Black pupil turned away from trials

A 17-year-old Wagpos Hoërskool, Brits, pupil claims she was turned away from hockey trials in Rustenburg because she was black.

Rego Modise, a Grade 11 pupil at the North West school, said she persuaded her parents to drive her to Hoërskool Grenswag for Bokkie Week trials after being given approval by her coach.

All seemed well when she was allowed to register after producing her birth certificate and paying a R30 fee. But everything changed when she and two white pupils later met coach Louis Koen, who inquired who had sent them.

Modise said yesterday: "I told him I was sent by my coach. He then asked me: 'Didn't they tell you anything else?' and I said no. Then he told me that Bokkie Week was for white kids only."

Neither Koen nor Wagpos principal Daan Neethling could be reached for comment yesterday.

Modise said she felt "humiliated" because her coach had given her the go-ahead despite there being an apparent brief sent to schools.

The Rev Peter Stans, CEO of Afrikaner Volskeie Sport, the organisers of the Bokkie Week, said Modise had "definitely" not been invited for trials.

"We work exclusively by invitation only," said Stans.

He said the week was for "Afrikaner" children only.

But Modise's school has distanced itself from Koen's statement.

Modise said: "I'm the only black girl in either our first and second teams. I only joined Wagpos last year, and I love playing hockey, even though I had never played it until I moved there."

Stans admitted no player of a different race had ever attended Bokkie Week, saying: "We're not against anybody, we are [of Afrikaner descent]," he said.

The family yesterday said they were considering their options.

Asked how she thought the South African women's hockey team would do at the London Olympics, Modise said: "I'll be watching the Olympics. I know Australia will win, but I'm holding thumbs for RSA."

• Modise's parents gave permission for her name to be used.