Enforcing quotas in sport is a lazy solution

Enforcing quotas in sport might have seemed like a good idea at first, but it clearly doesn’t work, so it’s no surprise to discover that most South Africans don’t agree with the concept at topflight level.

- Wesley Botton

In a poll released this week by the Institute of Race Relations, it was found that 92% of people believed national sport teams should be selected on merit.

It’s a bit of a silly poll to be taking in 2025 because the government abolished its quota system years ago and no national teams enforce quotas anymore.

But national federations are still expected to aim for targets, and in order to achieve this, some sports are still enforcing quotas at domestic level, including cricket and netball.

Based on the demographics of the national cricket and netball teams, however, this system is clearly not working. And that's no surprise. It's a lazy approach and it doesn't solve anything.