Allister Coetzee revealed during visit to Grahamstown on Tuesday that his financial status had prevented him from studying at Rhodes University. However, the Springbok coach insisted that he had no regrets.
Allister Coetzee revealed during visit to Grahamstown on Tuesday that his financial status had prevented him from studying at Rhodes University. However, the Springbok coach insisted that he had no regrets.
In a speech at the new indoor sports centre, Coetzee thanked the Grahamstown community for his upbringing – which he claimed gave him discipline and resilience in what was then a divided apartheid town.
The 53-year-old, who visits his hometown roughly once a year, said that he relished the challenge of proving people's negative assumptions about its people to be incorrect.
"I couldn't afford to study at Rhodes, obviously – and our town [Grahamstown] is still a poor town. I still see the poverty."
"I had to go to PE and study at Dower – and when you get there, you still have to prove yourself, because you're from a small countryside town called Grahamstown, so who are you?"
"That has been my life story about proving yourself – even in my position today.
"Richness, money, [and being]born in a big city doesn't define yourself as a human being."
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