And it’s not just a game!!

Madiba (The name people gave to Nelson Mandela with Love) proved that he was colorblind when it comes to dealing with different races…Sudhams

Springboks, a team that was ridiculed, made fun of, and at a point even faced the threat of dissolution finally managed to win the ’95 Rugby World Cup. It was the South African national rugby team.

Not many know the story of how they managed to do that and how the victory brought a nation together when it was needed the most. After watching the movie Invictus (directed by Clint Eastwood, my favorite director), I got curious about the events that were portrayed because of the emotional content of the cinema. I did some basic research and found out several incredible tales of Inspiration, Trust and most of all… Belief.

When he took charge as the President of South Africa, Nelson Mandela was well aware of the biggest threat the nation was facing…a racial imbalance. Even after spending 30 years of his life in a prison cell, he believed that it was not a time to take petty revenge on people who were responsible for his agony but stood by the idea that a rainbow nation is to be built. And it was not going to be so if the two races did not gel in together like a single nation.

The Springboks were unofficial representatives of the White community in South Africa at that time. The reason being, Rugby was mostly played by them. Soccer was the sport mostly admired by the Black community. They showed their hatred to the game by supporting the opposite team whenever the Springboks played a game.

But Springboks under the leadership of Francois Pienaar was doing really bad when it came to their record. They haven’t made any significant mark in the international arena.
This did not help at all when there came a debate whether to continue the team or dissolve the board. But President Nelson Mandela had different plans. He believed that dissolving the Springboks would only fuel the cold feelings between the two races and that is the last thing he wanted. So he convinced the committee to reconsider the decision and kept the Springboks running. He pointed that it was an act of compassion and love that has the power to win over somebody but not hatred and revenge.

When South Africa was hosting the Rugby world cup in 1995, (it was the first time the event was held entirely in a single nation) nobody even predicted that Springboks would go past the first round. Some people openly commented that if it wasn’t the hosting nation, the team couldn’t have gone past the qualifying rounds. But what they had was beyond what was enough to win… the hope of the victory and the belief of a man, who stood as a living symbol of Inspiration, Hope and Belief… their own President. A man who believed that peaceful coexistence is possible between people no matter what color their skin is, a man who believed that a victory not only meant the World Champion title but also had the power to bring the nation together, a man who simply believed in his team.

By the time the tournament began, most of the people did not even accept the new national anthem. But like all amazing things, the performance of their own team brought the tournament a larger media attention and this in turn made sure that more South-Africans became interested in their team’s performance. Nelson Mandela himself watched the games both in the stadiums and few on television. Even if he was on official business, he made sure that he was well informed about the team’s performance. Even the black community couldn’t just resist themselves from supporting the Springboks after witnessing their own Madiba (The name people gave to Nelson Mandela with Love) prove that he was colorblind when it comes to dealing with different races.

The Springboks had nothing to lose but they played like warriors. They put everything they got on the line and fought against all odds. They knew that it was not only the opposition teams that they were playing against, but the entire idea of being called the worst team, the idea of being hated by their fellow countrymen who happened to be of a different skin color, the invisible line drawn between the nations citizens after decades of racial discrimination. A victory meant that the nation can be brought together and they knew that the President himself believed in them along with the growing support of the people who once hated them.

In a nerve-cracking final against NewZealand, the Springboks won the game with the final kick from Joel Stransky in the first half of the extra time that sealed an official Victory of not just the Springboks but an entire nation called South-Africa. The Victory showed that when you have Inspiration, it is possible to beat all odds and achieve the unachievable. The Inspiration they got from their President and the hope that he had on them showed that with Inspiration comes the willingness to perform better than what one thinks they could.

The ’95 world cup final is a historic event that brought people of all races together in the rainbow nation of South Africa.
“It was a sight worth a thousand speeches!!” Nelson Mandela later spoke.
He also said that those 7 minutes of extra time where the Springboks were lagging was the most tensed he had ever been.

The highlight of the day was when President Mandela walked on to the ground (Ellis Park in Johannesburg where the final was held) wearing the Springbok jersey that was presented to him by the team as a token of respect for all the support he gave them. Millions of South Africans, not just the people in the stadium but the entire nation sang in unison, the new National anthem as he gave away the Championship trophy to Francois Pienaar, the captain of the Springboks who stood up to the task and gave the nation a champion team to look up to.

I may not have anything to relate to the country of South Africa but I do know the feeling one gets when the team achieves the unachievable. I watched the 2011 cricket world cup finals and I had tears in my eyes when Dhoni hit the final six over the long-on area and kept staring at the ball. The sight of Sachin Tendulkar being carried of the shoulders of Virat Kohli and Suresh Raina made the entire nation bow with respect to the man. I danced on the Beach road of Visakhapatnam along with strangers, shook hands with policemen who for once seemed less irritated when an entire city came out to celebrate the victory of a team that represented their country. That day I realized the power a Victory had, the joy of celebration and understood that it’s not just a game.

P.s…
For those who feel sports are over rated I respect your thought process but I simply point that in a world where there is no need of a reason for people to hate each other, it’s alright to have something which can bring them together.