will borrow an example from the Springboks. A qualified coach like Rassie Erasmus leads the Springboks to the Rugby World Cup title, then hands over the reins to his defence coach. In context, Jacques Nienaber is a physio that was afforded the privilege to get close enough to a team to build trust as a defence coach. So now a person who has never been the head coach of any union at any union is now in position of the most coveted role in South African rugby. But due to continuity reasons we ‘understand’. 

Would the same still apply from CSA OR SARU?

That is fine, but had Pieter de Villiers won the 2011 World Cup for example, and he handed over the reins to a black member of staff who mirrors Nienaber would the majority of another demographic also ‘understand’? You know what? You don’t have to answer that.

If we bringing it back to cricket, if (hypothetical situation) CSA director of cricket Ntini appointed Ashwell Prince as Proteas coach on the basis of an illustrious Test career would a certain demographic still ‘understand’? Or if Temba Bavuma hired kagiso Rabada years from now? Would they also be protected through thick and thin by CSA? Don’t answer that either. 

In conclusion, throughout the lack of adequate qualifications, experience, racial controversy, team politics and poor results, CSA has protected Boucher, and now the question is, would CSA have protected Russel Domingo, Ottis Gibson and Nkwe through all of this too? You know what? Don’t answer that either.