- Mark Boucher has apologised for the role he played in Paul Adams being called "Brown s***" during his playing days.
- Boucher submitted a 14-page affidavit to Cricket SA's SJN hearings committee.
- Boucher pointed to the team culture at the time and that players were "naive" and not equipped to deal with certain situations.
Proteas head coach Mark Boucher has submitted a statement to Cricket South Africa's (CSA) Social Justice and Nation Building (SJN) hearings, responding to allegations of racism levelled at him during his playing days.
Giving testimony at the hearings last month, former Proteas spinner Paul Adams revealed that he had been called "brown s***" by Boucher and his team-mates at fines meetings during his career.
In a statement released on Monday, Boucher said his enclosed 14-page affidavit documented enclosed his "sincere apology for any real and perceived inappropriate behaviour by me".
"I have listened to the hurt some of my team-mates felt, the feeling of exclusion and some totally unacceptable and inappropriate examples of alleged racism that they endured," Boucher wrote.
Boucher said he would submit a supplementary affidavit in "due course" in which he would "deal with the specific allegations made against me".
Boucher requested that his follow-up submission be kept confidential so as not to become a "disparaging mud-slinging match which will inevitably detract from the objectives of the SJN".
He also asked to be given the opportunity to engage "one-on-one" with any ex-team-mates who he had offended.
In this initial submission, Boucher addressed the Adams situation.
He said that numerous players of all races were given nicknames that had racial connotations and that he, too, was given a nickname based on the colour of his skin.
While he denied giving Adams the nickname "Brown s***", Boucher acknowledged that a lot of what happened in those fines meetings was inappropriate.
"I do not recall which 'songs master' initiated the song referred to by Mr. Adams, but I acknowledge that it has now become apparent from testimony of former team-mates that some of what happened at these meetings was totally inappropriate, unacceptable and in retrospect understandably offensive," he wrote.
"While at the time we thought it was playful banter within a team environment in which we all participated as a normal part of team dynamics, I deeply regret and apologise for the part I played by joining in with my team-mates in singing offensive songs or using offensive nicknames."
Boucher further disputed the fact that there was a "clique" of senior players who were responsible for selection during his playing days, while he also pointed to the team culture at the time as being problematic.
"When I first joined the South African cricket team, we were all naive and not equipped to know, understand or deal with some difficult issues and situations that confronted us," he said.
"We are much wiser now and better equipped. I would like to think that, for the most part, the whole world is wiser. We can make amends and we can deal with these important issues better in the future.
"In closing, I acknowledge that certain occurrences testified to are true and that they are offensive; certainly with the lens that we use to assess such behaviour now. It was not the case at the time. We were young and lacked the maturity and consciousness to know that what we were doing was offensive. With the benefit of knowledge, wisdom and maturity, we should and would have done things differently."
