WBC Win Goes Beyond Field For South Africa

SYDNEY, Australia—The impact of the World Baseball Classic Qualifier in Australia for South Africa goes well beyond the four games that the team will have played.

Looking to advance after not winning a game in either of the first two WBC events in 2006 and 2009 and failing to qualify four years ago, a victory against an incredibly tough host in Australia in the final on Sunday would mean the world to the sport in South Africa.

“We can’t even begin to think just how beneficial it would be for baseball back in South Africa if we were able to get into the proper (World Baseball) Classic,” said manager Alan Phillips, whose two sons play on the team. “Finance and the sponsorship side of baseball in South Africa is a little bit lacking, so there are a lot of costs involved. The country is a big country, to try and get the programs operating all over the place, it’s a costly affair.

“Fortunately, we’ve got MLB International helping us out and we’ve got the MLB African academy that operates out of South Africa and that’s a big encouragement to the younger guys. But for the senior guys, we’re going to need some sort of funding and it’s going to have to happen sooner rather than later because in a couple of years’ time, the mature bunch that we’ve got here at the moment will be moving on.”

Just having the opportunity to earn a berth at the 2017 WBC means a lot to the South African squad that hasn’t had a chance to play on the international stage since its last qualifying round in Jupiter, Fla., almost four years ago.

“It’s a lot of hard work that we’ve been putting in, especially over the last couple years,” said second baseman Anthony Phillips, one of the manager’s sons. “We haven’t had the opportunity to play a lot of international baseball, so to come here and to do what we’re doing at the moment, it’s taken a lot of hard work back home in South Africa and obviously the couple days of preparation before the tournament started.”

Not being able to suit up together for years, lacking events to participate in and program funding to utilize, it has been tough for the underdog squad to continue the progression it began after it made its way onto the international scene.

“It’s extremely hard to develop baseball,” Anthony Phillips said. “You just start with the basic things like equipment, baseballs, bats, helmets, good facilities, good fields. Coming here and playing on these fields at these facilities, it’s already 10 times better than what we have down in South Africa.”

Added Alan Phillips: “We try to take the sport out to the townships and to the sub-economic areas and try to encourage mass participation. We find out that it works well through junior ranks but when they’ve got to make that step up from a junior environment, from a controlled environment within their school setup and they’ve got to go into the open world outside of school, we don’t have enough in place to keep them motivated and to keep them fixed on baseball.”

In a nation where rugby, cricket and soccer rule the sporting scene, the younger Phillips has seen a lot of the players he started with—first suiting up as a senior at the 2009 WBC—grow up and learn as the team has evolved, and he is hoping to see much more of the same as the game advances in his home country.

“There’s been a lot of growth,” the infielder said. “It’s also the guys are getting a little bit older, a little bit wiser, and also they’re understanding their bodies a little bit better, also understanding what type of player you must be. I mean, you can’t be a base hit, line drive guy and try to hit a home run, it’s just not going to work for you. So that’s also coming into action for a lot of the guys.”

No matter what happens on Sunday against the tournament-favourite Aussies, the team from South Africa has enjoyed its time in Sydney, coming together as a team quickly and easily at the tournament and soaking in every experience along the way.

“This is amazing,” Anthony Phillips said. “Playing with all my friends and people I’ve grown up with since I’ve been five years old, and playing with my brother (Jonathan) and I’m fortunate enough to have my father as the manager.

“We’ve all known each other since we were young and it’s great coming to these type of tournaments for the exposure and obviously the facilities and everything that’s been looked after for us, it’s amazing.”