When our national rugby team, popularly known as The SpringBoks rang rings around New Zealand to lift the Webb Ellis Cup in 1995 every South African even those in the remotest rural corners of the country stood up and hugged each other in celebration of the country’s first major sporting achievement – And achievements don’t often come better than a World Cup victory.
In many ways South Africa had already become a world leader in peace brokering but it took a rugby match to showcase the peace to the whole world. Today, the picture of the then Boks Captain Francois Pienaar hoisting the famous cup with the then President Nelson Mandela, remains one of the country’s most landmark photos.
To further show the uniting factor rugby has in this country, the nickname Spingbok is translated into many of South Africa’s 11 official languages and all the names are understood by every man on the street – Amabokoboko (Zulu), de Bokes (Afrikaans), Springboks (English) so the list goes on.
South African rugby has grown from strength to strength since the readmission onto the international arena in 1991 and our players have been racking-in the top international rugby honours. In 2004 Schalk Burger became the first South African rugby player to win all of rugby’s top international awards. He walked away with the International Rugby Board (IRB) Player of the Year Award, International Rugby Players’ Association (IRPA) and the South African Rugby Union (SARU) Player of the year awards.
In 2005 our winger Bryan Habana stood in line to win the same three internationally acclaimed awards. He won the SARU Player of the Year, Super 12 Try of the Year and the tournament’s Player of the Year. He competed for the IRB Player of the Year against fellow Bok Victor Matfield as well as All Blacks Dan Carter, Richie McCaw and their captain Tana Umaga. As a new kid the block Habana was also nominated for the IRPA’s Newcomer of the Year.
But the country’s rugby history is an interesting one. Unlike soccer rugby was not a well known sport to South Africans for a long time. The game's beginnings can be attributed to Britain's control over South Africa from 1806, bringing imperial values and soon establishing British sports on the Cape.
Canon George Oglivie, headmaster of Diocesan College, Cape Town, 1861-85 is acknowledged for being the founder of rugby in South Africa. He helped to develop the emerging game with input from new colonists from Britain.
In 1883 the game was prominent in the Cape leading to the formation of the Western Province Rugby Football Union.
British army regiments played a key role in spreading the game throughout the country, and six years later the South African Rugby Football Union was founded making it one South Africa’s oldest sporting authorities.
The following years saw international test matches including tours to Ireland and Britain. And it didn’t take South Africa too long to win their first test series. By 1896 the Boks were a side to be reckoned with winning their first series in 1903. They were never to lose another test until 1956.
South African rugby has always had a uniting effect. Their tour to Britain in 1906 helped heal wounds after the Boer War and instilled a sense of national pride in South Africans. It is on this tour that captain Paul Roos coined the name Springboks taken from the symbol of their jersey. Roos wanted to prevent the British journalists from inventing their own name.
The game quickly spread amongst the Afrikaner population through Prisoners Of War games in the Boer War and thereafter the University of Stellenbosch became a virtual training camp for future Boks and their leaders.
Although oppressive rules were clear rugby and other sporting codes continued to enjoy international exposure until the well known Basil D’Oliviera case of 1967 brought the injustices of Apartheid to the fore. D’Oliviera, a talented cricketer who couldn’t play for South Africa because he was black, relocated to England where he internationally established his prowess with the bat. When he tried to return to his country he was denied entry by the South African government. The bad publicity that came out of the case led to South Africa’s ban on international sporting participation until 1991.
However South African rugby has put the ills of the past behind and moved on to represent all South Africans at all levels. Today South African rugby is true symbol of unity.
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