Jake White - In Black and White

Coach of the Springboks is one of the most, if not the most, political sporting job available. Jake White’s autobiography is an insight into the trials and tribulations of leading the national team, where coaching often takes a backseat to ethnic, political and business issues.

White tells of his upbringing, a non-existent father, and a long distance relationship with his mother, mainly through sport. A keen cricketer and rugby player, he realised he would never turn out to be a top player, so concentrated on coaching to compliment his teaching profession. From the offset, White’s self-confidence (borderline arrogance) is prominent, informing the reader in no uncertain terms that he transformed Jeppe High School into one of the strongest school teams in Jo’burg and Pretoria.

After successful schools campaigns, he decided to leave the teaching profession to become a successful car salesman (naturally, the best in the company), but all the while kept coaching part-time. White then got a break by the South African Union, a coaching role that involved travelling around different regions, giving seminars, training sessions etc. After his stock grew, Nick Mallett took him on as part of his management team in 1997, and while he was part of the set-up as the Springboks broke the record for most consecutive test unbeaten the following year (15 tests), after clashing with Malletts assistant, he was let-go before the World Cup. He later coached the Springbok U-19s, and led the U-21’s to a World Cup victory over the All Blacks in 2002. Some of the players featuring for the two teams included Jean de Villiers, Fourie du Preez, Ricky Januarie, Schalk Burger, Dan Carter, Joe Rokocoko, Jimmy Cowan, Tony Woodcock, even Sam Tuitopou.

In 2004 he took over the senior team, after a poor World Cup the previous year, and South African rugby in a “bad place”. He makes reference to Kamp Staaldrad, a boot camp that took place prior to the World Cup, which caused uproar in South Africa. This was meant to be a “team building” exercise, but some of the activities were highly criticised. Players were made crawl naked on gravel, ordered into foxholes naked and told to sing the national anthem while ice cold water was poured on their heads, and also made spend a night in the bush, where they killed and cooked chickens, but not allowed eat them. White brought the team together, and played Ireland in his first match, the 1^st of the 2 tests they won. They won the Tri Nations that year as well as Team of the Year, with White picking up Coach of the Year, Schalk Burger Player of the Year.

One feature of the book is White’s constant “me against the world” attitude. He cites the media as constantly writing his team, his tactics etc off, and feels almost as if there is a witch hunt against him. The South African Rugby Board come in for high levels of criticism, and you get the sense that there is a lot of information which he may not want to put in the book. One unsavoury incident was how the board advertised the coaching position a month before the World Cup final, which put his assistant in the awkward position of applying during the last two weeks of the tournament.

White highlights the quota system, or “transformation” as he refers to it. In keeping with the unique position South Africa now finds itself, White has to send on all squad selections to the board to approve of, and there are cases where they get involved to make changes. He has found himself in no-win situations. For example, during the 2007 season, leading up to the World Cup, he was under increasing pressure by the board to pick more black players, but as he pointed out, there were less black players in the 2007 Super 14 season than any other previous year, making selection very difficult.

White’s constant berating of the media and board aside, the book is a good read into both a complex rugby environment, but also the mindset of a World Cup winning coach, and how he grew from senior management assistant, to the U-19s, U-21’s and then success with the senior Boks. It throws up many insights, such as turning down the Munster role before becoming Bok coach, that Os du Randt cries like a baby, that Schalk Burger is misunderstood and that he was going to select a player for a squad, Luke Watson, who he didn’t rate, because he was put under political pressure to do so.

Since the book was published, White has continued his criticism of the South African Rugby Union, believing that they should have appointed his assistant Allister Coeetze instead of De Villiers. Indeed De Villiers has come in for strong comments, though that is hardly unique. White has just recently become head coach of the ACT Brumbies for the forthcoming Super 15 Season.

Steve Claridge - The Pundit with More Clubs Than a Golfer

Steve Claridge is far removed from the showbiz lifestyle of Premiership footballers. The 45 year old BBC radio and television pundit finished playing his hometown club, non-league Weymouth two years ago, in a career that spanned 26 years and 21 clubs. Claridge’s story was first captured in his book, “Tales From The Boot Camps” in 1997, when he was in the midst of his only two seasons in the Premier League. Though the book is dated, it is a great insight into the life of lower league football, and the trials and tribulations associated with it.

Claridge’s gambling problem is evident throughout the book, where initially he justifies his spending for a large part of his career, before finally admitting to his problem. He estimates that he has lost over £300,000 in his career. It is far from doom and gloom however, and his chirpy nature is perfectly illustrated in a match he played for Portsmouth against Port Vale. Portsmouth conceded a penalty, and Claridge offers the Port Vale penalty taker, Tommy Widdrington, ½ on scoring the spot kick just before the run up. He has a constant battle to keep penalty points within the legal limits (in 2008 he was given a six month suspended jail  sentence for dangerous driving), and his time keeping is a problem according to every contributer to the book.

Claridge is almost at pains to prove to the reader he is more than “workmanlike” and a “team player”, and all the other similar buzz words that give the allude to a lack of skill and quality. It is very similar in that regard to Jamie Carragher’s book, where he feel’s he has also been pigeon-holed and not given the credit he deserves. It is somewhat ironic that Claridge throughout the book is noted for being late, having old gear bags, wearing odd pairs of boots, socks rolled down etc, yet he fails to appreciate why some of his peers and critics never gave him the credit he deserved.

The highlights in his career came with the winning goal in the Championship Play-Off Final in extra time against Crystal Palace in 1996, and the following year in the Coca-Cola Cup Final win over  Middlesborough. This would be as good as it got at the highest level, and in his only full proper season in the top-flight, he took great pride in being the top uncapped goalscorer in the league. Claridge recollects a win over  United team in the Coca-Cola Cup, which included Paul Scholes missing a penalty, and noting at Wolves, that even as a 17 year old Robbie Keane was a cut above the rest of the squad.

While now dated, the book is still highlights the lack of glamour below top-flight soccer. It shows the financial perils players can find themselves in, and the constant battle with boards for contracts. He notes in the book that when Birmingham City were taken over by David Sullivan and David Gold in the 90’s, even though they enjoyed more success, promotion form the Second Division, and appearances in the Auto Windscreen Shields, the club were tight with the purse strings. With Karren Brady at the helm, if they were staying for two nights in London, the club would pay for accommodation for the first night, while the players had to pay for the second night. The book is a good read, and is a reminder of football pre Twitter and extremely lavish lifestyles.