Rugby brings a new beginning
Graham Law visits a township after South Africa’s World Cup triumph
The Scotsman, 26 June 1995
“One team, one nation” was the slogan, but yesterday on the streets of Mamelodi township near Pretoria it was more than a convenient label.
South Africa’s success in winning the Rugby World Cup 15-12 against New Zealand – in the first final to go to extra time – was celebrated every bit as joyously here as it was in the sport’s traditional citadels.
Outside the Molotas Cafe, the locals gathered, avidly reading reaction to thr Springboks’ win in the Sunday papers.
Mike Mailula, 32, clutching his one-year-old daughter, Lethabo, said: “Yesterday was the first time I watched a rugby match on television with interest. Traditionally I had felt it was a white man’s sport. What changed my views was what has happened in this country.
“Last year we had the elections and the beginning of a new democracy in south Africa. more than anything else, the rugby tournament has been a political statement in that we have shown we are a united country.
“When the tiournament started I was a bit sceptical, but the political leadership gave it their blessing and when I heard the mainly white crowd at Ellis Park sing Nkosi Sikelel’i Afrika it was very moving.”
James Tholo, who stacks shelves at a supermarket, was at Ellis Park on Saturday and yesterday was proudly wearing the Springbok sweatshirt he had bought at the ground.
“We used to have whites sitting at one side and blacks at the other, but yesterday there was no division. People, all people, were calling the name Nelson.
“Our president was there to wish the team good luck. He was there wearing the No 6 jersey. Did Vorster or Botha do that?” he asked of previous presidents. Mr Tholo admitted to having “quite a few Hansas” (the local beer) in celebration and was not alone.
Job Nkabinde, 28, enthused: “From A to Z, I saw everything on the TV. The guys were excellent. I do love soccer and I didn’t like rugby, but from yesterday I love rugby and that man Stransky, who kicked all South Africa’s points.
Christopher Nthodi saw sporting achievements as a means to win economic benefits for the country. “Winning the World Cup shows the world that we are now one nation and many countries would now surely like to come here to invest,” he reasoned.
The spin-off for the sport excited rugby player Peter Maimane. “I’m so happy because this will make more people like the game and understand it. The people now know that South Africa can do something. We have the ability,” he chuckled.
The exuberance was echoed in Soweto. Mavis Mhlambi was a member of the Imilouji Kantu Choral Society which performed at Ellis Park. She received a prolonged embrace from the South African winger James Small at the end of the
game.later, she said: “That was the first rugby game I’ve been at. South Africa has come so far and I think we deserved the win. The team worked so hard.”
The South African manager, Morne du Plessis, was heartened by the response but he remained a realist. “Make no mistake, we have not taken over from soccer as the nation’s number one game. We cannot fool ourselves. All that has happened is that we have created a new interest and out of that something will breed,” he said. “A young black boy might now think twice about going to a rugby practice, whereas before he wouldn’t have seen the point.”
The South African Rugby Football Union has pledged to devote more than £1.3 million from its profits from the tournament to develop the game in under-privileged communities. That is in addition to a development budget of £2.6m.
The SARFU’S chief executive, Edward Griffiths, struck a harmonious note when he declared: “No-one working in rugby should think we are world champions and we are all right. We are world champions, but we still have problems and still have a long way to go. A truly national sport does not fill a team with 14 whites and does not fill a stadium of 62,000 with 98 per cent whites. This is the first step on a 100-mile journey.”
SARFU is expected to confirm soon that the first match of New Zealand’s tour to the republic next August will be played in a township – probably Soweto – a move that, on the evidence of the reaction in Mamelodi, would not be regarded as tokenism by the sport’s new-found followers.