Several players, including Paul Adams, referred to Mark Boucher as “wit n**i” in the Proteas change room two decades ago.
This is according to several sources who spoke to Rapport newspaper.
“Wit n**i” translates into “white c**t” or “white f**k” in English.
Boucher, now the Proteas head coach, has been charged with “gross misconduct” by CSA following allegations of racism made against him by former teammate Adams during last year’s Social Justice and Nation-Building (SJN) hearings.
“I was called ‘brown s**t’ when I was playing,” Adams said. “It often used to be a song when we won a game and we were in fines’ meetings. They would sing, ‘brown s**t in the ring, tra la la la laa'”.
The 45-year-old Boucher will appear before a disciplinary hearing from 16-20 May.
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Five former Proteas players and one former Proteas coach told Rapport that nicknames with racial undertones were part of the team culture in those years.
“Mark has a whole arsenal of facts about Paul: What his nicknames were for Mark and what Paul called the other players,” said one source.
One of the former players said “brown sh**t” and “wit n**i” were used by other players too, and not just Boucher and Adams, while black and white players called Adams a “brown sh * t”.
“It was all joking and as far as I can remember, no one was upset at the time,” said the player.
Boucher has apologised for the role he played by “singing offensive songs with my teammates or using offensive nicknames” but strongly denies that he came up with the nickname “brown sh * t” or invented the song.
