OPINION | Teeger rightly stripped of SA U19 captaincy, but his faith is not the reason

David Teeger has not been stripped of the SA U19 captaincy because of his faith. Nor has he been denied the right to express himself freely. This is a consequence of the misplaced words of a teenager, writes Daniel Gallan.

A day after his 19th birthday, David Teeger became the focal point of a global public relations nightmare. Let us pause on that for a moment. What was your greatest struggle when you were 19? Did it involve a complicated conflict in the Middle East? Was it woven into a narrative tangled with religion, geo-politics and genocide? Did Piers Morgan tweet about it?

Whatever opinion one might hold on Israel’s war with Hamas and the subsequent humanitarian catastrophe in Palestine, it is crucial that we do not forget about the young man who, for a brief moment, thought he was going to captain his country.