Bad Sport (2021) s01e06 Episode Script
Fallen Idol
[foreboding music playing]
[woman] Marlon's interview, take one.
[commentator]
This is a huge shot by Hansie Cronje.
[crowd cheering]
[Marlon Aronstam] In South Africa
at that time, Hansie was a hero.
[commentator] Cronje has hit that miles.
Another big one.
If you've got a bat swing with the power
and timing of Cronje, that's the result.
Hansie's talent was extraordinary.
[commentator]
Hansie Cronje is beside himself with joy.
[Marlon] One of the greatest ever captains
in South African cricket history.
I should never have been able
to get close to him.
[atmospheric music playing]
[woman] The Delhi police has registered
a case of criminal conspiracy,
fraud, and cheating against South African
cricket captain, Hansie Cronje.
[Jonathan Agnew] Cronje?
It seemed completely impossible.
[Paddy Upton] Hansie was a hell
of a lot more than just the captain.
Next to Mandela, Hansie was probably
the next highest regarded citizen.
[Marlon] Hansie had everything.
So, what happened next was
sad.
[suspenseful music playing]
[Frams Cronje] If the tapes
made in New Delhi are correct,
it's the most devastating thing in cricket
in the last 100 years.
We knew how important winning was to him.
So he would never have thrown a match.
I have not received any money and I have
never ever spoken to any of the players.
I just thought it was a big joke,
to be honest. Not in a million years.
[Dr. Alli Bacher] Hansie Cronje is a man
of unquestionable honesty and integrity.
It's libelous.
It's defamatory.
[Frans] There's no worse crime
to commit in sport.
Could he really have done it?
[theme music playing]
[tense music playing]
[reporter] Four hundred and fifty people
have died in riots in South Africa
in the past ten months.
[reporter 2] Four million whites
ruled twenty million Blacks.
Apartheid is a political system designed
to ensure permanent white supremacy.
For the past 19 years,
the guerrilla leader,
Nelson Mandela,
has been a prisoner here on Robben Island.
[woman] We want our equal rights!
That is all. Nothing else!
People are being killed in South Africa.
[shouting]
[reporter 2] Most whites have never been
anywhere near a Black township.
Safely installed
in the comfortable suburbs,
they've been spared the reality
of life under the state of emergency.
[Frans] Me and my brother, Hansie, grew up
at the height of apartheid in Bloemfontein
in the '70s and '80s.
It was conservative.
Mainly white.
And also, from a racial point of view,
I think most of the people in Bloemfontein
accepted apartheid as the norm.
But us as a family
never supported apartheid.
We were in favor
of an integrated South Africa.
We didn't grow up wealthy.
Both my parents were teachers.
My dad was so involved in sport,
but he never put any pressure on us.
We could choose what we wanted to do.
And Hansie and me chose cricket.
[commentator] Hansie Cronje,
he's by far South Africa's best player.
[Hester Parsons] Hansie lived for cricket.
When we would play, uh, backyard cricket,
he would walk out,
lift his bat, thank the crowd.
[commentator]
Fabulous innings in the making here.
[Hester] I don't think
we had a conversation
without cricket being involved.
[crowd cheering]
[commentator] And that's a very good shot
indeed by Hansie Cronje. It's six.
Fantastic cricket!
[Allan] I met Hansie for the first time,
actually, at the cricket nets.
We became big friends from day one.
We just had this special bond.
He was almost How can I say this?
I don't want to do him injustice.
He was almost like
"I'm here. Look at me."
He had this aura about him
that sort of stood out.
[Hester] He wanted to represent
his country at international cricket.
That was his dream.
[Allan] He said it from when he was 15.
He wanted to lead South Africa.
He wanted to become
one of the greatest captains of all time.
[Frans] Unfortunately, in the '80s,
Hansie's aspirations were very limited
because we were banned
from international sport.
[reporter] South Africa is banned simply
because sport is based on the ethos
of play and competition
being fair and equal for all.
And that is not deemed possible
in this country which practices apartheid.
There was no future
in playing for your country.
But then
the nation changed.
[helicopter whirring]
[reporter 2] There's Mr. Mandela,
a man who has been in prison
for nearly three decades.
Taking his first steps
into a new South Africa.
[Frans] Mandela was freed,
we could get rid of apartheid.
The country had a new hope,
had a new life to it.
[Nelson Mandela] I greet you all
in the name of peace,
democracy, and freedom for all.
[crowd cheering]
South Africa has been readmitted
to international cricket
after more than 20 years
of sporting isolation.
[Frans] Suddenly, we were back
into international sport,
and a few months later,
Hansie was selected
to play for South Africa.
[chuckling]
It was a mixture of nerves and pride.
My father couldn't watch a full cricket
match because he'd just get so nervous.
[uplifting music playing]
South Africa were now on the world stage.
[commentator]
Welcome to the first day's play
of this test match between Australia
and South Africa. It's a lovely, fine day.
[Jonathan] South Africa at batting.
They are desperate to prove themselves
for all those lost years
when they were banned.
[commentator] That's a good shot.
Good innings by Hansie Cronje.
[Jonathan] But South Africa's
international experience was almost zero.
[man shouting]
[Jonathan] And their opponents, Australia,
the best in the world.
[commentator] What a catch!
Hansie Cronje gone
for a very well made 41.
Got him! What a ripper!
He made nine.
Out to seven.
- He's out!
- [Jonathan] Australia are winning.
[commentator]
The Australians absolutely jubilant.
And then the South African captain,
Kepler Wessels, breaks a finger.
[commentator] That is desperate luck
for the South Africans.
He's their top batsman
and their captain.
[Jonathan] In cricket, the captain
is more important than the coach.
All the strategy and the tactics
on the field are down to him.
So the game
is all but lost.
[commentator]
South Africa in dire straits.
[Allan] Our captain, Kepler,
couldn't go on the field.
So he looked around the room
and thought, "Who's it gonna be?"
[commentator] Cronje's acting captain
in his first service
in that department for his country.
[Allan] Hansie was a a young man.
He's a rookie in that team.
[commentator] South Africa all but gone.
How's he gonna handle a tense situation?
[commentator]
South Africa now in deep trouble.
You gotta be so spot-on tactically.
[Jonathan] As the fielding captain,
the young Cronje is given a situation
in which the best team in the world
need just 54 more runs
to win with six batsmen left.
For South Africa, it's game over.
Somehow, this young man had to keep
his team believing that they could win.
[Allan] Hansie just said,
"Nothing fancy. Do the basics well."
"The pressure that we bring
will get us there."
[announcer shouts]
We had a great start.
[commentator] That's a good delivery
from Donald and he's gone.
He's got him.
And South Africa break through again.
But then Australia started to hit a few.
- [commentator] What a good shot.
- [whistle blows]
[cheering]
And suddenly,
this test match is back on the tightrope.
But Hansie had this immense calmness
about him that I cannot explain.
[commentator] He's gone, a direct hit.
What an excellent throw
from Hansie Cronje.
And the South Africans strike back.
What a brilliant catch.
And what a great, fine bat this is.
Things are starting to get real tight.
[commentator] Got him!
South Africa have got it by one.
And South Africa
have pulled off a magical victory.
Oh, this is a marvelous moment
for South African cricket.
Hansie captained that
like he's captained 50 test matches.
Cronje somehow managed to claw a victory
from the very jaws of defeat.
The tears and the goosebumps at home,
seeing that and that victory,
it was unbelievable.
That match changed his life.
[crowd chanting] Hansie! Hansie! Hansie!
[Hester] People loved Hansie.
- [chuckling]
- This is paradise today.
[Hester] But it didn't really change
anything in our relationship
with each other.
It was always the same, always had time
for a joke, or, you know, a good laugh.
[music playing]
[singing indistinctly]
[others laughing]
[woman]
He was one of the greatest people I knew.
Gentle.
Caring.
[laughs]
I was married to Hansie for seven years.
I felt safe.
I never had to worry about anything.
He, um
It was like he had
everything under control.
[Mandela] The people of South Africa
have spoken in this election.
They want change.
And change is what they will get.
[crowd cheering]
[Frans] In the '94 elections,
Mandela became president.
Even though people had a sense of hope
and a sense of something new happening,
it was incredibly fragile.
[crowd chanting indistinctly]
Make a stand in your vote
with bullets and guns.
Make a stand in God's name.
This is God's Land.
This is the Promised Land!
[Frans] Many of the more
conservative white people
got themselves armed and organized
to be able to fight a civil war
if it should become necessary.
[Rory Stein] President Mandela,
the majority of white South Africans,
you know, myself included, in the past,
considered him to be a terrorist.
Our fears were that this could
so easily go up in flames.
And I mean that literally.
Sport can go where politics can't.
[indistinct chatter]
[all chuckling]
[Rory] For many white South Africans,
sport is really important.
If President Mandela
identifies with sport,
he will get white South Africans to say,
"Let's give him a chance.
Let's see where this goes."
"Where is this dream of his headed?"
[Allan]
1994 was the start of a pivotal time
for South African cricket.
It was almost captained and coached
by one bloke, and that was Hansie Cronje.
[hip-hop music plays]
Hansie said, "We are gonna be
the number one team
in test match cricket."
"The best, one-day,
international team in the world."
"And the fittest cricketing nation
on the planet."
Hansie set a bar for us
as an international team.
[commentator]
The South Africans were relentless.
Unbelievable. I just admire
their courage so very very much.
Cronje's tactics were masterly.
There's the captain
who's hardly put a foot wrong.
Everything that Cronje touched
turned to gold.
The game chose me ♪
Now I've been training for this
My whole life ♪
Carpe diem, seize the moment, right ♪
We won everywhere around the world.
We were taking the game
to the next level.
Never quit
Even though the thing's heavy ♪
We push like a 7-7 chevy ♪
Boy ready ♪
[commentator] Awesome shot.
Again.
Oh, yeah, well,
this is just wonderful wonderful stuff.
He has carried South Africa to victory
with the most amazing innings.
[Dr. Bacher] The country was moving
into a new direction.
Hopefully, equality for all people,
Black and white.
Nelson Mandela saw Hansie as a role model
to inspire other whites.
[Mandela] Sport has played
an important role in uniting our country.
I must congratulate in particular
Captain Hansie Cronje
for the excellent manner
in which he has led the national team.
[Allan] Hansie Cronje became so much more
than just a cricket captain.
He was anointed by Nelson Mandela
to be the man to somehow unify the nation.
[crowd cheering]
[Hansie] Ladies and gentlemen.
It gives me great pleasure,
from the team, to thank Mr. Mandela
for your immense contribution
in uniting this country
and forming a new South Africa
and granting us
the opportunity of playing sport.
[Allan] He was on a pedestal,
the like of which I don't think
I've ever come across before.
[crowd cheering]
[reporter] Who's your cricketing hero?
Oh, it's Cronje, favorite.
[reporter] Small boys the world over
have sporting heroes,
but for white men
to be heroes to Black people
in the country which made
oppression a God-ordained way of life,
that really is something.
You guys are now heroes in the townships.
What does that tell you
about how South African cricket is going?
I'm sure in five or six years' time,
it won't be predominantly white.
[Godlam Rajah] Hansie Cronje
came from the heart
of what I call apartheid land,
surrounded by people
who voted for the party
that locked Nelson Mandela away
for 27 years.
And yet, here I met a man
who thought like me.
He said to me, "Goolam,
I noticed that, again,
there's no Black players in the team."
He expected players of color to be there.
[Herschelle Gibbs] When I was selected,
people, you know, sort of joked.
They said, "You just fill a quota."
Yeah, but it's not gonna make a difference
because I was performing well.
I always knew
I was gonna play for a long time.
[Allan] Herschelle Gibbs
is of mixed-race from Cape Town.
During apartheid, Herschelle Gibbs
would not have been on the same field
as Hansie Cronje.
But he was there utterly on merit.
He was more than just good enough
to play cricket for South Africa.
He was a star.
At 22, you're basically
in awe of of the captain.
Hansie was so well-loved
and so well-respected
from his peers, that, uh
everybody would, you know,
run through a wall for him.
[crowd cheering]
You get captains that are different
because they read people really well
on and off the field.
He realized quite soon
what sort of character I was.
They could see that spontaneity
and that instinctiveness that I have.
Hansie brought
the best out of the players.
[Paddy] He was really connected
to the guys, easy to get on with.
But in four years,
I bought Hansie a lot of beers in pubs.
There might have been once when he dropped
his guard and he bought me one back.
He liked money.
He liked holding onto it.
[commentator] Knock the pants off them!
Hansie Cronje, this wonderful clean image.
He's just a sponsor's dream.
[Hester] All of a sudden,
he's earning more money than my dad.
Being more in the public eye,
he was more aware of how he dresses.
[commentator] Slip into a pair
of Hansie Cronje casual pants.
Hansie!
And you did notice it.
[commentator] Hansie Cronje,
easy to care for casual wear.
At that stage, he had millions
and millions of rands a year
from various sponsors and endorsements.
Getting easy money was was his weakness.
He wanted to do his utmost to get it.
[commentator] Hello and welcome
to the first day's play
of this fifth and final test match
between South Africa and England,
this time from SuperSport Park
in Centurion.
[Jonathan] This is a match that I still
can't quite get my head around.
And I don't think that anybody
who was there ever will, frankly.
[commentator] At Centurion Park,
as the England Team,
who won the toss of course,
Nasser Hussain leads his team out.
[Jonathan]
On the first day, South Africa batted.
And then, for the next three days,
it rained.
[thunder rumbling]
[commentator] And it really has been
very frustrating for everybody:
Players, umpires,
ground staff, commentators,
journalists, spectators.
[Jonathan]
So we arrived for the fifth day,
with only one team having batted.
And that team hasn't even finished
batting for the first time yet.
A result was impossible
because it was going to be a draw.
There was no time available
for there to be a result.
[commentator]
And now that we have got cricket,
what are we to make of it?
I think it will be a case a little bit
of going through the motions.
Such a pity because this match
promised so much.
Very, very frustrating.
Now, there is a situation in cricket
where if you are the batting captain,
you can simply
declare your innings closed.
Usually, that's done when you think
you've got enough runs to win the game.
But it wasn't something
that was gonna happen that day.
South Africa didn't have enough runs
to win the game.
So when we saw Nasser Hussain,
England's captain, running off the field
to talk to Hansie Cronje,
they surprised everybody.
[commentator]
I think we have a declaration.
We're not bluffing you, it has happened.
[Jonathan]
Word got out about what happened.
It was a negotiation.
Hansie Cronje said to Nasser Hussain,
"You forfeit your first innings,
we'll forfeit our second innings."
"We will set you
so many runs to win this match."
Hansie Cronje has offered England
an opportunity to try and win the game.
[commentator] I think it's terrific.
A a good gesture
from the two captains.
It, uh, creates interest
from a game that was stone-dead.
[Simon Wilde] In the press box,
there's general incredulity
that this had been done at all.
[commentator] There have never been
two forfeits before in a test match.
[Simon] There was no precedent.
In 125 years of test cricket,
it hadn't happened before.
[Herschelle] That was completely bizarre.
[chuckling] I didn't even know
you were allowed to do that in cricket.
[commentator]
And there comes the South Africans.
[Simon] England needs to score 249
to win the match.
[Allan] I thought,
"That is a very, very generous target."
The decision didn't sit well with me,
because not in a million years
would I give England
even a sniff of winning.
I I just wouldn't do it.
[commentator]
That is a good shot well-stopped.
Cronje, leading from the front.
The cricket that followed was a good game.
[commentator] That's four runs.
It's crashed away by Hussain.
[Allan] England really
got out the blocks quickly.
- [commentator] And that's four more.
- Then South Africa's on top.
- [commentator] In the air!
- [crowd cheering]
Brilliantly caught
by a diving Herschelle Gibbs.
And it was a very seesaw battle
at that stage.
[commentator] That is the breakthrough
that South Africa wanted.
Gone for a big one,
and it is a big one. It's six runs.
[Simon] England get to within
striking distance of the target.
[commentator]
Four more runs is gonna help a-plenty.
[Simon] England then stumble,
lose some late wickets.
[commentator] He's giving him out!
It went right down to the wire.
[commentator] What drama!
Pulled away back up for four,
and England win.
Hansie Cronje,
obviously disappointed in losing.
You can see that in his face.
[Allan] I rang him after the game
and he just said to me,
"It's a gamble I wanted to take."
"We could've been
on the other end of that."
You know, that's it.
It's captain's prerogative.
[Jonathan] I felt that Hansie Cronje
had done us all a favor
and done cricket a favor, frankly.
Rather than just consigning a game
to utter tedium,
he brought it to life.
[reporter] Hansie, it may seem odd
to say congratulations after a defeat,
but this has been a special day
for the game, I think.
I think the game needed it.
We owed it to the public
to get out and be positive,
and seeing that the players
wanna play cricket
[Simon] Captains did make
generous declarations to test cricket,
but never this generous.
[muted]
I was sufficiently intrigued
by the whole thing
that I went and spoke to some
of the England players back at the hotel.
I found out Cronje had made
three offers to Nasser,
and he reduced the target
by quite a bit actually by the time
he got to the one that England went for.
Didn't make sense at all.
Why had he done it?
[Marlon] I should never
have been able to get close to him.
My name is Marlon Aronstam.
I was a bookmaker in South Africa.
In the Centurion Test,
I was in a restaurant in Johannesburg.
And I said to somebody, "I have an idea.
Let's make this game alive."
"I'm gonna call Hansie
and tell him to declare."
You could make money on that event
if you knew
that it's gonna take place for sure.
I just dialed a telephone number,
which I still remember today,
which was 788-188.
It was the telephone number
of the South African Cricket Board,
I said, "Can I please have
Hansie Cronje's telephone number?"
They gave it to me.
[suspenseful music playing]
[ringing]
I called Hansie.
Told him I'm a business man
interested in cricket
and I'm prepared to make a donation to
charity if he can organize a declaration.
He was happy to talk to me.
"Come and see me."
I go up to his room.
He opens the door
and there's, uh like, a suite.
We sit in the lounge area
and we started to talk.
And he liked the proposal.
He said he would speak
to Nasser in the morning,
and they'll discuss the possibilities.
[commentator]
We're just gonna go through the motions.
I think it will be a case a bit
of going through the motions.
[Marlon] The next morning,
I have contact from Hansie
by text message at 9:30 in the morning:
Nasser's not interested.
[commentator] Such a pity
because, uh, this match promised so much.
Somewhere around 11:15 to 11:30
he sent me a message.
"The deal is on."
[commentator]
I think we have a declaration.
We're not bluffing you, it has happened.
[Marlon] I got in the car and rushed off
to Centurion to watch the match.
As Hansie started coming up the stairs,
and he sees me and he winks at me,
I knew the game's on.
It was an exciting game of cricket.
I probably won about 15,000 rand.
In U.S. dollars, at the time,
it probably was about 2,500.
I'd call that Mickey Mouse money.
Nasser didn't know we'd made a deal.
Had we known in the morning,
at nine o'clock,
that Nasser was gonna agree
we'd have started betting
that it will not be a draw.
We could've made a million rand.
[interviewer]
Did any money get given to charity?
No.
[interviewer]
It was a way of having him meet you.
I wanna answer all your questions
like you want them.
But you wanna go routes which is not
what I wanna go down that same route.
[interviewer] Okay. What happened next?
[intense music playing]
[Marlon]
We started to talk regularly after that.
We became friends.
When South Africa went off to India,
I told him that if ever he needs to know
where to go, go out to bars,
I think I said I can get somebody
to help him and show him around.
[man] Hansie! Hansie! It's me!
[Allan] Arriving in India, thousands
and thousands of Indian supporters.
It was immense. It really was immense.
[Simon] In India, cricket is massive.
Millions of people watch cricket.
It's a billion-dollar industry.
Wherever we moved, there was
thousands of people around the team
and they just wanted
to get a glimpse of what we look like.
That noise,
just the excitement and atmosphere.
[crowd roaring]
It was sensational to actually play
when the crowd is that big and that loud.
It was phenomenal.
And Hansie really loved it.
[reporter]
The noise here gonna create problems?
It was pretty quiet during test matches
but certainly gonna be noisy,
just gonna try and stay together
and communicate all the time.
[Marlon] Cricket in India is a religion.
The people's entertainment
is watching cricket and betting on it.
You can't place a bet in India on cricket,
not legally anyway.
But there is this vast network
of illegal bookmaking.
[Marlon] The market is huge.
The betting industry in India
is worth millions.
A lot of rich people putting
bets of $300,000 on a game of cricket.
The Indian market
bet who's gonna win the game.
And then they could get a bet on anything
to do with the game of cricket.
What will be the total runs
scored for the innings?
What will be the score of the 15-overs,
30-overs, and 50-overs?
One can bet on whether a player
walks on the field with a watch on or not,
with long sleeves or not.
Who's going to open the bowling
or who's gonna bowl number three?
[Marlon] They bet who won the toss.
[Simon] Bookies will try and influence
the situation in their favor.
So they target the captains
because they are
the most influential people on the pitch.
A cricket captain can ask a groundsman
for a particular type of pitch,
you're involved in selection,
so you can affect who plays,
put his fielders where he likes.
He can decide who bowls when.
He has huge amount of control in a way
that doesn't apply in any other sport.
So if you want to influence things,
then the captain is head and shoulders
above everyone else
in terms of the guy
you should be aiming for.
I told Hansie I can set him up to meet
somebody in India and, the next morning,
I spoke to Hansie.
And he was on the bus
and he just said to me,
"Forget it. We're not doing anything."
Hansie wanted to win
in the subcontinent, in India.
[commentator] Great shot
and the end of the match.
He's taken it away with a six.
South Africa has won the game.
For South Africa to go to India and win
was a remarkable achievement.
[woman] Well done.
[Jonathan] The team came back from India
to a hero's welcome.
[boy] Could you sign this whole page here?
And all seemed well.
[both laughing]
Hansie.
[Bertha] When Hansie came home,
he just didn't want to talk about cricket.
He said he wanted to just relax
and leave that at the office.
[Bertha laughing]
For me, the cricket took him away.
You know, I think I remember there was
one year that he was at home 28 days.
So time together was precious.
We had just moved
into our house by the sea.
I remember we were
on our way to go to the beach.
It was something new for us,
coming from Bloemfontein.
We can go to the beach,
it's right there, and, um
the phone rang.
And all I can remember
hearing him say, "It's rubbish."
The Delhi police has registered
a case of criminal conspiracy,
fraud, and cheating against certain
individuals of Indian nationality
and the South African
cricket captain Hansie Cronje.
[reporter] Cronje and three other members
of the national team
are alleged by Indian authorities
to have been involved in match-fixing
during South Africa's
recent tour of India.
Captain Hansie Cronje
was approached to throw a match in India.
[reporter 2] Allegations
that national captain Hansie Cronje
was involved in match fixing
in the recent
one-day series against India.
[Bertha] He said it's not true,
doesn't know where it comes from.
But I could see that
he was really upset about this.
[inquisitive music playing]
Cronje?
It seemed to be completely impossible.
I was shocked about the statements
that the Delhi police was making.
Hansie Cronje
[Allan] I just thought it was a big joke,
to be honest.
And, uh, I couldn't get a hold of Hansie.
I immediately rang his brother.
We just all thought
this is absolutely absurd.
It can't be true.
And Hansie also said, "No, it's not true."
So that's it. You know, finished.
[Godlam] I got a call
from the South African Cricket Board.
It was Dr. Ali Bacher, and Ali said to me,
"What do you know about this?"
I said, "Ali, it's the first time
I'm hearing of it."
"Now as I'm seeing it."
"You mean you don't know anything?"
I said, "I swear I don't know anything."
The allegations are outrageous.
Hansie Cronje is a man
of unquestionable honesty and integrity.
I'm absolutely certain not one
of our players would ever contemplate
being involved in match-fixing.
[reporter] I was wondering,
could you describe
Hansie Cronje's character for us?
I said early on, he is a man
of unquestionable integrity and honesty.
It's libelous.
It's defamatory.
[reporter] There's been indignation
and disbelief across South Africa
that Indian police
could accuse Cronje of being involved
in what they've described
as a massive international crime.
The South African government
has sent a firmly worded "please explain"
to their Indian counterparts,
demanding access to the telephone taps
that allegedly implicate Cronje
with the match-fixing masterminds,
one of whom is now under arrest,
claiming to have organized
the half-million-dollar scam.
We are saying that our players
are innocent until proven guilty.
Just like any other person.
[Simon] It was a mistake.
Didn't make sense at all.
Why were the police in India
bugging the phones of a cricketer?
My name is Pradeep Srivastava.
And I was Deputy Commissioner
of Police Crime Branch
in Delhi Police in the year 2000.
The Crime Branch
looks after more serious crimes.
Extortion, kidnapping, killing.
We started working on some extortion case.
Permission was given to permit recording
of the calls of suspected criminals.
Technology was actually very raw.
Two wires and cassette attached to that.
No one knows what time anyone can call,
so two persons round the clock
listening to the phone.
[tape deck clicks]
[Pradeep]
This was one of the most unusual things.
Instead of finding any extortion racket,
it is something else which is going on.
[Ishwar] What we're hearing is,
you invest so much,
how much you have invested,
how so and so player is playing
or how we will play.
Why did you not lift the ball up?
Why did you not take the catch?
[tape deck clicks]
They are not talking
of terrorism or extortion.
They are talking about cricket.
[tape deck clicks]
There were two parties.
One was speaking
in a very accentuated foreign accent.
But this voice, I could not recognize.
[tape deck clicks]
I took the cassette home.
I kept it in my study
where we have the music system.
My children were
very keen fans of cricket.
That night, they asked me,
"Why do you have, uh,
Hansie Cronje's, uh, voice
on the recorder?"
And what had happened
a couple of days back,
Hansie was speaking on the television.
India's playing good cricket
at the moment
[Pradeep] They had remembered
his style of speaking,
his pronunciation, his accent.
So this was, without doubt,
a communication related to
the ongoing cricket matches.
Tapes were being recorded
more intently now.
There is an Indian party.
And they have asked him
to do certain things.
I was surprised.
Hansie Cronje was one of the most
important cricketers of that time.
So getting anything on him
was a very major breakthrough.
- Hi. How are you?
- [reporter] You won't talk to us now?
I I've got an interview
at, uh, seven o'clock tonight.
The next four days, the demand
for information on Cronje was massive.
The only theory
that I think will clear my name,
is if you speak to the players
and if you, um, check my cash,
bank accounts.
I have not received any money and I have
never ever spoken to any of the players.
[Frans] Hansie was not himself.
We realized the tension that he was under.
My dad called Hansie
and said, "What's happening?"
Hansie said, "No, Dad, don't worry
about it. There's nothing in this."
And then they said, "Goodbye."
And my dad forgot to put his phone off.
So his phone was still on and he turned
to my mother and he said to my mother,
"I think Hansie is lying.
I think he was involved in something."
And Hansie heard my dad saying it.
[tense music playing]
[Rory] Around this time,
Australia are playing in South Africa.
I was providing security.
And both teams are in the same hotel.
Half past two in the morning,
the phone rings.
"Rory, it's Hansie.
Could you please come up to my room?"
Over the years, Hansie and I
have become quite good friends.
I ran upstairs.
And all the lights are on in his suite.
There's a kit bag packed.
And as I walk in, he's holding up
this piece of paper towards me.
It was a handwritten statement.
He seems uptight, emotional,
saying to me that some of the stuff
that is being said in the newspapers
is actually true.
All he wanted to do was get away.
I convinced him we need
to get the team manager up there.
This was serious. It was explosive.
He needs to speak to him.
I can't believe this.
Not Hansie.
I looked at him
and I saw a face that I never saw before.
I said to him,
"I will never talk to you again."
[Dr. Bacher] At three o'clock
this morning, I was phoned.
Goolam Rajah handed the phone
over to Hansie Cronje
who said to me that, um
he had not been honest
with regard to these allegations.
[reporter]
Cronje putting his hand up
and making the admission
that he'd accepted money.
But he continues to deny match-fixing.
[Ali] Let us say unequivocally
that we in South African cricket
are shattered.
We will say unequivocally
that the United Cricket Board
and the government have been deceived.
[reporter 2] This is a real bombshell.
[reporter 3] It's a startling revelation.
[reporter 4] News of Hansie Cronje's
dismissal as the South African captain
is now starting to filter out
across the country
and is being met with utter disbelief.
No matter what they say about him,
I will always support Hansie.
He should be accountable for what he did.
I wouldn't believe
he has done such a thing but,
if he has, it's a big regret.
This was massive.
- Not guilty.
- [kids] Not guilty.
[Allan] As kids
we wanted to set
ourselves up as role models.
Now you're telling me this.
Next to Mandela, Hansie was probably
the next highest regarded citizen.
It was a huge deal.
[Ali] He's brought shame
to the game quite clearly.
[reporter] So why did Cronje
apparently lie in his first statements?
[Ali] It's not clear exactly
what his confession involved.
[Simon] If it goes any further,
it's the most devastating thing
in cricket in the last 100 years.
[Allan] Now what's next?
Was I part of something
that shouldn't have happened?
How serious is this thing?
There were so many unanswered questions.
The nation had to know what was going on.
[man]
The integrity of the game is at stake.
- [man 2] There will be questions asked.
- [Jon] Is he now telling the truth?
[man 3]
We need to get to the bottom of this.
[reporter] It's the first day
of a special inquiry
taking place in Cape Town.
The former South African cricket captain,
Hansie Cronje, has already admitted
taking money from a bookmaker,
but he's denied trying to fix the matches.
[suspenseful music playing]
[Simon] We got a couple of days' notice
Cronje was gonna appear.
There was cameras, journalists.
We were waiting to be allowed in.
And he'd been spirited into the building
without anyone having a chance to see him.
I was sent to report on this.
A nation gripped on the day
that Cronje appeared to give his evidence.
[Frans]
It was going to be a closed commission.
But in the end, they decided
it's going to be live on television.
You can't describe how tough it was.
[Jonathan] He was given immunity
from prosecution,
so therefore he couldn't go to prison.
What was he going to say?
How much would he say?
How is he going to explain it?
We were all waiting.
[woman] I'm going to deal
with the Centurion issue now.
First, the call
you received from Mr. Aronstam.
Mr. Aronstam was a stranger to you,
and on your own evidence,
you had not previously
heard of or spoken to him.
Why were you prepared
to invite him up to your room?
Mr. Aronstam said to me
that, um, he was a cricket lover
and he was interested in getting a match
on at Centurion the following day,
and he had a suggestion
and he wanted to meet me.
I didn't realize it was quite so easy
to meet the national captain off the side.
Did it ever occur to you
that Mr. Aronstam's interest
in making a game of it might
actually benefit him in his gambling?
It may have done but, I mean, what
What good can it do when you're not sure
what the end result is going to be?
[man] I think
it will help immensely, Mr. Cronje.
That could be very, very meaningful
information to somebody who is interested
in betting on the outcome
of the game, surely.
[interviewer] Was Centurion fixed?
Define the word "fixed." The act?
The final outcome? Definitely not.
Because when you know the outcome,
you know for sure what's gonna happen.
To this day, I've never known for sure
in a cricket game what's gonna happen.
[Simon] It was fixed,
because there should be
three results possible,
South Africa win, England win, a draw.
But Cronje was determined that the draw
would not be one of those three options.
That that's a fix, surely.
[Jonathan] He interfered with it.
He manipulated the game.
So why did he do it?
After the game, I had a leather jacket,
which I bought for my wife,
but I bought the wrong size.
I brought the jacket.
I said, "I've got a nice present
for you to give to Bertha."
I gave it to him
with 50,000 rand in a bank bag.
And that money was paid
for future information to come.
[Hansie] Uh, I wasn't expecting to receive
any money from Mr. Aronstam.
So when he gave you 50,000 rand,
you must have been absolutely shocked.
I thought this was
a very generous man, yeah.
[Jonathan]
Cronje admitted to taking money.
But the picture was much bigger
than that match at Centurion.
[Marlon] I didn't ask for immunity
for giving evidence.
I've got nothing to hide.
[man] If I read your statement correctly,
"As I was leaving, Mr. Cronje said to me,
how is it possible for him
to make any money out of cricket?
I replied by saying,
'The ball is in your court.'"
Is that statement correct?
One thousand percent correct.
[Marlon]
I called friends of mine afterwards.
I said, "I've been telling you
for a long time cricket could be crook."
"I'm telling you it is crook.
I've just come out of Hansie's room.
The man's offered to throw cricket games."
He started to explain what he could do.
He could lose a game.
"The best way to make money
is to lose a game."
[Marlon] I told Hansie, I can set him up
to meet somebody in India.
And he said to me,
"Forget it. We're not doing anything."
And we didn't know why,
which we found out afterwards why.
He had met another party
and they had offered him a lot more money.
[reporter] It must send shock waves
through the whole cricket world,
and you've got to wonder
[man] I'm devastated.
Everybody trusted Hansie.
[man 2]
And it's just extremely disappointing.
[Bertha] Every day when he got back,
he didn't want to talk or want to eat.
He would climb in his bed
and try to sleep.
In the middle of the night,
I had to change the sheets of the bed
because it was so
it was wet from his, um
his perspiring so much.
I used to write Bible verses on little
pieces of cotton and put it on the mirror,
so when he shaved he could look at them.
But nothing could reassure him.
At one stage I just asked him,
"Is there anything else, um
that you need to say? Because, you know,
you you haven't been completely honest."
[reporter] When Herschelle Gibbs,
in the light-colored suit,
arrived for day two of the inquiry
into corruption in the game,
only a few knew of the massive body blow
he was about to deliver
to South African cricket.
[Herschelle]
The morning of the King Commission,
I remember walking into the court.
It was properly full.
Man, I was nervous.
[reporter]
Gibbs sat nervously inside the hall
before television cameras were excluded
for his sensational testimony.
[Herschelle]
We were in the hotel in India.
I get a knock on the door
and Hansie walks in.
I'm not sure even
how the conversation started.
He said, "Look, I've got a mate
that wants to offer you $15,000
if you'd score less than 20."
And within like a split second,
within a split second,
I said, "Yes." You know, I said, "Fine."
He realized what sort of character I was,
and I was happy to do anything
at least once
without even knowing
or thinking of the consequences.
Then he turned to Henry Williams,
my roommate.
He said, "I'll do it as well."
Two minutes later,
Hansie's gone out the door.
Now I'm looking at Henry
and he's looking at me and we're going
You know, we don't really know
what to say to one another.
From the hotel room to the field
it was quite a long drive.
I had a lot to think about.
The crowds are very intimidating.
I got to the field,
and I didn't know what to do.
[crowd roaring]
[dramatic music playing]
I said to myself,
"No. I'm not going to go through with it."
You know, and I end up getting 74.
Henry only bowled like three overs
and got injured.
He went off the field.
We won the game.
About a day or two afterwards,
Hansie said to me,
"That particular person, my friend,
he lost about 20 million dollars,"
apparently, in that game.
[Simon] It's the blackest mark
against him, really, in the whole story.
He tried to corrupt
two young, non-white players,
Henry Williams and Herschelle Gibbs.
And that's about as bad a thing
you can do in South Africa.
He went against everything that Cronje's
role was supposed to involve, really,
which is nurturing a multicultural team
in multicultural South Africa.
[Jonathan] He put both their careers
absolutely on the line,
and they both were suspended.
That was a really worrying insight
into Cronje's tactics.
But I honestly don't think
that Cronje was a bad man,
and for him to be reduced
to putting so much pressure
on Gibbs and Williams,
I think illustrates actually
the sort of pressure that he was under
and how tight those bookmakers
were turning the screw.
[Simon] The evidence
of the King Commission is that bookies
will often give the players something,
seemingly, for nothing.
Easy money,
and you think, "Well, why not?"
[attorney] Now,
what I'm trying to figure out is why
you have an offer of $30,000
to ensure that you lost
when that was almost a certainty anyway.
I was trying to rationalize to myself,
um, when I took the money,
that this was in fact a very stupid
uh, bet.
I really couldn't understand why
somebody would give me 30,000 U.S. dollars
for a match that I thought
we were going to lose anyway.
[Jonathan] Once you've taken
the money from bookmakers
well, you've had it, really.
I mean, you are totally open to blackmail.
I'm told that once the bookies got you,
they got you for life.
[Simon] Essentially, the story began
within six months of becoming captain.
Which was astonishing, really.
It seemed incredible
that it had gone back so far.
[attorney 2]
Have you disclosed everything?
Yes.
I cannot tell you
the huge shame that it's caused me,
the great passion I have for my country,
great passion I have for my teammates,
and the unfortunate love I have for money.
I do like money.
I'm not trying to get away from that.
Yes.
I accepted money from bookmakers.
Yes, I was trying
to feed them information.
But I promise you
every time I walked onto the field
I gave my all for South Africa.
[dramatic music playing]
[Hester] I couldn't believe it.
And I still can't believe it.
But I wish I had known.
Because then you would've been
there for him more often.
Sorry. [sniffles]
[Frans] At the end of that process,
Hansie got banned for life.
[attorney 2] Mr. Cronje,
thank you.
[dramatic music continues]
[Frans] After breaking down,
there was a small room,
and he just fell on his back.
And he just lay there
and he broke down crying.
He absolutely wept.
And he said, "Sorry."
He said it a hundred times.
And he wanted to make it right.
[Bertha] Hansie loved cricket.
And he lost that.
And it took him a long time
to get back on his feet.
But after two years I could see
that the old Hansie was coming back.
He was enjoying things again.
He was living his life.
Hansie had a job
at a company in Johannesburg.
I was excited to have him
home for the weekend.
Hansie phoned and said
he's gonna miss his flight.
And then he said to me
he managed to get on another flight.
Seven o'clock came and nothing,
and by eight o'clock I thought,
"No, something is seriously wrong."
[reporter] Breaking news,
some tragic news from South Africa.
[reporter 2] The former South Africa
cricket captain, Hansie Cronje,
has been killed in a plane crash.
[reporter 3]
The plane carrying Hansie Cronje
was trying to land in poor weather
when it came down high
in a mountain range
in the Western Cape province.
[Bertha] It was like a a nightmare.
I was in such a
daze.
[man] Put a hand out to one another.
All of our hearts are aching.
I was overwhelmed
with the reaction of the people.
[crowd chanting] Hansie! Hansie! Hansie!
Hansie! Hansie! Hansie!
Hansie! Hansie! Hansie!
[crowd cheering]
[Mandela]
Hansie Cronje was one of the greatest
cricket captains in our country.
And, uh, he literally made us walk tall.
[Bertha]
Even through everything that happened,
nobody actually forgot who he was.
They remembered his heart
like I knew his heart,
and that he was a good person.
[crowd cheering]
[Herschelle]
He lived by the mistakes he made.
Jeez, he didn't kill anybody.
I mean, fuck it.
He didn't kill anyone.
[Frans] If it wasn't for forgiveness
and repentance,
we wouldn't be here in South Africa,
because we would've killed each other.
We went through a Truth and
Reconciliation Commission politically
where people who murdered other people
based on their political beliefs
were acquitted.
They were forgiven,
and they're serving in government.
[gentle music playing]
And I think it
it shows the nation we are.
[voice breaks] We're a nation that
can stand together when it matters.
And I certainly stood behind Hansie.
Sorry.
[sniffles]
[closing theme music playing]
[woman] Marlon's interview, take one.
[commentator]
This is a huge shot by Hansie Cronje.
[crowd cheering]
[Marlon Aronstam] In South Africa
at that time, Hansie was a hero.
[commentator] Cronje has hit that miles.
Another big one.
If you've got a bat swing with the power
and timing of Cronje, that's the result.
Hansie's talent was extraordinary.
[commentator]
Hansie Cronje is beside himself with joy.
[Marlon] One of the greatest ever captains
in South African cricket history.
I should never have been able
to get close to him.
[atmospheric music playing]
[woman] The Delhi police has registered
a case of criminal conspiracy,
fraud, and cheating against South African
cricket captain, Hansie Cronje.
[Jonathan Agnew] Cronje?
It seemed completely impossible.
[Paddy Upton] Hansie was a hell
of a lot more than just the captain.
Next to Mandela, Hansie was probably
the next highest regarded citizen.
[Marlon] Hansie had everything.
So, what happened next was
sad.
[suspenseful music playing]
[Frams Cronje] If the tapes
made in New Delhi are correct,
it's the most devastating thing in cricket
in the last 100 years.
We knew how important winning was to him.
So he would never have thrown a match.
I have not received any money and I have
never ever spoken to any of the players.
I just thought it was a big joke,
to be honest. Not in a million years.
[Dr. Alli Bacher] Hansie Cronje is a man
of unquestionable honesty and integrity.
It's libelous.
It's defamatory.
[Frans] There's no worse crime
to commit in sport.
Could he really have done it?
[theme music playing]
[tense music playing]
[reporter] Four hundred and fifty people
have died in riots in South Africa
in the past ten months.
[reporter 2] Four million whites
ruled twenty million Blacks.
Apartheid is a political system designed
to ensure permanent white supremacy.
For the past 19 years,
the guerrilla leader,
Nelson Mandela,
has been a prisoner here on Robben Island.
[woman] We want our equal rights!
That is all. Nothing else!
People are being killed in South Africa.
[shouting]
[reporter 2] Most whites have never been
anywhere near a Black township.
Safely installed
in the comfortable suburbs,
they've been spared the reality
of life under the state of emergency.
[Frans] Me and my brother, Hansie, grew up
at the height of apartheid in Bloemfontein
in the '70s and '80s.
It was conservative.
Mainly white.
And also, from a racial point of view,
I think most of the people in Bloemfontein
accepted apartheid as the norm.
But us as a family
never supported apartheid.
We were in favor
of an integrated South Africa.
We didn't grow up wealthy.
Both my parents were teachers.
My dad was so involved in sport,
but he never put any pressure on us.
We could choose what we wanted to do.
And Hansie and me chose cricket.
[commentator] Hansie Cronje,
he's by far South Africa's best player.
[Hester Parsons] Hansie lived for cricket.
When we would play, uh, backyard cricket,
he would walk out,
lift his bat, thank the crowd.
[commentator]
Fabulous innings in the making here.
[Hester] I don't think
we had a conversation
without cricket being involved.
[crowd cheering]
[commentator] And that's a very good shot
indeed by Hansie Cronje. It's six.
Fantastic cricket!
[Allan] I met Hansie for the first time,
actually, at the cricket nets.
We became big friends from day one.
We just had this special bond.
He was almost How can I say this?
I don't want to do him injustice.
He was almost like
"I'm here. Look at me."
He had this aura about him
that sort of stood out.
[Hester] He wanted to represent
his country at international cricket.
That was his dream.
[Allan] He said it from when he was 15.
He wanted to lead South Africa.
He wanted to become
one of the greatest captains of all time.
[Frans] Unfortunately, in the '80s,
Hansie's aspirations were very limited
because we were banned
from international sport.
[reporter] South Africa is banned simply
because sport is based on the ethos
of play and competition
being fair and equal for all.
And that is not deemed possible
in this country which practices apartheid.
There was no future
in playing for your country.
But then
the nation changed.
[helicopter whirring]
[reporter 2] There's Mr. Mandela,
a man who has been in prison
for nearly three decades.
Taking his first steps
into a new South Africa.
[Frans] Mandela was freed,
we could get rid of apartheid.
The country had a new hope,
had a new life to it.
[Nelson Mandela] I greet you all
in the name of peace,
democracy, and freedom for all.
[crowd cheering]
South Africa has been readmitted
to international cricket
after more than 20 years
of sporting isolation.
[Frans] Suddenly, we were back
into international sport,
and a few months later,
Hansie was selected
to play for South Africa.
[chuckling]
It was a mixture of nerves and pride.
My father couldn't watch a full cricket
match because he'd just get so nervous.
[uplifting music playing]
South Africa were now on the world stage.
[commentator]
Welcome to the first day's play
of this test match between Australia
and South Africa. It's a lovely, fine day.
[Jonathan] South Africa at batting.
They are desperate to prove themselves
for all those lost years
when they were banned.
[commentator] That's a good shot.
Good innings by Hansie Cronje.
[Jonathan] But South Africa's
international experience was almost zero.
[man shouting]
[Jonathan] And their opponents, Australia,
the best in the world.
[commentator] What a catch!
Hansie Cronje gone
for a very well made 41.
Got him! What a ripper!
He made nine.
Out to seven.
- He's out!
- [Jonathan] Australia are winning.
[commentator]
The Australians absolutely jubilant.
And then the South African captain,
Kepler Wessels, breaks a finger.
[commentator] That is desperate luck
for the South Africans.
He's their top batsman
and their captain.
[Jonathan] In cricket, the captain
is more important than the coach.
All the strategy and the tactics
on the field are down to him.
So the game
is all but lost.
[commentator]
South Africa in dire straits.
[Allan] Our captain, Kepler,
couldn't go on the field.
So he looked around the room
and thought, "Who's it gonna be?"
[commentator] Cronje's acting captain
in his first service
in that department for his country.
[Allan] Hansie was a a young man.
He's a rookie in that team.
[commentator] South Africa all but gone.
How's he gonna handle a tense situation?
[commentator]
South Africa now in deep trouble.
You gotta be so spot-on tactically.
[Jonathan] As the fielding captain,
the young Cronje is given a situation
in which the best team in the world
need just 54 more runs
to win with six batsmen left.
For South Africa, it's game over.
Somehow, this young man had to keep
his team believing that they could win.
[Allan] Hansie just said,
"Nothing fancy. Do the basics well."
"The pressure that we bring
will get us there."
[announcer shouts]
We had a great start.
[commentator] That's a good delivery
from Donald and he's gone.
He's got him.
And South Africa break through again.
But then Australia started to hit a few.
- [commentator] What a good shot.
- [whistle blows]
[cheering]
And suddenly,
this test match is back on the tightrope.
But Hansie had this immense calmness
about him that I cannot explain.
[commentator] He's gone, a direct hit.
What an excellent throw
from Hansie Cronje.
And the South Africans strike back.
What a brilliant catch.
And what a great, fine bat this is.
Things are starting to get real tight.
[commentator] Got him!
South Africa have got it by one.
And South Africa
have pulled off a magical victory.
Oh, this is a marvelous moment
for South African cricket.
Hansie captained that
like he's captained 50 test matches.
Cronje somehow managed to claw a victory
from the very jaws of defeat.
The tears and the goosebumps at home,
seeing that and that victory,
it was unbelievable.
That match changed his life.
[crowd chanting] Hansie! Hansie! Hansie!
[Hester] People loved Hansie.
- [chuckling]
- This is paradise today.
[Hester] But it didn't really change
anything in our relationship
with each other.
It was always the same, always had time
for a joke, or, you know, a good laugh.
[music playing]
[singing indistinctly]
[others laughing]
[woman]
He was one of the greatest people I knew.
Gentle.
Caring.
[laughs]
I was married to Hansie for seven years.
I felt safe.
I never had to worry about anything.
He, um
It was like he had
everything under control.
[Mandela] The people of South Africa
have spoken in this election.
They want change.
And change is what they will get.
[crowd cheering]
[Frans] In the '94 elections,
Mandela became president.
Even though people had a sense of hope
and a sense of something new happening,
it was incredibly fragile.
[crowd chanting indistinctly]
Make a stand in your vote
with bullets and guns.
Make a stand in God's name.
This is God's Land.
This is the Promised Land!
[Frans] Many of the more
conservative white people
got themselves armed and organized
to be able to fight a civil war
if it should become necessary.
[Rory Stein] President Mandela,
the majority of white South Africans,
you know, myself included, in the past,
considered him to be a terrorist.
Our fears were that this could
so easily go up in flames.
And I mean that literally.
Sport can go where politics can't.
[indistinct chatter]
[all chuckling]
[Rory] For many white South Africans,
sport is really important.
If President Mandela
identifies with sport,
he will get white South Africans to say,
"Let's give him a chance.
Let's see where this goes."
"Where is this dream of his headed?"
[Allan]
1994 was the start of a pivotal time
for South African cricket.
It was almost captained and coached
by one bloke, and that was Hansie Cronje.
[hip-hop music plays]
Hansie said, "We are gonna be
the number one team
in test match cricket."
"The best, one-day,
international team in the world."
"And the fittest cricketing nation
on the planet."
Hansie set a bar for us
as an international team.
[commentator]
The South Africans were relentless.
Unbelievable. I just admire
their courage so very very much.
Cronje's tactics were masterly.
There's the captain
who's hardly put a foot wrong.
Everything that Cronje touched
turned to gold.
The game chose me ♪
Now I've been training for this
My whole life ♪
Carpe diem, seize the moment, right ♪
We won everywhere around the world.
We were taking the game
to the next level.
Never quit
Even though the thing's heavy ♪
We push like a 7-7 chevy ♪
Boy ready ♪
[commentator] Awesome shot.
Again.
Oh, yeah, well,
this is just wonderful wonderful stuff.
He has carried South Africa to victory
with the most amazing innings.
[Dr. Bacher] The country was moving
into a new direction.
Hopefully, equality for all people,
Black and white.
Nelson Mandela saw Hansie as a role model
to inspire other whites.
[Mandela] Sport has played
an important role in uniting our country.
I must congratulate in particular
Captain Hansie Cronje
for the excellent manner
in which he has led the national team.
[Allan] Hansie Cronje became so much more
than just a cricket captain.
He was anointed by Nelson Mandela
to be the man to somehow unify the nation.
[crowd cheering]
[Hansie] Ladies and gentlemen.
It gives me great pleasure,
from the team, to thank Mr. Mandela
for your immense contribution
in uniting this country
and forming a new South Africa
and granting us
the opportunity of playing sport.
[Allan] He was on a pedestal,
the like of which I don't think
I've ever come across before.
[crowd cheering]
[reporter] Who's your cricketing hero?
Oh, it's Cronje, favorite.
[reporter] Small boys the world over
have sporting heroes,
but for white men
to be heroes to Black people
in the country which made
oppression a God-ordained way of life,
that really is something.
You guys are now heroes in the townships.
What does that tell you
about how South African cricket is going?
I'm sure in five or six years' time,
it won't be predominantly white.
[Godlam Rajah] Hansie Cronje
came from the heart
of what I call apartheid land,
surrounded by people
who voted for the party
that locked Nelson Mandela away
for 27 years.
And yet, here I met a man
who thought like me.
He said to me, "Goolam,
I noticed that, again,
there's no Black players in the team."
He expected players of color to be there.
[Herschelle Gibbs] When I was selected,
people, you know, sort of joked.
They said, "You just fill a quota."
Yeah, but it's not gonna make a difference
because I was performing well.
I always knew
I was gonna play for a long time.
[Allan] Herschelle Gibbs
is of mixed-race from Cape Town.
During apartheid, Herschelle Gibbs
would not have been on the same field
as Hansie Cronje.
But he was there utterly on merit.
He was more than just good enough
to play cricket for South Africa.
He was a star.
At 22, you're basically
in awe of of the captain.
Hansie was so well-loved
and so well-respected
from his peers, that, uh
everybody would, you know,
run through a wall for him.
[crowd cheering]
You get captains that are different
because they read people really well
on and off the field.
He realized quite soon
what sort of character I was.
They could see that spontaneity
and that instinctiveness that I have.
Hansie brought
the best out of the players.
[Paddy] He was really connected
to the guys, easy to get on with.
But in four years,
I bought Hansie a lot of beers in pubs.
There might have been once when he dropped
his guard and he bought me one back.
He liked money.
He liked holding onto it.
[commentator] Knock the pants off them!
Hansie Cronje, this wonderful clean image.
He's just a sponsor's dream.
[Hester] All of a sudden,
he's earning more money than my dad.
Being more in the public eye,
he was more aware of how he dresses.
[commentator] Slip into a pair
of Hansie Cronje casual pants.
Hansie!
And you did notice it.
[commentator] Hansie Cronje,
easy to care for casual wear.
At that stage, he had millions
and millions of rands a year
from various sponsors and endorsements.
Getting easy money was was his weakness.
He wanted to do his utmost to get it.
[commentator] Hello and welcome
to the first day's play
of this fifth and final test match
between South Africa and England,
this time from SuperSport Park
in Centurion.
[Jonathan] This is a match that I still
can't quite get my head around.
And I don't think that anybody
who was there ever will, frankly.
[commentator] At Centurion Park,
as the England Team,
who won the toss of course,
Nasser Hussain leads his team out.
[Jonathan]
On the first day, South Africa batted.
And then, for the next three days,
it rained.
[thunder rumbling]
[commentator] And it really has been
very frustrating for everybody:
Players, umpires,
ground staff, commentators,
journalists, spectators.
[Jonathan]
So we arrived for the fifth day,
with only one team having batted.
And that team hasn't even finished
batting for the first time yet.
A result was impossible
because it was going to be a draw.
There was no time available
for there to be a result.
[commentator]
And now that we have got cricket,
what are we to make of it?
I think it will be a case a little bit
of going through the motions.
Such a pity because this match
promised so much.
Very, very frustrating.
Now, there is a situation in cricket
where if you are the batting captain,
you can simply
declare your innings closed.
Usually, that's done when you think
you've got enough runs to win the game.
But it wasn't something
that was gonna happen that day.
South Africa didn't have enough runs
to win the game.
So when we saw Nasser Hussain,
England's captain, running off the field
to talk to Hansie Cronje,
they surprised everybody.
[commentator]
I think we have a declaration.
We're not bluffing you, it has happened.
[Jonathan]
Word got out about what happened.
It was a negotiation.
Hansie Cronje said to Nasser Hussain,
"You forfeit your first innings,
we'll forfeit our second innings."
"We will set you
so many runs to win this match."
Hansie Cronje has offered England
an opportunity to try and win the game.
[commentator] I think it's terrific.
A a good gesture
from the two captains.
It, uh, creates interest
from a game that was stone-dead.
[Simon Wilde] In the press box,
there's general incredulity
that this had been done at all.
[commentator] There have never been
two forfeits before in a test match.
[Simon] There was no precedent.
In 125 years of test cricket,
it hadn't happened before.
[Herschelle] That was completely bizarre.
[chuckling] I didn't even know
you were allowed to do that in cricket.
[commentator]
And there comes the South Africans.
[Simon] England needs to score 249
to win the match.
[Allan] I thought,
"That is a very, very generous target."
The decision didn't sit well with me,
because not in a million years
would I give England
even a sniff of winning.
I I just wouldn't do it.
[commentator]
That is a good shot well-stopped.
Cronje, leading from the front.
The cricket that followed was a good game.
[commentator] That's four runs.
It's crashed away by Hussain.
[Allan] England really
got out the blocks quickly.
- [commentator] And that's four more.
- Then South Africa's on top.
- [commentator] In the air!
- [crowd cheering]
Brilliantly caught
by a diving Herschelle Gibbs.
And it was a very seesaw battle
at that stage.
[commentator] That is the breakthrough
that South Africa wanted.
Gone for a big one,
and it is a big one. It's six runs.
[Simon] England get to within
striking distance of the target.
[commentator]
Four more runs is gonna help a-plenty.
[Simon] England then stumble,
lose some late wickets.
[commentator] He's giving him out!
It went right down to the wire.
[commentator] What drama!
Pulled away back up for four,
and England win.
Hansie Cronje,
obviously disappointed in losing.
You can see that in his face.
[Allan] I rang him after the game
and he just said to me,
"It's a gamble I wanted to take."
"We could've been
on the other end of that."
You know, that's it.
It's captain's prerogative.
[Jonathan] I felt that Hansie Cronje
had done us all a favor
and done cricket a favor, frankly.
Rather than just consigning a game
to utter tedium,
he brought it to life.
[reporter] Hansie, it may seem odd
to say congratulations after a defeat,
but this has been a special day
for the game, I think.
I think the game needed it.
We owed it to the public
to get out and be positive,
and seeing that the players
wanna play cricket
[Simon] Captains did make
generous declarations to test cricket,
but never this generous.
[muted]
I was sufficiently intrigued
by the whole thing
that I went and spoke to some
of the England players back at the hotel.
I found out Cronje had made
three offers to Nasser,
and he reduced the target
by quite a bit actually by the time
he got to the one that England went for.
Didn't make sense at all.
Why had he done it?
[Marlon] I should never
have been able to get close to him.
My name is Marlon Aronstam.
I was a bookmaker in South Africa.
In the Centurion Test,
I was in a restaurant in Johannesburg.
And I said to somebody, "I have an idea.
Let's make this game alive."
"I'm gonna call Hansie
and tell him to declare."
You could make money on that event
if you knew
that it's gonna take place for sure.
I just dialed a telephone number,
which I still remember today,
which was 788-188.
It was the telephone number
of the South African Cricket Board,
I said, "Can I please have
Hansie Cronje's telephone number?"
They gave it to me.
[suspenseful music playing]
[ringing]
I called Hansie.
Told him I'm a business man
interested in cricket
and I'm prepared to make a donation to
charity if he can organize a declaration.
He was happy to talk to me.
"Come and see me."
I go up to his room.
He opens the door
and there's, uh like, a suite.
We sit in the lounge area
and we started to talk.
And he liked the proposal.
He said he would speak
to Nasser in the morning,
and they'll discuss the possibilities.
[commentator]
We're just gonna go through the motions.
I think it will be a case a bit
of going through the motions.
[Marlon] The next morning,
I have contact from Hansie
by text message at 9:30 in the morning:
Nasser's not interested.
[commentator] Such a pity
because, uh, this match promised so much.
Somewhere around 11:15 to 11:30
he sent me a message.
"The deal is on."
[commentator]
I think we have a declaration.
We're not bluffing you, it has happened.
[Marlon] I got in the car and rushed off
to Centurion to watch the match.
As Hansie started coming up the stairs,
and he sees me and he winks at me,
I knew the game's on.
It was an exciting game of cricket.
I probably won about 15,000 rand.
In U.S. dollars, at the time,
it probably was about 2,500.
I'd call that Mickey Mouse money.
Nasser didn't know we'd made a deal.
Had we known in the morning,
at nine o'clock,
that Nasser was gonna agree
we'd have started betting
that it will not be a draw.
We could've made a million rand.
[interviewer]
Did any money get given to charity?
No.
[interviewer]
It was a way of having him meet you.
I wanna answer all your questions
like you want them.
But you wanna go routes which is not
what I wanna go down that same route.
[interviewer] Okay. What happened next?
[intense music playing]
[Marlon]
We started to talk regularly after that.
We became friends.
When South Africa went off to India,
I told him that if ever he needs to know
where to go, go out to bars,
I think I said I can get somebody
to help him and show him around.
[man] Hansie! Hansie! It's me!
[Allan] Arriving in India, thousands
and thousands of Indian supporters.
It was immense. It really was immense.
[Simon] In India, cricket is massive.
Millions of people watch cricket.
It's a billion-dollar industry.
Wherever we moved, there was
thousands of people around the team
and they just wanted
to get a glimpse of what we look like.
That noise,
just the excitement and atmosphere.
[crowd roaring]
It was sensational to actually play
when the crowd is that big and that loud.
It was phenomenal.
And Hansie really loved it.
[reporter]
The noise here gonna create problems?
It was pretty quiet during test matches
but certainly gonna be noisy,
just gonna try and stay together
and communicate all the time.
[Marlon] Cricket in India is a religion.
The people's entertainment
is watching cricket and betting on it.
You can't place a bet in India on cricket,
not legally anyway.
But there is this vast network
of illegal bookmaking.
[Marlon] The market is huge.
The betting industry in India
is worth millions.
A lot of rich people putting
bets of $300,000 on a game of cricket.
The Indian market
bet who's gonna win the game.
And then they could get a bet on anything
to do with the game of cricket.
What will be the total runs
scored for the innings?
What will be the score of the 15-overs,
30-overs, and 50-overs?
One can bet on whether a player
walks on the field with a watch on or not,
with long sleeves or not.
Who's going to open the bowling
or who's gonna bowl number three?
[Marlon] They bet who won the toss.
[Simon] Bookies will try and influence
the situation in their favor.
So they target the captains
because they are
the most influential people on the pitch.
A cricket captain can ask a groundsman
for a particular type of pitch,
you're involved in selection,
so you can affect who plays,
put his fielders where he likes.
He can decide who bowls when.
He has huge amount of control in a way
that doesn't apply in any other sport.
So if you want to influence things,
then the captain is head and shoulders
above everyone else
in terms of the guy
you should be aiming for.
I told Hansie I can set him up to meet
somebody in India and, the next morning,
I spoke to Hansie.
And he was on the bus
and he just said to me,
"Forget it. We're not doing anything."
Hansie wanted to win
in the subcontinent, in India.
[commentator] Great shot
and the end of the match.
He's taken it away with a six.
South Africa has won the game.
For South Africa to go to India and win
was a remarkable achievement.
[woman] Well done.
[Jonathan] The team came back from India
to a hero's welcome.
[boy] Could you sign this whole page here?
And all seemed well.
[both laughing]
Hansie.
[Bertha] When Hansie came home,
he just didn't want to talk about cricket.
He said he wanted to just relax
and leave that at the office.
[Bertha laughing]
For me, the cricket took him away.
You know, I think I remember there was
one year that he was at home 28 days.
So time together was precious.
We had just moved
into our house by the sea.
I remember we were
on our way to go to the beach.
It was something new for us,
coming from Bloemfontein.
We can go to the beach,
it's right there, and, um
the phone rang.
And all I can remember
hearing him say, "It's rubbish."
The Delhi police has registered
a case of criminal conspiracy,
fraud, and cheating against certain
individuals of Indian nationality
and the South African
cricket captain Hansie Cronje.
[reporter] Cronje and three other members
of the national team
are alleged by Indian authorities
to have been involved in match-fixing
during South Africa's
recent tour of India.
Captain Hansie Cronje
was approached to throw a match in India.
[reporter 2] Allegations
that national captain Hansie Cronje
was involved in match fixing
in the recent
one-day series against India.
[Bertha] He said it's not true,
doesn't know where it comes from.
But I could see that
he was really upset about this.
[inquisitive music playing]
Cronje?
It seemed to be completely impossible.
I was shocked about the statements
that the Delhi police was making.
Hansie Cronje
[Allan] I just thought it was a big joke,
to be honest.
And, uh, I couldn't get a hold of Hansie.
I immediately rang his brother.
We just all thought
this is absolutely absurd.
It can't be true.
And Hansie also said, "No, it's not true."
So that's it. You know, finished.
[Godlam] I got a call
from the South African Cricket Board.
It was Dr. Ali Bacher, and Ali said to me,
"What do you know about this?"
I said, "Ali, it's the first time
I'm hearing of it."
"Now as I'm seeing it."
"You mean you don't know anything?"
I said, "I swear I don't know anything."
The allegations are outrageous.
Hansie Cronje is a man
of unquestionable honesty and integrity.
I'm absolutely certain not one
of our players would ever contemplate
being involved in match-fixing.
[reporter] I was wondering,
could you describe
Hansie Cronje's character for us?
I said early on, he is a man
of unquestionable integrity and honesty.
It's libelous.
It's defamatory.
[reporter] There's been indignation
and disbelief across South Africa
that Indian police
could accuse Cronje of being involved
in what they've described
as a massive international crime.
The South African government
has sent a firmly worded "please explain"
to their Indian counterparts,
demanding access to the telephone taps
that allegedly implicate Cronje
with the match-fixing masterminds,
one of whom is now under arrest,
claiming to have organized
the half-million-dollar scam.
We are saying that our players
are innocent until proven guilty.
Just like any other person.
[Simon] It was a mistake.
Didn't make sense at all.
Why were the police in India
bugging the phones of a cricketer?
My name is Pradeep Srivastava.
And I was Deputy Commissioner
of Police Crime Branch
in Delhi Police in the year 2000.
The Crime Branch
looks after more serious crimes.
Extortion, kidnapping, killing.
We started working on some extortion case.
Permission was given to permit recording
of the calls of suspected criminals.
Technology was actually very raw.
Two wires and cassette attached to that.
No one knows what time anyone can call,
so two persons round the clock
listening to the phone.
[tape deck clicks]
[Pradeep]
This was one of the most unusual things.
Instead of finding any extortion racket,
it is something else which is going on.
[Ishwar] What we're hearing is,
you invest so much,
how much you have invested,
how so and so player is playing
or how we will play.
Why did you not lift the ball up?
Why did you not take the catch?
[tape deck clicks]
They are not talking
of terrorism or extortion.
They are talking about cricket.
[tape deck clicks]
There were two parties.
One was speaking
in a very accentuated foreign accent.
But this voice, I could not recognize.
[tape deck clicks]
I took the cassette home.
I kept it in my study
where we have the music system.
My children were
very keen fans of cricket.
That night, they asked me,
"Why do you have, uh,
Hansie Cronje's, uh, voice
on the recorder?"
And what had happened
a couple of days back,
Hansie was speaking on the television.
India's playing good cricket
at the moment
[Pradeep] They had remembered
his style of speaking,
his pronunciation, his accent.
So this was, without doubt,
a communication related to
the ongoing cricket matches.
Tapes were being recorded
more intently now.
There is an Indian party.
And they have asked him
to do certain things.
I was surprised.
Hansie Cronje was one of the most
important cricketers of that time.
So getting anything on him
was a very major breakthrough.
- Hi. How are you?
- [reporter] You won't talk to us now?
I I've got an interview
at, uh, seven o'clock tonight.
The next four days, the demand
for information on Cronje was massive.
The only theory
that I think will clear my name,
is if you speak to the players
and if you, um, check my cash,
bank accounts.
I have not received any money and I have
never ever spoken to any of the players.
[Frans] Hansie was not himself.
We realized the tension that he was under.
My dad called Hansie
and said, "What's happening?"
Hansie said, "No, Dad, don't worry
about it. There's nothing in this."
And then they said, "Goodbye."
And my dad forgot to put his phone off.
So his phone was still on and he turned
to my mother and he said to my mother,
"I think Hansie is lying.
I think he was involved in something."
And Hansie heard my dad saying it.
[tense music playing]
[Rory] Around this time,
Australia are playing in South Africa.
I was providing security.
And both teams are in the same hotel.
Half past two in the morning,
the phone rings.
"Rory, it's Hansie.
Could you please come up to my room?"
Over the years, Hansie and I
have become quite good friends.
I ran upstairs.
And all the lights are on in his suite.
There's a kit bag packed.
And as I walk in, he's holding up
this piece of paper towards me.
It was a handwritten statement.
He seems uptight, emotional,
saying to me that some of the stuff
that is being said in the newspapers
is actually true.
All he wanted to do was get away.
I convinced him we need
to get the team manager up there.
This was serious. It was explosive.
He needs to speak to him.
I can't believe this.
Not Hansie.
I looked at him
and I saw a face that I never saw before.
I said to him,
"I will never talk to you again."
[Dr. Bacher] At three o'clock
this morning, I was phoned.
Goolam Rajah handed the phone
over to Hansie Cronje
who said to me that, um
he had not been honest
with regard to these allegations.
[reporter]
Cronje putting his hand up
and making the admission
that he'd accepted money.
But he continues to deny match-fixing.
[Ali] Let us say unequivocally
that we in South African cricket
are shattered.
We will say unequivocally
that the United Cricket Board
and the government have been deceived.
[reporter 2] This is a real bombshell.
[reporter 3] It's a startling revelation.
[reporter 4] News of Hansie Cronje's
dismissal as the South African captain
is now starting to filter out
across the country
and is being met with utter disbelief.
No matter what they say about him,
I will always support Hansie.
He should be accountable for what he did.
I wouldn't believe
he has done such a thing but,
if he has, it's a big regret.
This was massive.
- Not guilty.
- [kids] Not guilty.
[Allan] As kids
we wanted to set
ourselves up as role models.
Now you're telling me this.
Next to Mandela, Hansie was probably
the next highest regarded citizen.
It was a huge deal.
[Ali] He's brought shame
to the game quite clearly.
[reporter] So why did Cronje
apparently lie in his first statements?
[Ali] It's not clear exactly
what his confession involved.
[Simon] If it goes any further,
it's the most devastating thing
in cricket in the last 100 years.
[Allan] Now what's next?
Was I part of something
that shouldn't have happened?
How serious is this thing?
There were so many unanswered questions.
The nation had to know what was going on.
[man]
The integrity of the game is at stake.
- [man 2] There will be questions asked.
- [Jon] Is he now telling the truth?
[man 3]
We need to get to the bottom of this.
[reporter] It's the first day
of a special inquiry
taking place in Cape Town.
The former South African cricket captain,
Hansie Cronje, has already admitted
taking money from a bookmaker,
but he's denied trying to fix the matches.
[suspenseful music playing]
[Simon] We got a couple of days' notice
Cronje was gonna appear.
There was cameras, journalists.
We were waiting to be allowed in.
And he'd been spirited into the building
without anyone having a chance to see him.
I was sent to report on this.
A nation gripped on the day
that Cronje appeared to give his evidence.
[Frans]
It was going to be a closed commission.
But in the end, they decided
it's going to be live on television.
You can't describe how tough it was.
[Jonathan] He was given immunity
from prosecution,
so therefore he couldn't go to prison.
What was he going to say?
How much would he say?
How is he going to explain it?
We were all waiting.
[woman] I'm going to deal
with the Centurion issue now.
First, the call
you received from Mr. Aronstam.
Mr. Aronstam was a stranger to you,
and on your own evidence,
you had not previously
heard of or spoken to him.
Why were you prepared
to invite him up to your room?
Mr. Aronstam said to me
that, um, he was a cricket lover
and he was interested in getting a match
on at Centurion the following day,
and he had a suggestion
and he wanted to meet me.
I didn't realize it was quite so easy
to meet the national captain off the side.
Did it ever occur to you
that Mr. Aronstam's interest
in making a game of it might
actually benefit him in his gambling?
It may have done but, I mean, what
What good can it do when you're not sure
what the end result is going to be?
[man] I think
it will help immensely, Mr. Cronje.
That could be very, very meaningful
information to somebody who is interested
in betting on the outcome
of the game, surely.
[interviewer] Was Centurion fixed?
Define the word "fixed." The act?
The final outcome? Definitely not.
Because when you know the outcome,
you know for sure what's gonna happen.
To this day, I've never known for sure
in a cricket game what's gonna happen.
[Simon] It was fixed,
because there should be
three results possible,
South Africa win, England win, a draw.
But Cronje was determined that the draw
would not be one of those three options.
That that's a fix, surely.
[Jonathan] He interfered with it.
He manipulated the game.
So why did he do it?
After the game, I had a leather jacket,
which I bought for my wife,
but I bought the wrong size.
I brought the jacket.
I said, "I've got a nice present
for you to give to Bertha."
I gave it to him
with 50,000 rand in a bank bag.
And that money was paid
for future information to come.
[Hansie] Uh, I wasn't expecting to receive
any money from Mr. Aronstam.
So when he gave you 50,000 rand,
you must have been absolutely shocked.
I thought this was
a very generous man, yeah.
[Jonathan]
Cronje admitted to taking money.
But the picture was much bigger
than that match at Centurion.
[Marlon] I didn't ask for immunity
for giving evidence.
I've got nothing to hide.
[man] If I read your statement correctly,
"As I was leaving, Mr. Cronje said to me,
how is it possible for him
to make any money out of cricket?
I replied by saying,
'The ball is in your court.'"
Is that statement correct?
One thousand percent correct.
[Marlon]
I called friends of mine afterwards.
I said, "I've been telling you
for a long time cricket could be crook."
"I'm telling you it is crook.
I've just come out of Hansie's room.
The man's offered to throw cricket games."
He started to explain what he could do.
He could lose a game.
"The best way to make money
is to lose a game."
[Marlon] I told Hansie, I can set him up
to meet somebody in India.
And he said to me,
"Forget it. We're not doing anything."
And we didn't know why,
which we found out afterwards why.
He had met another party
and they had offered him a lot more money.
[reporter] It must send shock waves
through the whole cricket world,
and you've got to wonder
[man] I'm devastated.
Everybody trusted Hansie.
[man 2]
And it's just extremely disappointing.
[Bertha] Every day when he got back,
he didn't want to talk or want to eat.
He would climb in his bed
and try to sleep.
In the middle of the night,
I had to change the sheets of the bed
because it was so
it was wet from his, um
his perspiring so much.
I used to write Bible verses on little
pieces of cotton and put it on the mirror,
so when he shaved he could look at them.
But nothing could reassure him.
At one stage I just asked him,
"Is there anything else, um
that you need to say? Because, you know,
you you haven't been completely honest."
[reporter] When Herschelle Gibbs,
in the light-colored suit,
arrived for day two of the inquiry
into corruption in the game,
only a few knew of the massive body blow
he was about to deliver
to South African cricket.
[Herschelle]
The morning of the King Commission,
I remember walking into the court.
It was properly full.
Man, I was nervous.
[reporter]
Gibbs sat nervously inside the hall
before television cameras were excluded
for his sensational testimony.
[Herschelle]
We were in the hotel in India.
I get a knock on the door
and Hansie walks in.
I'm not sure even
how the conversation started.
He said, "Look, I've got a mate
that wants to offer you $15,000
if you'd score less than 20."
And within like a split second,
within a split second,
I said, "Yes." You know, I said, "Fine."
He realized what sort of character I was,
and I was happy to do anything
at least once
without even knowing
or thinking of the consequences.
Then he turned to Henry Williams,
my roommate.
He said, "I'll do it as well."
Two minutes later,
Hansie's gone out the door.
Now I'm looking at Henry
and he's looking at me and we're going
You know, we don't really know
what to say to one another.
From the hotel room to the field
it was quite a long drive.
I had a lot to think about.
The crowds are very intimidating.
I got to the field,
and I didn't know what to do.
[crowd roaring]
[dramatic music playing]
I said to myself,
"No. I'm not going to go through with it."
You know, and I end up getting 74.
Henry only bowled like three overs
and got injured.
He went off the field.
We won the game.
About a day or two afterwards,
Hansie said to me,
"That particular person, my friend,
he lost about 20 million dollars,"
apparently, in that game.
[Simon] It's the blackest mark
against him, really, in the whole story.
He tried to corrupt
two young, non-white players,
Henry Williams and Herschelle Gibbs.
And that's about as bad a thing
you can do in South Africa.
He went against everything that Cronje's
role was supposed to involve, really,
which is nurturing a multicultural team
in multicultural South Africa.
[Jonathan] He put both their careers
absolutely on the line,
and they both were suspended.
That was a really worrying insight
into Cronje's tactics.
But I honestly don't think
that Cronje was a bad man,
and for him to be reduced
to putting so much pressure
on Gibbs and Williams,
I think illustrates actually
the sort of pressure that he was under
and how tight those bookmakers
were turning the screw.
[Simon] The evidence
of the King Commission is that bookies
will often give the players something,
seemingly, for nothing.
Easy money,
and you think, "Well, why not?"
[attorney] Now,
what I'm trying to figure out is why
you have an offer of $30,000
to ensure that you lost
when that was almost a certainty anyway.
I was trying to rationalize to myself,
um, when I took the money,
that this was in fact a very stupid
uh, bet.
I really couldn't understand why
somebody would give me 30,000 U.S. dollars
for a match that I thought
we were going to lose anyway.
[Jonathan] Once you've taken
the money from bookmakers
well, you've had it, really.
I mean, you are totally open to blackmail.
I'm told that once the bookies got you,
they got you for life.
[Simon] Essentially, the story began
within six months of becoming captain.
Which was astonishing, really.
It seemed incredible
that it had gone back so far.
[attorney 2]
Have you disclosed everything?
Yes.
I cannot tell you
the huge shame that it's caused me,
the great passion I have for my country,
great passion I have for my teammates,
and the unfortunate love I have for money.
I do like money.
I'm not trying to get away from that.
Yes.
I accepted money from bookmakers.
Yes, I was trying
to feed them information.
But I promise you
every time I walked onto the field
I gave my all for South Africa.
[dramatic music playing]
[Hester] I couldn't believe it.
And I still can't believe it.
But I wish I had known.
Because then you would've been
there for him more often.
Sorry. [sniffles]
[Frans] At the end of that process,
Hansie got banned for life.
[attorney 2] Mr. Cronje,
thank you.
[dramatic music continues]
[Frans] After breaking down,
there was a small room,
and he just fell on his back.
And he just lay there
and he broke down crying.
He absolutely wept.
And he said, "Sorry."
He said it a hundred times.
And he wanted to make it right.
[Bertha] Hansie loved cricket.
And he lost that.
And it took him a long time
to get back on his feet.
But after two years I could see
that the old Hansie was coming back.
He was enjoying things again.
He was living his life.
Hansie had a job
at a company in Johannesburg.
I was excited to have him
home for the weekend.
Hansie phoned and said
he's gonna miss his flight.
And then he said to me
he managed to get on another flight.
Seven o'clock came and nothing,
and by eight o'clock I thought,
"No, something is seriously wrong."
[reporter] Breaking news,
some tragic news from South Africa.
[reporter 2] The former South Africa
cricket captain, Hansie Cronje,
has been killed in a plane crash.
[reporter 3]
The plane carrying Hansie Cronje
was trying to land in poor weather
when it came down high
in a mountain range
in the Western Cape province.
[Bertha] It was like a a nightmare.
I was in such a
daze.
[man] Put a hand out to one another.
All of our hearts are aching.
I was overwhelmed
with the reaction of the people.
[crowd chanting] Hansie! Hansie! Hansie!
Hansie! Hansie! Hansie!
Hansie! Hansie! Hansie!
[crowd cheering]
[Mandela]
Hansie Cronje was one of the greatest
cricket captains in our country.
And, uh, he literally made us walk tall.
[Bertha]
Even through everything that happened,
nobody actually forgot who he was.
They remembered his heart
like I knew his heart,
and that he was a good person.
[crowd cheering]
[Herschelle]
He lived by the mistakes he made.
Jeez, he didn't kill anybody.
I mean, fuck it.
He didn't kill anyone.
[Frans] If it wasn't for forgiveness
and repentance,
we wouldn't be here in South Africa,
because we would've killed each other.
We went through a Truth and
Reconciliation Commission politically
where people who murdered other people
based on their political beliefs
were acquitted.
They were forgiven,
and they're serving in government.
[gentle music playing]
And I think it
it shows the nation we are.
[voice breaks] We're a nation that
can stand together when it matters.
And I certainly stood behind Hansie.
Sorry.
[sniffles]
[closing theme music playing]