The Springboks are national heroes

Tomorrow morning, the Springboks and England will face each other in a titanic clash of the ninth Rugby World Cup final in Yokohama, Japan. Undoubtedly, the 72,327 capacity sports venue will be filled to the brim.

The spectators at the venue – including President Cyril Ramaphosa and United Kingdom Prime Minister Boris Johnson, whose respective national leadership roles would not have permitted that they miss the occasion for anything but tragedies on a scale the two nations have happily so far been spared, will be joined by millions of South African and British citizens who will be glued on television sets as well as multitudes of other rugby fans from across the globe.

By force of the habit and culture that accompanies such highstake contests, the overwhelming excitement in South Africa and the UK, the inclination to calm the nerves and otherwise save the finger nails from a savaging by teeth and, on our part, the oppressive heatwave to which we have lately been subjected, tomorrow will also be a competition for which nation consumes more to the stomach in liquid form than the other.

Unless you are of stoic bent and able to summon enough strength to go through life sober despite its trials and tribulations, there is nothing impermissible about the second tournament, is there?

Whether the Springboks return with or without the cup, they will set feet on home soil as national heroes who have done the nation proud for the effort of reaching the World Cup final.

Whichever way, South Africans will recall the two previous occasions when the squad won the World Cup; these being the historic 1995 Ellis Park victory against New Zealand and the Stade de France 15-6 triumph over England in 2007 in Paris.

As we celebrate the Springboks’ victory so far, we cannot but reflect on and appreciate the immense progress registered in bringing about greater racial and class representativity in rugby since 1995. Squad captain Siyamthanda Kolisi this week recalled that he watched the 2007 Springbok victory against England in a tavern “because we didn’t have a TV at home”.

The fact that one of South Africa’s wretched of the earth such as he is captain – the first in history – of the Springboks 12 years later represents a progressive forward movement worthy of celebration.

University of Texas-Permian Basin’s Professor Derek Catsam, noted in August that “the Springboks, because of the pressure brought to bear on them from the government and elsewhere, have actually done a better job of bringing in black players than maybe they have been given credit for”.

Pointing to rugby talent “across the colour lines”, Catsam challenged naysayers to “name one of the potential candidates for this year’s World Cup squad for whom a clear case for their inclusion cannot be made. I defy them to do so, because it cannot be done. That is not to say that every black candidate is a slamdunk choice”.

“It is not to say that every black player shined at every moment in the championship, which would be to put a burden on black Springboks that white players do not confront. It is simply to say that this is a deep, talented group of players, not a single one of whom has been or will be chosen for ‘political’ reasons.”

Provided the will exists, the slow but incremental progress that rugby has so far achieved and should continue to build upon, is possible in all areas of our national life. Certainly in sports, it must be possible to achieve greater representativity in soccer – about which little is talked about – cricket, swimming, bowls and other sporting codes.

In celebrating the Springboks, it is also worth our while to take moments of contemplation to figure out how to take advantage of the silver lining provided by the occasion of the Rugby World Cup so as to promote a national conversation and action plan on the pressing challenges and problems that require urgent untangling.

On Wednesday, Finance Minister Tito Mboweni added another horrifying caption to an already known and continuously spiralling state of the economy.

Why do our political, business, labour and community leaders not urgently convene to discuss what to do about the disaster that is five minutes from the hour? The danger is that if we do not rise to the occasion by ourselves, we may be forced by circumstances to seek assistance from international financial institutions who will, as per their rules, take over the national treasury and literally run the country, further impacting negatively on our ability to do local and international politics.

For their part, this time around, the English hope for a rugby World Cup victory additionally to prop up and mend the broken shards of their destiny and national self-estimation occasioned by the Brexit impasse.

England’s coach, the Australian Eddie Jones, said as much in a press briefing this week: “You [the team] give the country something to cheer about, and with Brexit at the moment they probably need something to cheer about.”

It would be remiss of any nation not to seek to take advantage of the World Cup. After all, the opportunity is given to only one nation once every four years.

For a nation that twice won the World Cup before, we must reflect on the failure to use the 1995 and 2007 victories for greater national building efforts. Additionally and more generally beyond tomorrow, we must engage in a broad national conversation about how we got to the point of the cliff and what lessons we must take into the future about such vital matters as the pedigree of the leadership the country needs to guarantee its sustainability.

But between today and tomorrow, national prayers rightly go to the squad. For some of us, it is time to roam around bargaining for affordable green jerseys.

Mukoni Ratshitanga.

• Ratshitanga is a consultant, social and political commentator (mukoni@interlinked.co.za)

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