Many felt that Markgraaff had been insensitive in his selection of Tromp.Later that year, the Boks played a match against Australia in Bloemfontein. He and his father had recently been convicted of manslaughter Their crime? They beat a farmworker to death. In the apartheid days, Afrikaners unashamedly used rugby as the ultimate symbol of their superiority. And there has been mounting evidence since 1995 that attitudes have not changed.Less than a year after the World Cup victory, controversy raged when Springbok coach Andre Markgraaff selected one Henry Tromp.
Sadly, his views on race seem to be from a similar time period.And as he trooped out of the camp, South African rugby authorities began a vain attempt to put out the fire They have no chance Red Adair would have no chance damping this blaze The South African people have had enough. Cronje was unceremoniously ejected from the Springbok camp and he will take on instant pariah status in South Africa and international rugby.The 6ft 6in 19st Cronje has an anachronistic appearance; he sports a ragged, bushy red beard that gives him the look of a Boer War general. Cronje told teammates he did not wish to share ablution facilities with him. "This is the dawn of a new era for all South Africans," he added.How was wrong. That much celebrated dawn vanished almost as soon as the words were out of his mouth. A series of racist rugby incidents has slowly but surely whittled away at that goodwill, and yesterday the last vestiges of conciliation disappeared when the most blatantly racist incident so far rocked the pre-Rugby World Cup Springbok training camp in Pretoria.Geo Cronje, a towering giant of a man, refused to share a room with a black player, Quinton Davids. In South African history, few images have told a story better than that of President Nelson Mandela celebrating South Africa's 1995 Rugby World Cup final victory with the victorious captain Francois Pienaar.
Ahmed escaped unhurt, but his driver was in critical condition in the Tikrit hospital... Of those, 67 died in combat since 1 May, when President George Bush declared an end to major combat operations in Iraq.Attackers sprayed Tikrit police chief Talab Shamel Ahmed's convoy with bullets as it travelled on the main highway between Samara and Tikrit, 120 miles north of Baghdad. One of the wounded soldiers will need to have a leg amputated, said Captain David Nelson from the 4th Infantry Division's 2nd Brigade.The death raised the number of American soldiers killed in Iraq to 282. He also is one of three top Shiite leaders threatened with death by a rival Shiite cleric shortly after Saddam Hussein was toppled 9 April.Shiites make up some 60 percent of Iraq's 24 million population Earlier, an American soldier was killed and four others wounded in an ambush north of Baghdad, and the police chief in Saddam's hometown of Tikrit narrowly escaped an assassination attempt, the US military said.Insurgents fired three rocket-propelled grenades at a support convoy on a main road north-east of Baqouba.The soldiers were also hit by small arms fire. The cleric suffered only minor injuries.A gas cylinder was placed along the outside wall of the home of Mohammed Saeed al-Hakim in Najaf It exploded just after noon prayers. Mohammed Saeed al-Hakim is related to the ayatollah who was killed in Friday's attack.The Al-Hakims are one of the most influential families in the Shiite community in Iraq.Iraqi newspapers reported two weeks ago that the Mohammed Saeed al-Hakim had received threats against his life.
