Gcobani Bobo
Former Springbok Gcobani Bobo discusses a life-changing ex perience
IREMEMBER HAVING a discussion with my mates and saying that once we make this decision it comes with consequences. Are you willing to take the consequences?”
Gcobani Bobo, the former Springbok centre turned TV pundit, is addressing one of the most unusual questions RugbyWorld has posed at the start of an interview. Whydidyouliveinacave?
The mates Bobo refers to, twins Oginga and Samora Siwundla, had played rugby with him at Rondebosch Boys’ High School in Cape Town. Bobo, however, was the star; he had captained South Africa U17 to France in 1996, had roomed with John Smit for SA Schools the same year, was being touted to lead the Springbok U19s at a Junior World Cup. This was all not long after South Africa’s first free elections and the rise to power of Nelson Mandela. The opportunities, the attention and adulation, all got a bit much for Bobo. He was leaving school and wanted to press the pause button.
“There was a lot of consciousness for youths trying to figure themselves out, now that we had opportunities to make sense of what we wanted to do with our lives. I started asking a lot about self, getting a lot of self-knowledge and self-appreciation. I wanted to know who I was without the rugby.
“So I got into Rastafarianism, which helped me to find who I was. It’s a way of life more than religion, it’s about Africanism and origins of Utopia, the only place that was never conquered by colonial powers. Being Rastafarian spoke to me and spoke to my mind.
“I was not Gcobani Bobo, I was Gcobani Bobo the rugby player. I wanted to find who Gcobani was and that’s why I took on this journey. And it came with the knowledge that I was willing to lose it all to gain more. That was my mindset. It was about character, even if I played the
game people would take me for my character. Having basic values and principles would hold me in good stead.”
And so Bobo and the twins went into the mountain above Muizenberg, finding a cave right at the top. They washed in waterfalls and used the water for cooking, they made fires to fend off the cold they felt in their sackcloth clothing. Bobo sometimes wore an all-brown defence force uniform. He went bare-footed, grew a massive beard and dreadlocks that resembled the shrub of a tree.
Their diet was strictly vegetarian and for food they went down to the market. Selling herbs or their remaining possessions brought them money to buy bread or potatoes, and sometimes people would be charitable. “You could say I was a bergie (vagrant),” says Bobo, whose weight dropped to 72kg.
Bobo fell out with his family. Although saddened by that, he was independent in spirit. He went to boarding school from the age of nine and in holidays had lived with his grandparents in Engcobo, in the old Transkei. They were methodist priests and his parents felt he would benefit from their influence.
Then, six months into his reclusive existence, Bobo had an epiphany after descending the mountain and passing a store that sold television sets.
“There was an advert playing for
Super 12 rugby, with TheWildBoys (Duran Duran) theme. And I saw
John Smit, who was now part of the Sharks team. And I knew this (rugby) was something that I needed to finish. It was my purpose in life. I walked down to the SARU offices, I was pretty close to Rian Oberholzer (managing director) at the time, and told him I was ready to play rugby.”
To change his environment, SARU packed him off to the Lions in Johannesburg, where Jake White had a gift for him. “He said, ‘There’s an opportunity for you to become something quite special in South Africa but you have to show me true commitment. Here’s 50 rand, go and cut your hair’.”
Bobo smartened up and ditched the veggie diet, regaining his lost weight. Within four years he was making his Springbok debut against Scotland at Ellis Park, an occasion that brought an emotional reunion with his father.
He was at the infamous Kamp Staaldraad in 2003, which left several Boks traumatised but which Bobo, as a former cave dweller and Xhosa man, took in his stride. He missed the 2003 World Cup through injury but was to win six caps, the last of them the year before the 2009 Lions toured his country.
Bobo was playing for Western Province by then and vividly recalls their clash with the Lions. “I remember driving to Newlands for a team meeting and seeing a sea of red. Infiltrating, dominating the whole of Cape Town. They were out in droves. You could feel the atmosphere.
“I’d been a schoolboy when the British & Irish Lions played WP in 1997, and John Bentley went up against James Small. So having the chance to play against the Lions was very special.
“It was very tribal, four home unions joining up to go and conquer Africa.
The warriors from the safari fronting up for the pride of South Africa. I swapped a jersey with Ugo Monye, who had a brilliant tour for the Lions.”
Bobo played in the Premiership for Newcastle before retiring. He has worked for SuperSport, in the studio and commentary box, for ten years, and is engaged to his life partner, Simoné. Their son, Osu, will be three this month.
Bobo would have loved Maro Itoje to captain the tourists this summer – “Can you imagine a Nigerian captain of the British & Irish Lions? That would have resonated with so many people.”
He adds: “It will be disappointing not to see the Red Sea, or hear the chant of the Lions. For the first Test in 2009 Durban went dry, there was no liquor to be sold!
“South Africa is such a beautiful country and you want people to experience a safari, the nature, the people, to live that South African dream. It’s very unfortunate but still the rivalry is there. Every time we’ve been world champions, the British & Irish Lions have rocked up. We’ve lost one and won one, so this is the decider!”
And that time living in the cave… was it worth it? “Yeah, I’d do it again. With not even a flinch, not even a doubt.”
“Rastafarianism helped me to find out who I was. I was willing
to lose it all to gain more”