Rassie is ours, all of ours!

Even the rugby unions who can't stand him, would not blink an eye if they could have him as their coach

- Donovan E Williams

Generally the values of amateurism signify a love or passion for a sport or discipline as opposed to professionalism, which is mainly about monetary reward or commercial appeal. Amateur sports is understood as that which allows all to participate, not just the elite. So you would be forgiven for believing that Rugby Union, one of the world's premier sports and among the last to allow professionalism, would have its amateur ethos being about ensuring all can participate and is rooted in working class values. But the opposite is true.

Rugby, despite looking like a sport of ruffians and good-for-nothings, is deeply rooted in bourgeois and elitist society. It was not a sport of the poor and working class masses.

The Rugby World Cup trophy is named after William Webb Ellis. In the UK everything is owned by the reigning king or queen, therefore the word public or publicly-owned is that which is not owned by the royal monarch. So unlike South Africa, where a public school would mean government-owned, in the UK, when they say public school, it really means private school.

Ellis attended Rugby School, which was an English upper-crust public school that only the rich and their children could afford.

The legend goes that one day while participating in an inter-school football match, Ellis decided to pick up the ball with his hands and run with it. By doing that 'revolutionary' act, the game of Rugby Union was born.

Ellis and his friends met later and devised a set of rules to govern their sport. It is my contention though that this was not a revolutionary act, but one born out of frustration. Football is a working class sport and has always been dominated by the poor.