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Bongi Mbonambi labels 'first world' England 'unprofessional' after racism saga
By Josh Raisey
South Africa hooker Bongi Mbonambi has called the England team “unprofessional” for their allegation that he used discriminatory language towards Tom Curry at the World Cup.
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In one of the most notorious sagas of the entire tournament, the Springboks star was part of a World Rugby investigation after the England flanker believed he was racially abused by him during the semi-final.
World Rugby closed the investigation before the final saying there was “insufficient evidence”, allowing Mbonambi to play in the 12-11 victory over the All Blacks, although he only lasted a matter of minutes before going off with a knee injury.
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Speaking to BBC Sport Africa recently, the 32-year-old denied racially swearing and instead said that he was speaking Afrikaans, before labelling England as “unprofessional” for assuming the Springboks would speak English.
“I think it is a very sad thing when you live in a first world country, you think the rest of the world speaks English,” the two-time World Cup winner said.
“It was unprofessional on their part. They could have gone on a website and looked for an English dictionary and looked for the word in Afrikaans.
“People understood [in South Africa] but obviously their side was misunderstood.
“I’m glad it was well taken care of [by World Rugby] and that is all in the past now.
“But I have never racially swore at him.”
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While Mbonambi has defended himself here and criticised England, World Rugby did stress after their review that Curry, who has since been subjected to death threats online, made the allegation in “good faith”.
The statement said: “It is important to note that World Rugby accepts that Tom Curry made the allegations in good faith and that there is no suggestion that the allegation was deliberately false or malicious.”
“World Rugby is also concerned by the social media abuse that both players have been subjected to this week. There is no place in rugby or society for discrimination, abuse or hate speech, and World Rugby urges fans to embrace the sport’s values of respect, integrity and solidarity.”
This in lies the problem with pompous RFU and pompous Curry. At no point was there any attempt clarify the situation after the game. Both have tried to milk they this for everything it’s worth.
Clearly Bongi wasn’t directing those words at him. But he heard what he thought he heard and tried to milk the referee for an advantage in the game.
The RFU on its side could have also accepted World Rugby investigation. Instead they jumped onto the bandwagon of Tom Curry themselves without doing even the most rudimentary checks to see what is plausible.
I just find the whole situation very ironic. Dont get me wrong, I’m 100% against racism and unfortunately having it directed to me multiple times in my life. On all the occasions it was directed at me it was never about the words, rather an attempt of power (letting me know my place). I just find it incredible hard to find how Curry was harmed in this situation, other than his own actions. Here we have by all accounts a white bloke who plays for one of the wealthiest unions and comes from a country who has a history of colonising half the world feeling threatened by the words he thought he heard from a black bloke you grew up disadvantaged and from a country which was negatively impacted from colonialism. Think Tom Curry needs a lesson in racism, and perhaps he can stop over the natural history museum and see the many artifacts they have parade out from round the world and ask them how it has come about that they rest in that place.
The Afrikaner community in South Africa were doubling over with laughter when this broke.
Ofcourse they love and backed Bongi to the hilt.
In the end he was on the ‘wen kant’, the winning side, the most important kant of all.
As an England fan, I do think Curry should apologise. But the “first world” comment seems a bit unnecessary.
Is it really that hard to believe that someone who doesn’t speak Afrikaans (and has no reason to) could easily interpret the words “wit kant” the way Curry did? Especially when you add the intensity of the moment and 70,000 fans yelling into it?
Even if Curry made the accusation in good faith (or shal we call it English ignorance), then he should have the decency to apologise as loudly as he did when he accused Bongi in the first place.
Heal up Bongi. Time to open up the hurt locker for England next time
I’m very disappointed by the reaction to this incident, especially from World Rugby.
I hope we are all agreed that - regardless of what was actually said - the language that Curry reported hearing is not something we want on a rugby pitch, especially not in one of the highest profile matches in the sport’s showpiece event? That such language is likely to deter supporters at a time when rugby needs all the support it can get?
That being the case, it’s important that World Rugby takes such allegations seriously and investigates them properly. Which it failed to do.
It’s also important to note that Mbonambi categorically isn’t denying saying something that Curry could have heard as a racial slur. Instead, he has said that he made a tactical call in Afrikaans - and is now criticising Curry for assuming it was in English.
But Mbonambi isn’t a native Afrikaans speaker, as far as I know. He hails from the Free State, which is the province with the lowest proportion of Afrikaans speakers.
And while the Springboks are known for making some of their calls in Afrikaans, they’re also all fluent in English.
Even if the call was as Mbonambi claims, it’s pretty disingenuous to think that the Boks had no inkling what a call like that would sound like to a native English speaker who doesn’t speak Afrikaans - and what effect it might have on them. Or what effect it might have on a largely English-speaking global audience had it been picked up on a mic.
What’s more, the RFU has released audio of a very similar altercation from an earlier game, which doesn’t sound like an innocent tactical call that’s been misinterpreted.
Overall, there’s more than enough there that it should at least have been properly investigated rather than brushed under the carpet.
Imagine if the situation had been the other way round, and WR had declined to act while English players and fans mocked Mbonambi. Would that have been acceptable? If not, why is this situation OK?
The Free State has the lowest proportion of Afrikaans speakers?
Good grief.
Dude, rather keep quiet. Your comment comes across like the English know little about other countries. SA has 12 official languages (sign language 12th). The most spoken language in free state is NOT English. Stop shoving English on our faces. It’s not our fault most countries that were represented at RWC speak more than one language. In fact, mostly multilingual. It’s also not our fault England can only speak and understand English. Don’t force the rest of the world to bow down to what English fans see as fit…that is essentially a colonial mentality.
You’re right that racism allegations should be taken seriously, and if the shoe were on the other foot it might have been a different situation but even then you would want evidence before they throw Curry under the bus if he was the one accused of racism, No? If Curry was accused of racism you would want him to have a fair trial with evidence and not a trial by social media? Just think about this for a second. You have hundreds of cameras pointed in all directions on the field covering every square meter plus the thousands of phones pointed at the field. When WR is saying they can’t find evidence that’s serious. You wouldn’t need audio either. As the accusation is apparently something said to Curry off the ball. Ask yourself if there has been just one picture from a cellphone of Bongi talking to Curry? Just One? To not find evidence is not a cop out it’s an indictment on Curry.
The real problem is that racism is a real problem and this whole incident makes real victims look like whiners. When there is a legitimate incident in a game the first thing people will think of is whether or not this is just like that one time Curry misheard something on the field
This comment just highlights exactly what Bongi was criticising. The English have no comprehension of a country where English is not the first language. Instead you Google random facts about a country and make ignorant conclusions. This post is honestly embarrassing.
“A largely-English speaking global audience??” You do know that 14 out of the 20 countries that competed in the RWC don’t have English as a first language. Are you honestly suggesting they must all look at the calls they make in their native languages in the chances they remotely sound like a swear word in English?? Seriously, while you’re busy googling the language distributions in South Africa try doing that for the entire world. You’re in for a shock.
I watched the SAvsFRA game with a bunch of Frenchman. They say in their native language (which isn’t English; shocker) “push” whenever there’s a scrum which to us in South Africa sounds ironically like what Curry was accusing Bongi of saying but in Afrikaans. Do I freak out and tell them they should know cause they’ve been in our country (SA) for so long and they’re the evil scum of the world. No I do what normal people do exposed to more than one language (or just a normal human that doesn’t wish for days when they’re country ruled the entire planet), I extend charity and even have a good laugh at the unfortunate linguistic coincidence.
Mate rather not make points where dont know much about the actual subject. Sotho is the most widely spoken language, followed by Afrikaans, and most people living in the area of the Free State will have some understanding of either language.
its pretty simple. 1st your facts are all wrong about Bongi and afrikaans 2nd they didnt find evidence
Just about everything in this post is wrong firstly Afrikaans is the second most spoke language in the free state and the most used outside of the rural areas secondly your arguing wether the springboks would be making calls in Afrikaans when all you have to do is listen to the match audio where you hear them doing it in Afrikaans. Thirdly your argument that because the springboks are fluent in English they should make it in the language your most comfortable with is absurd and finally the springvoks wouldn't make the association between the curse and their calls because c*nt isn't a common south African curse word and listening to the audio they're not even saying wit as in the colour white they're saying wyd as in wide/open side so why would they think someone would assume it's a shirt colour? Also the English audio has him saying wyd kant not wit kant just like the one on social media. What hurt the game most is that curry chose to make the accusations publicly into the refs mic during a game rather than following official channels where this whole public episode would have been avoided
Not nitpicking but Afrikaans is the 2nd most spoken 1st language in the Free State (after Sotho) and the most spoken 2nd language. English is the least spoken 1st language.
Unfortunately, there is no other Afrikaans word for “side” apart from “kant”.
I am calling BS on Bongi.
what is wrong with calling people white cunts?
Lots to unpack here. Free state is very Afrikaans. Most South Africans can speak more than one language. He went to an English private school in Pretoria and would have had Afrikaans lessons every day of his life. It was investigated but there was no evidence, no one else heard it. And lastly they can’t use a word in one of the official languages in South Africa because it might confuse English speakers? It’s like saying kiwis shouldn’t say the word deck
You clearly don’t know much. Nothing we love more in SA than when ignorant English and other entitled northerners try and explain our own culture to us 🙃🤡
“ He hails from the Free State, which is the province with the lowest proportion of Afrikaans speakers “
😂
Edit: Let me give you a respectful honest answer rather than a mocking emoji.
Free state is the “Vry Staat” and is the most Afrikaans area you’ll ever find in SA. Bongi would have a first language of either Sepedi or Zulu (guessing by his name) but born in Bethlehem and going to school in Afrikaans until he went to a private high school.
Wit Kant, Groen Kant, Onkant, wyd kant, blinde kant, oop kant, etc etc. Are all very generic rugby terms, not special calls. In SA the ref would call “Wit Kant” or “Swart kant” or whatever color to identify teams. Since kant means side… you can imagine how often it’s used in rugby.
anyway World Rugby investigated, it was dealt with, all was happy, but the timing was poor and it was dragged out longer than it needed to by the RFU.
I do find it strange that if there was a previous instance, that RFU decided not to step in then but told curry to mention it to a ref mid game… what was the ref going to do? Even if it was the other way around, stop the game and investigate?
And yes, if it was the other way around it would cause more of an uproar… racism is funny like that. Theres a history and context around it and where it hurts more.
Big fails for the English RFU on their statement and Curry - you’re a distraction at best
Curry was being cynical - trying to gain an advantage: by doing so he dragged an innocent man down and tarnished the final build up. What’s worse was the RFUs response. Bongi was the victim - glad he’s spoke up. Regardless this was blow up by the toxic British press.
Rest of World just don’t like when a third world country, with less resources, pitches up and steals the show. Agree that Curry made the allegation in good faith, but everything that has transpired since is just ridiculous and embarrassing to both England Rugby and the game in general.
SA is not a third world rugby nation. They are the second best rugby nation in the world.
Kinda sad that a world-class rugby player would go whining to the ref because an opponent insulted him. What was Curry actually trying to achieve?
5 more minutes of relevance