Former Proteas U19 captain, David Teeger, has been absolved of captaincy duties by Cricket South Africa at the helm of the U19 World Cup. The governing body cited the need to prevent conflict and violence during the upcoming mega-event, which is set to be hosted in South Africa, behind this sudden decision. Teeger threw his support behind the Israeli soldiers in October last year, following which he faced a lot of criticism.
South Africa has long been a strong ally of Palestine against Israel’s occupation. In 2022, the African parliament called for declaring Israel an ‘Apartheid state’. In what was a historic move, the country just recently took Israel to the International Court of Justice for committing genocidal crimes against the people in Gaza.
What remarks did Teeger make?
The young cricketer had been under the radar of criticism ever since he publicly backed Israeli soldiers. Teeger, who won the ‘Rising Star Award’ at the ABSA Jewish Achiever Awards ceremony, dedicated it to the Israeli soldiers in his acceptance speech.
“But more importantly, yes, I’ve been awarded this award, and yes, I am now the rising star, but the true rising stars are the young soldiers in Israel… So I’d like to dedicate this award to the South African family that married off one son while the other is still missing. And I’d like to dedicate it to the state of Israel and to every single soldier fighting so that we can live and thrive in the diaspora.”
Following the aforementioned remarks, the Palestinian Solidarity Alliance (PSA) submitted a complaint to the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee, against David, maintaining that the remarks of the then Proteas U19 captain opposed the country’s stance on the Palestinian issue. This led the South African Cricket Board to initiate an independent panel investigation against him.
“We want Teeger to be suspended from representing the Gauteng Lions and from representing the South African under-nineteen cricket team at the World Cup in Sri Lanka,” the PSA mentioned in the complaint
Although he was cleared of any ‘detrimental conduct’ later on by the panel, he remained suspended from the team for the duration of the inquisition. The decision, however, did not silence the pro-Palestine protestors across South Africa, who kept on calling for his suspension from the team altogether.
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CSA sacks Proteas U19 captain to avoid conflict
Cricket South Africa (CSA) has stated that the decision was made in light of anticipated potential threats and risks during the upcoming mega-event. At the New Year test match between South Africa and India in Cape Town, many pro-Palestinian supporters called for the removal of Teeger as the captain of the age-group cricket team.
With the World Cup slated to be played in the African country, an escalation in such incidents is clearly on the cards. And so would have been the probability of conflict, had the decision not been taken for the All-rounder to step down.
“We have also been advised that they are likely to focus on the position of the SA Under-19 captain, David Teeger, and that there is a risk that they could result in conflict or even violence, including between rival groups of protestors.”
David will continue to play in the team for the Proteas and his replacement as a captain is expected to be announced soon. It merits mention here that the Under-19 World Cup will commence on the 19th of January in Potchefstroom.
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