Ex-Springbok revisits Kamp Staaldraad nightmare: 'It was crazy... the soldiers even fired two bullets on the ground'
Springbok rugby was restored to the pedestal of being the best in the world last November with South Africa’s World Cup final win over England in Yokohama. The world reacted graciously, hailing a triumph where the Boks were inspirationally skippered by Siya Kolisi, their racially uniting captain.
The victory crowned them as world champions for the third time in seven tournaments, but the memory of preparing for one of their more disastrous campaigns has never left one ex-Springbok who now lives in the wilds of Costa Rica.
Now 39 years old, Joe van Niekerk earned the last of his 52 South African caps in 2010 before finishing his club career at Toulon in 2014. He has since embraced a new-age lifestyle in the Costa Rican jungle, buying a piece of land to make it into a huge organic farm.
Surviving off the land, though, provided a very different experience 17 years ago when the Springboks’ preparations for the 2003 World Cup in Australia descended into farce at a military-style boot camp that went horribly wrong, causing friction among a squad that went on to lose in the quarter-finals to New Zealand.
Asked by Midi Olympique, the bi-weekly French rugby publication, if he had ever been afraid in rugby, van Niekerk opened up about his memories of the infamous Kamp Staaldraad that was supposed to be a team bonding exercise with an emphasis on fitness.
“The federation (SA Rugby) had seen fit to group us in a military camp located near the border of Botswana. I can see some virtues in this kind of commando internship. It’s a management method like any other, after all. But here it went too far. They wanted to break us, humiliate us, scare us. I even lost four pounds in three days.
“Kamp Staaldraad, it was crazy when I think about it. We called the soldiers ‘sir’, they answered us using our service number. We had to climb nude through tunnels dug by foxes as they poured frozen water over our heads.
“As long as we were climbing, we were waiting for recordings of God Save The Queen and the Haka. It was crazy, I tell you. We also spent one night in the desert. We were all starved, so the soldiers carried boxes inside of which there were live chickens.
“I grew up in Johannesburg. I’m a little town guy. I had never killed chicken. Especially since the soldiers refused to give us a knife. So we had to kill the beasts with our own hands. I even believe that a player tore out a vein from the animal with his teeth. What a nightmare.
“If I had been a team executive at the time, I would have refused to put my team-mates at risk in this kind of exercise… one morning, when we had to stay in the very cold water of a lake, some players tried to get back to the shore. The soldiers then threatened them with their gun, even firing two bullets on the ground.
“Another afternoon, at 35 degrees, the soldiers gathered us in full sun. Derrick Hougaard raised his hand and asked, ‘Sir, may I ask you a question?’ The soldier replied: ‘Yes, number 42!’
“And Derrick to continue: ‘You wouldn’t have sunscreen?’ We all exploded with laughter and the soldiers were mad with anger. So we queued up to do push-ups while the soldiers came and went on the bridge formed by our backs.”
In the aftermath of the infamous camp, the Springboks were hit by allegations of racism following claims that Geo Cronje refused to share his room with Quinton Davids. “It was horribly disappointing,” continued van Niekerk.
“In 1995, the Springboks’ World Cup victory brought the country into the era of the Rainbow Nation. I was 15 at the time but who could have forgotten the image of Nelson Mandela wearing the No6 by François Pienaar? Who could have forgotten the streets of our cities flooded with people of all colours after the final whistle?
“After the euphoria of the title, everything fell apart a little in South Africa and this year, 2003, there was bad energy within the group, a real separation between the black and white of the team. I found it inhuman. My mother didn’t raise me that way.”
Comments on RugbyPass
After their 5/0 start, I had the Crusaders to finish Top 4 only…they lost the plot in Perth but will reload and back themselves vs 4th placed Rebels…
3 Go to commentsBoth nations missed a great opportunity to book a game that would have had a lot of interest from around the world. I understand these games can’t be organised in 5 minutes but they should have found a way to make it happen. I don’t think Wales are ducking anyone but it’s a bad look haha.
3 Go to commentsIt will be fascinating to see the effect that Jo Yapp has. If they can compete with Canada and give BFs a run for their money that will be progress
1 Go to commentsFollowing his dream and putting in the work. Go well young fella!
3 Go to commentsPerhaps filling Twickenham is one of Mitchell’s KPIs. I doubt whether both September matches will be at Twickenham on consecutive weekends. I would take the BF one to a large provincial stadium so as not to give them the advantage and experience of playing at Twickenham before a large crowd prior to the RWC.
2 Go to commentsvery unfortunate for Kitshoff, but big opportunity potentially for Nché to prove he is genuinely the best loosehead in the world, rather than just a specialist finisher. Presuming that if Kitshoff is out, it will also give Steenekamp a chance to come into the 23? Or are others likely to be ahead of him?
1 Go to commentsA long held question in popular culture asks if art imitates life or does the latter influence the former? Over this 6 nations I can ask the same question of the media influencing the thoughts of its audience or vice versa. Nobody wants to see cricket scores in rugby, as a spectacle it is not sustainable. With so many articles about England’s procession and lack of competition it feeds the epicaricacy of many looking for an opportunity to pounce. England are not the first team to dominate nor does it happen only in rugby, think Federer, Nadal, Red Bull or Mercedes, Manchester Utd, Australia in tests and World Cups. Instead of celebrating the achievements why find reasons to falsify it pointing towards larger playing pool, professional for a longer period or mitigate with the lack of growth in other nations. Can we not enjoy it while it is here and know that it won’t last for ever, others coveting what England have will soon take the crown, ask the aforementioned?
6 Go to commentsShame he won’t turn out for the Netherlands now they’re improving. U20s are Euro champs and in the U20 Trophy this year. The senior sides gets better every year too.
3 Go to commentsWill rugbypass tv be showing these games?
1 Go to commentsWell where do you start, the fact that England have a professional domestic league and Ireland’s is fully amatuer, that they have fully seperated professional squads at Fifteens and Sevens (7’s thinly disguised as GB), and Ireland have fully pro Sevens squad who loan some players back to the Semi-Professional Fifteens squad (moved from amateur for only a year or so) for a few games at 6N & RWC’s. The Women’s games is a shambles, and is at risk of killing itself by pushing for professionalism when the market isn’t really there to support it outside one or two countnries..
6 Go to commentsWayne Smith's input didn't have as much impact on the last final as Davison's red card for Thompson. England were 14 points up and flying when that happened.
6 Go to commentsBilly's been playing consistently well for 2 - 3 seasons now and deserves a look in at the top level. Ioane and ALB are still first choice but there needs to be injury cover and succession. His partnership with Jordie gives him first dibs you'd think. Go the Hurricanes.
3 Go to commentsIt’s not up to Wales to support Georgian Rugby. That’s up to International Rugby and Georgia. I sympathise with Georgia’s decent attempt to create this fixture. But for Wales the proposed match up is just a potential stick to beat them with and a potential big psychological blow that young Welsh team doesn’t need. (I’m Irish BTW.)
3 Go to commentsCale certainly looks great in space, but as you say, he has struggled in contact. At 23 years old, turning 24 this year, he should be close to full physical maturity and yet there exists a considerable gap in the power and physicality required for international rugby. Weight doesn’t automatically equate to power and physicality either. Can he go from a player who’s being physically dominated in Super rugby to physically dominating in international rugby in 1 or 2 years? That’s a big ask but he may end up being a late bloomer.
31 Go to commentsIf rugby wants to remain interesting in the AI era then it will need to work on changing the rules. AI will reduce the tactical advantage of smart game plans, will neutralize primary attacking weapons, and will move rugby from a being a game of inches to a game of millimetres. It will be about sheer athleticism and technique,about avoiding mistakes, and about referees. Many fans will find that boring. The answer is to add creative degrees of freedom to the game. The 50-22 is an example. But we can have fun inventing others, like the right to add more players for X minutes per game, or the equivalent of the 2-point conversion in American football, the ability to call a 12-player scrum, etc. Not saying these are great ideas, but making the point that the more of these alternatives you allow, the less AI will be able to lock down high-probability strategies. This is not because AI does not have the compute power, but because it has more choices and has less data, or less-specific data. That will take time and debate, but big, positive and immediate impact could be in the area of ref/TMO assistance. The technology is easily good enough today to detect forward passes, not-straight lineouts, offside at breakdown/scrum/lineout, obstruction, early/late tackles, and a lot of other things. WR should be ultra aggressive in doing this, as it will really help in an area in which the game is really struggling. In the long run there needs to be substantial creativity applied to the rules. Without that AI (along with all of the pro innovations) will turn rugby into a bash fest.
24 Go to commentsSouth Africa rarely play Ireland and France on these tours. Mostly, England, Scotland and Wales. I wonder why
2 Go to commentsIt was a let’s-see-what-you're-made-of type of a game. The Bulls do look good when the opposition allows them to, but Munster shut them down, and they could not find a way through. Jake should be very worried about their chances in the competition.
2 Go to commentsHats off to Fabian for a very impressive journey to date. Is it as ‘uniquely unlikely’ as Rugby Pass suggests, given Anton Segner’s journey at the Blues?
3 Go to commentsSad that this was not confirmed. When administrators talk about expanding the game they evidently don’t include pathways to the top tier of rugby for teams outside of the old boys club. Rugby deserves better, and certainly Georgia does.
3 Go to commentsLions might take him on if they move on Van Rooyen but I doubt he will want to go back, might consider it a step backwards for himself. Sharks would take him on but if Plumtree goes on to win the challenge cup they will keep him on. Also sharks showing some promising signs recently. Stormers and Bulls are stable and Springboks are already filled up. Quality coach though, interesting to see where he ends up
1 Go to comments