Rugby World Cup victory makes South Africa boil all over the country Media: Resonate with South Africa

Lü Qiang

At the rugby world cup final held in Yokohama, Japan, earlier this month, South Africa defeated England and won the championship for the third time. This news made the "Rainbow Country" thousands of miles away boil, the streets and alleys were full of green flags and jerseys of the South African national team "Springbok Team", some people blew "Woo Hoo Zula", drivers honked their horns, and people of different colors in the community sang and danced, raised their glasses to celebrate, and celebrated spontaneously together. For South Africans, it's a movement that unites the country. Tom Verdis, the BBC's chief sports columnist, commented that "rugby is important in many parts of the world, but it is only in South Africa that it can change the country".

Rugby was brought to South Africa by the British more than 140 years ago and has gradually become the most popular sport among local whites, with the South African team maintaining its long-standing victory in the first half of the early 20th century. There was also a class divide in this sport, which was supposed to be popular: only well-off schools could provide conditions for students to play rugby, and in the mud of the slums were groups of black children playing football. After World War II, white governments even used football as a means of training the army and police, a propaganda weapon to demonstrate the totalitarian power of whites in the eyes of blacks and people of color oppressed by the apartheid system.

There is a scene in the movie "Success in Man", based on real historical events, where whites cheer for their South African team at a rugby game, while black people cheer for the hostile British team, which is the new South Africa that just ended apartheid in 1994. After the abolition of apartheid, the civil war was on the brink of eruption, and whites feared reprisals from blacks, including the need for black groups to abolish the "Springbok" logo that whites were proud of. But this move was stopped by South Africa's then-president, Mandela, who instead wanted to use sports to defuse the "black and white opposition". He specifically found Pinar, the white captain of the Springbok team at the time, and said, "You are not enemies, but compatriots and friends."

In 1995, South Africa hosted the Rugby World Cup, and the sluggish "Springbok Team" miraculously advanced to the final and won the championship in one fell swoop. Mandela wearing Pinar's No. 6 shirt and awarding the trophy to the white captain went down in history. Spectators of all colours chanted Mandela's name. At that moment of triumph, the white policeman picked up the black child who was picking up the garbage, and the white audience in the stadium excitedly embraced the black security guard. Wen Xian, the first South African correspondent of the People's Daily, personally experienced the night of the victory, and his journalist's notebook "Breaking through South Africa" wrote, "In the history of South Africa full of ethnic conflicts, there is no thing that can make people of all ethnic groups unite as this rugby competition."

After 24 years, South Africa won the championship for the third time. The scene where South African President Ramaphosa and current captain Krisch, who made a special trip to Japan, lifted the championship trophy together is familiar, but this time it was the first black captain. Krish was born in 1991 in the slums. Growing up, he saw the 1995 South African victory on a neighbor's TV and became interested in rugby. "I've never dreamed of a day like this. When I was a kid, I only thought about the next meal. After winning the championship, he sighed and said that what he wanted to do was to inspire the children of South Africa.

In "Things In The Man", the "Springbok" players go to the slums to coach the black children, at first the children will only surround the only black players, and then slowly understand and mingle with the white players, the plot of the movie ten years ago echoes the real Krish experience. Springbok coach Erasmus believes rugby is a "privilege" in South Africa, allowing people to find hope under unemployment and unfair social pressures. In some poorly secure places, people are afraid to walk at night, and as long as there is a ball game, this will change this situation.

There was only one black player on the rugby team 24 years ago, and now 11 of the 31 national players are black. Most South Africans believe that race relations are better today than they were in 1994, with black South Africans accounting for more than whites in suburban home sales. According to the survey, 54 per cent of respondents believe race relations are better than in previous generations, and only 5 per cent of South Africans believe that "racism" is the biggest problem facing the country. The "black and white knot" is slowly being unraveled, but South Africa is still facing the problems of the gap between rich and poor, serious unemployment and high crime rates, and this victory was evaluated by the local media as "the resonance that makes South Africa cheer up".

The slogan "One team, one country" at that time brought together people of different skin colors, while the South Africans this year stamped the slogan "Stronger Together" on their chests, ushering in another world champion. The original subtitle of the film "Success in Man" is "Mandela and a Race to Achieve Nationhood", which quotes a poem "Invincible" that reads: "No matter how narrow the gate of destiny is, no matter what punishment is endured." I am the master of my destiny. I am the commander of my soul. "The people of South Africa know that, no matter how difficult they may be, they are the masters of reality and the future.

Editor-in-charge: Yang Yang

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