A WHOLE LOTTA LOVE FOR KOLISI
RUGBY WORLD CUP FINAL South Africa’s first black captain knows victory today will help unite a nation
WE LOVE HIM: That’s the translation of Siyamthanda Kolisi’s full first name. It was a name given to him by a woman who watched Kolisi’s teenage mother bathe her boy 16 months after Nelson Mandela was released from prison.
If he lifts the World Cup on Saturday night in Yokohama, as the first black captain of the Springboks — a team previously so closely aligned with apartheid — the meaning of his name will become so much more significant.
The boy from the township showered in gold.
For who he is, and what he represents, Kolisi, 28, is far more than just a captain of a rugby team. Born in the Zwide township near Port Elizabeth he watched South Africa win the 2007 World Cup in a tavern as his family could not afford something so trivial as a television. By the age of 16 Kolisi’s grandmother — who raised him — mother and aunt had all died, and he was separated from his half-siblings.
Kolisi’s father has survived. Siya has organised for dad to be here in Yokohama today — on his first ever overseas trip.
When 12, Kolisi had shown some talent for rugby, and went to a junior trial. He wore his silk boxer shorts, as he did not own any proper kit. Fast-forward to 2018, and the moment he walked out at Ellis Park — where in 1995 Mandela had handed Francois Pienaar South Africa’s first World Cup — as captain of the Springboks, and faced England.
He admits now the significance of his appointment was too much to deal with at the start. ‘It was very tough at the beginning,’ said Kolisi on the eve of this World Cup final. ‘When it got announced, it was a big thing back at home, and around the world. It took its toll on me at the beginning and my performance dipped quite a lot. I think it was just a bit too much, so I had to work hard on myself.’
His rugby, and academic, education came at the famous Grey High School that counts English World Cup winner Mike Catt. As Xhosa was his first language, he struggled but eventually learnt English and left as the captain of the first team, a prefect and with a professional Stormers contract. Soon the sponsors came calling. Audi made him a brand ambassador in 2013; the problem was that Kolisi had never driven, and did not own a licence — so the car firm had to pay for his lessons.
A year after that Kolisi and his wife Rachel went on a mission to find his half-siblings. Liyema (now 18) and Liphelo (10) had spent five years in orphanages after their and Siya’s mother had died in 2009. Kolisi had not seen them for seven years but tracked them down when he was 23 and found them in a township in Port Elizabeth. He and Rachel adopted them, and now have a child of their own too.
Kolisi understands what it would mean for a nation to see a black man lift the World Cup with a Springbok on his chest — as the captain of the Rainbow Nation.
‘It will not only be huge for us, but the country as well,’ Kolisi added. ‘It’s not about me and what it would mean for me, but more about what it will mean for the team.
‘I haven’t seen this much support since I’ve played for the team. The president was speaking about it in parliament, asking the whole country to wear Springbok jerseys today and, if you are in a car, you must hoot your horn at one o’clock.
‘We have different races in our team and that is one of our strongest points, and that’s something we want to show by the way we play.’
If he does lift the World Cup, a team, a sport, a nation will love him more than ever.