The living saint that is Nelson Mandela reminded us just how unifying sport can be when he donned a Springbok rugby jersey for the 1995 World Rugby Cup Final, between South Africa (Springboks) and New Zealand (All Blacks), at Ellis Park in Jo'burg. Up until that moment, the Springbok rugby jersey had mostly negative connotations for the majority of South Africa's black population. But the sight of their President wearing the no 6 jersey in support of Francois Pienaar, the South African rugby captain, served to unite the entire population of South Africa behind their team. This culminated, some 80 minutes later, in an improbable victory for South Africa when Joel Stransky kicked a drop goal in the dying minutes and won the game for the host nation, 15-12. The much vaunted Jonah Lomu, who had single-handedly destroyed England in the semi-finals was effectively neutralised. The All Blacks later spoke about how herculean their task seemed because they weren't just playing against 15, it was 15 against 43 million.
When Madiba later thanked Francois Pienaar for captaining the South African team to World Cup glory, the latter poignantly responded, "it is we who should be thanking you".
Didier Drogba of Chelski and Ivory Coast, recently crowned 2006 African Footballer of the Year took his prize on a tour of his war torn country and made an appeal for peace - he was cheered by both opposing factions. Similarly Liberian George Weah, 1995 FIFA World Player of the Year, European Footballer of the Year and African Footballer of the Year, drew on his countrywide appeal to run for the Liberian presidency in 2006.
Even amidst the unprecedented savagery of World War I, the British and Germans put the war on hold for a day, to play a football match on Christmas Day 1914. Pele managed to stop the Biafran war in Nigeria for 2 days because both sides wanted to see him play.
So how about we stop the warring and go out and play some football.
No comments:
Post a Comment