The last time the Springbok won the rugby world cup was in 1995, a year after the first multi-party non-apartheid election was held, which the ANC won by a convincing majority. It was significant because rugby was an apartheid era white-only sport and the Springbok was the team that inspired protests across the world and the team at the heart of South Africa's international sporting isolation.
Their 1995 victory was truly significant, not only in the world of sports but politically and internationally. South Africa had come out of their pariah status with a huge bang.
From a leaf of history (courtesy of BBC News):
...The team would later attribute its victory in that historic final to the secret 16th player.
President Nelson Mandela turned up in the dressing room in the minutes before the match, wearing a Springbok shirt with the number of the captain, Francois Pienaar, on his back.
Mandela told the team he was proud of them. It is said to have moved Pienaar near to tears.
The camera reveals him so overcome that he was unable to sing the national anthem before the match began.
Mandela took his place in the stand and something magical happened. South Africa, so recently in from the cold, became world champions.
But that was not the end of it.
Black South Africa had not forgotten the slight it had suffered decades earlier when a well known South African golfer had won an international tournament.
After sinking his winning putt, the golfer had been interviewed on live television.
Referring to the sporting boycott, the interviewer had said "And of course this is a great day for South Africa too," to which the player had replied "Yes, it means a lot.
"We are a small country of just five million people." By which, of course, he meant five million white people.
Seconds after the final whistle blew that day in Johannesburg, Francois Pienaar, still breathless, was on the touchline for his own post-victory live television interview.
"You had great support from 65,000 South Africans here today, the interviewer said, referring to the capacity of the packed stadium.
Without a moment's hesitation, Pienaar said: "No. We had the support of 43 million South Africans today."
Everybody understood the significance of the moment.
South Africa, brave, inclusive, optimistic, had turned a corner, and could take pride again in its own identity.
When South Africans celebrated that night they were celebrating so much more than a sporting triumph.
(http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/7053197.stm)
President Nelson Mandela turned up in the dressing room in the minutes before the match, wearing a Springbok shirt with the number of the captain, Francois Pienaar, on his back.
Mandela told the team he was proud of them. It is said to have moved Pienaar near to tears.
The camera reveals him so overcome that he was unable to sing the national anthem before the match began.
Mandela took his place in the stand and something magical happened. South Africa, so recently in from the cold, became world champions.
But that was not the end of it.
Black South Africa had not forgotten the slight it had suffered decades earlier when a well known South African golfer had won an international tournament.
After sinking his winning putt, the golfer had been interviewed on live television.
Referring to the sporting boycott, the interviewer had said "And of course this is a great day for South Africa too," to which the player had replied "Yes, it means a lot.
"We are a small country of just five million people." By which, of course, he meant five million white people.
Seconds after the final whistle blew that day in Johannesburg, Francois Pienaar, still breathless, was on the touchline for his own post-victory live television interview.
"You had great support from 65,000 South Africans here today, the interviewer said, referring to the capacity of the packed stadium.
Without a moment's hesitation, Pienaar said: "No. We had the support of 43 million South Africans today."
Everybody understood the significance of the moment.
South Africa, brave, inclusive, optimistic, had turned a corner, and could take pride again in its own identity.
When South Africans celebrated that night they were celebrating so much more than a sporting triumph.
(http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/7053197.stm)
And yesterday, they finally cemented their status as one of the best rugby nations in the world. They won fairly and they truly deserved the title. And unlike the usual football hooliganism, fans of the English rose both at home and in Paris behaved admirably without violence and rioting despite the intense emotions.
I guess that's why they call it a gentleman's sport.
Labels: international, sports
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