Why do we get called jaapies?!?

Question

Why is there so much disrespect and hatred shown towards SA by fans? What exactly have SA done so wrong apart from wanting to win the RWC like every other team? Yet I see fans calling us jaapies which means 'backward' in afrikaans - as a South African I find this very derogatory! You don't find us Saffers being rude about the English...clearly the respect we showed Jason Robinson on the field just wasn't enough for all you xenophobic fans out there!

I wonder if everyone would be so rude about the Boks if it was a predominantly black team - no-one seems to appreciate that we're an impoverished african nation doing well in sport!

If that wasn't bad enough - ITV's commentary is disgustingly biased - Will Greenwood made no effort to hide his shameful bias towards Fiji, especially when he dismissed us out right from the semi final saying that Butch James had bought himself an extra two weeks of play with 3rd/4th place play-off! Can't you just give us a break for once?!

Answer 1

I`m am afraid you are totally wrong many Afrikaaners are the most ignorant backward people in the world, when I ran a bar in SA,  they would refer to blacks as kaffirs, very rude, this was in post apatheid days and I`m a white Englishman, with no interest in racial politics, but if a black came in sometimes they would take him outside beat c*** out of him.

If they wanted a drink it would be "Oi Ingilsman, beer" (forgive the spelling) or worse "Sawty or Salty, beer" meaning I had one foot in England and one in SA and a certain part of my anatomy in the ocean, the list was endless.

South Africans are amongst the worst losers in the world and I loved it when the British Lions came over and trounced the Boks, it would always be a day of national mourning.

The funniest story was a black English friend of mine picked some thick, pig ignorant Afrikaaner and his wife up in his taxi

from a London airport. My friend asked where they wanted to go, he replied in a that thick accent "Just drive" "Sorry I need to know where you want to go" "Just drive you F***ing Kaffir", my friend dragged him out of the taxi, beat the c*** out of him, threw his luggage in the road, left his wife in tears, him battered and bruised and their clothes all over the road..

I know it`s only some South Africans, but some even think the Boer war is still going on, and you wonder why you are called Jaapies.

Put your own house in order first.

Answer 2

This is actually really easy to answer - take a look at some of the other blogs on these sites and see how totally disrespectful the SA supporters are about just about everyone else!  Being called a Jaapie is just like being called a pom- which personally I don't particularly like sometimes - it's how it's said and who says it.  I have SA friends who call me a 'pom' and vice versa.  Anyway I'm sure you're just kidding around.... right?

Answer 3

I have never heard it only thing i can think off is back to the old apartheid days,

always like your cricket team and hansie cronier i thought was good until.

Zola budd caused a bit of a stink years ago but no sport follower that i know has any biased towards your lot.

Aussies yes at any sport. sorry take care.

Answer 4

I have no idea what  Jaapie is

Answer 5

Im from SA. I have to agree with you on this. Every single game so far in the WC the crowd and commentators have been agaisnt us. ESP the commentators. Every penalty for us is a bad decision, etc. Every one agaisnt us is  "well deserved".

Today when butch james was tackled WITHOUT the ball and the rev called it, the commentator said it was a bad call and it was a fair tackle...excuse me? How can you tackle someone without the ball? Skalk being given a 4 game suspension (then taken down to 2). For what? A yellow card would have been harsh for what he did, never mind suspension.

Answer 6

I dont know. I dont call you jaapie. I still want you out of the cup now (I am Argentine).

Answer 7

Howzit - fellow S/African here.  I totally agree with you - I'm sick of the way the world still talk about us as though we're still in the apartheid era.  Apartheid ended nearly 20 years ago - calling us racist names is equivalent to calling all Germans 'n**i's' .  Politics should never mingle with Sports, I think these broadcasting companies and fans should be given a warning on being so prejudice.

It is just ignorance - most of them have never even been to South Africa to see how fantastically all the ethnic groups get on.  Honestly, I've lived 11 years in the UK and now a year in New Zealand and I assure you, racism is very much alive and well in both these countries ,  more than I ever noticed whilst living in South Africa.

Answer 8

Being Scottish, I really don't see the problem, we accept that NZ and OZ are just showing aggression in wanting to win - no harm in that - and this can be seen in South Africans also.

I ran a bar in London with a South African - oh the witty repartee of SOME of the clients in there was nearly funny. Swaty Sock = Jock = Scot, and Kaffa etc etc for my mate.

I mean we called each other ridiculously racist names, but we were both at the coal face so it didn't matter and in general company, we dropped that for our own names. All harmless fun.

If you want biased commentary in the UK just watch a game that has England in it and sit back and cringe.

Thankfully the retired players from the sports they employ as pundits generally keep in them in reality check.

It relates back to a minority white government abusing the civil rights of the black majority, but as this is SLOWLY being rectified, we should be able to put it behind us and support the team NOT the politics. Unfortunately they will be forever entwined.

Good luck in beating Argentina, as they scraped a win against, admittedly, a lacklustre Scotland.

Answer 9

Boy from Bali.  Talk about thick and ignorant?  The disgusting back and forth insults and derogatory comments shared between the Aussies and English in this forum has been the epitome of ignorant.

The fact that you call a man being beaten up in front of his wife a "funny" story, speaks volumes to your own ignorance.

And speaking of the Boer war, wasnt that when your mighty British Empire imprisoned thousands of Boer women and children in concentration camps, reulting in many thousands of deaths?

Ignorant?  Backward?  You wear the crown well.

Answer 10

Most sensible post I've seen from Hibernia78 in weeks......

Debra, you obviously don't understand the England - Australia relationship.  I think you'll find the animosity stems from the two world wars, (you know, the ones where us Aussies & Kiwis were used as British cannon fodder, and Churchill pulled his troops out of Singapore & basically left us open to attack from the j**s).

Yes, we absolutely despise one another when it comes to sport, but that has absolutely no bearing on our personal relationships - some of my best mates are English, and I even married an English girl!!!

I work with mainly English guys in an oilfield in North Africa, I've been copping so much stick for the past couple of days. But it's all in good fun. I've handed out more than my fair share to them over the years, so I have to be prepared to cop it back......

But back to the question, I didn't know the meaning of the word jaapie - we have a SA mate back home & we've always called him that. He doesn't find it derogatory, it's just his nickname. (He's a bl00dy good flyhalf BTW....)

Answer 11

hey as a South African, I agree with you, but part of this trying to find our place somewhere under the sun, is to deal with the criticism and slander one faces, at the end of the day we are all human beings with a soul, regardless of what country or culture we are from.

I personally have had a field time ridiculing and ripping off everyone else in this WC, and what doesn't break you should make you tougher ...right? h**l I bet the Aussies and NZ will probably be in the final at the next WC, because they are going to get their act together (starting yesterday) and not repeat all this unhappiness.

So its all in good fun, be prepared to take as much as you give I guess, It isn't like we are pulling guns on each other and fighting till the bloody end, it's just a game and there is something great about being proud of your team regardless of where you are from.

Answer 12

Whiners like you give us Japies  a bad name. All you Poms (rooinekke), skippies and kiwikoppe out there, not Yarpies or Yaapies, but Japies, ok?

It is a name originally given toe Afrikaners living on the farm by English speaking South Africans. Us Japies called them (those of the English origin in SA) rooinekke ( red necks) or souties (short for soutpiele).

Rooinekke originated from the first British soldiers who soon had red necks when they  came into contact with the African sun. Souties (salties) describes one who has one foot planted in SA but the other still firmly in England, resulting in Willy hanging in the sea water.

Hey, but this is a rugby forum, isn't it? So. if the froggies don't clobber the souties in the semi, the japies will give those rooinekke a thrashing in the final.

Answer 13

Well thats the way the cookie crumbles..mm cookies