Race and rugby

WHITE
TAUNTS
ALL BLACKS

... is what I read on a lamppost headline biking home from work yesterday.

To me, the words were immediately striking; it took me a second to really understand what was being said. But I probably wouldn't have been so affected if I was more interested in rugby.

See, "White" refers to South African Springboks coach, Jake White, and "All Blacks" is the nickname of the New Zealand rugby team.

But I wonder, if I was South African rugby fan, could those words have been defamiliarized enough by the sport to not illicit some kind of emotional response? Would I be numb to them? Or would I laugh at the cheeky sub-editor? Hmm.