Tobias thrilled

Press, 27 May 1981, Page 1

Tobias thrilled

NZPA Johannesburg Errol Tobias, the first mixed-race rugby player to be chosen to represent South Africa in an international match, said yesterday that his selection meant a lot “for the whole Coloured community.” Tobias, who toured South America with the Springboks last year, but did not play in either test, was a surprise choice at centre for Saturday’s match against the visiting Irish at Cape Town’s Newlands groiind. “I thought it was a practical joke,” said Tobias, aged 30, of his reaction when he heard the ne./s. “I got a call at 1.30 on Sunday morning and I couldn’t believe it.” “I never dreamed I had

a chance. I thought the selectors might choose me as a reserve. That would have been an honour in itself.”

’ obias, whose wife is expecting their second child, said his family was very proud. “It means a lot to us, but not just for ourselves — for the whole Coloured community.” “I still much prefer flyhalf, but I play centre for my club so the position isn’t foreign to me,’’ said Tobias, who regularly plays for the Boland side. There is a great deal of resistance to integrated sport in this white-minor-ity-ruled country, where racial segregation has been rigorously enforced for 30 years. High schools in the

capital city of Pretoria, for example, allow their athletes to compete against mixed-race teams of other schools provided the non-white members are the children of diplomats.

In Cape Town, the Irish team manager, Mr Paddy Madigan, yesterday said he had been impressed at the “wonderful strides made in multi-racial rugby” but appealed to South Africa to accelerate integrated rugby in the schools.

Mr Madigan said the Irish were delighted at the hospitality shown them in South Africa, and said he believed the “world at large is unaware of what you are doing in this direction (multi-racial rugby).”