Madiba magic lives on in rugby

Using sport to heal a nation, Nelson Mandela created a lasting legacy that has brought South Africans together in a way that nothing else could.

Mandela’s release and the fall of apartheid meant an end to international sanctions and sporting boycotts, which meant that South Africa could now take part in and even host international sporting events, such as the Rugby World Cup.

The 1995 Rugby World Cup, which played out at Ellis Park between the Springboks and New Zealand, only a year after South Africa’s first multiracial democratic elections in 1994, built a foundation for diversity in sport. The fruit of this legacy can be seen in the transformation that has reshaped the country’s sporting landscape since that iconic moment on June 24, when Nelson Mandela, in the Number 6 Springbok jersey, presented the 1995 World Champions with the William Webb Ellis Cup after their triumph against the All Blacks.

“It’s well documented that Mr Mandela walked out into Ellis Park in front of a predominantly white crowd, very much an Afrikaner crowd, wearing a springbok on his heart and how they shouted, ‘Nelson, Nelson, Nelson!’ because what he’d promised he delivered,” Springbok captain at the time, Francois Pienaar is quoted as saying. “And when the final whistle blew this country changed for ever. It’s incomprehensible.”

“Francois, thank you for what you have done for our country,” said international icon, Nelson Mandela to Pienaar, in that pivotal moment that changed the course of history for the nation, to which Pienaar replied, “No, Mr President,  thank you for what you have done for our country.”

More than twenty years later, that message still rings true as millions of South Africans commemorate Mandela Day, honouring the memory of Madiba and the miraculous metamorphosis that sports in South Africa has undergone due to his outstanding influence and his inspirational mindset that sport has the power to change the world.

Mandela Day is a global call to action that celebrates the idea that each individual has the power to transform the world and the ability to make an impact.

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