New Springbok anthem to be played at Ellis Park on Saturday

The Springboks and their fans now have their own anthem — and rugby bosses are hoping the song will inspire the team and nation as the Boks head to France later this year to try defend the World Cup they won in Japan four years ago.

The anthem will be played for the first time in public at half-time during Saturday’s Rugby Championship Test between the Boks and Argentina at Ellis Park.

The song Amabokoboko aka Sister Bokkina was launched on radio this week to rave reviews and the artist, Mgarimbe, will be on field at halftime to perform for the crowd.

SuperSport will also broadcast the performance live during their match coverage.

The anthem is based on Mgarimbe’s Sister Bethina – often cheekily dubbed as South Africa’s second national anthem – but now given a Springbok makeover.

Fans will hear shoutouts to members of the squad among the familiar beats as well as new content referencing life in South African and destination France.

‘Green and gold makeover’

“The response from everyone who has heard the song has been fantastic,” said Marlon Kruger, SA Rugby’s senior marketing manager.

“Sister Bethina has been part of our Test match presentation since 2018, and is played straight after the national anthem, and it always gets the crowd going.

“We have taken the basic chassis and given it a green and gold makeover to bring it even closer to the team and send them to France with the sounds of South Africa ringing in their ears.

“Fans will be able to count the number of shoutouts to squad members and there are some lines relating to shared South African experiences that never fail to raise a laugh from first time listeners.

“We’ll be releasing three TikTok challenges to accompany the song – and it’d be amazing if they went viral in the way that Jerusalema by Master KG did.

“Mgarimbe and producer Kirk Krotz spent months finessing Sister Bokkina and we can’t wait to see the public reaction.”

The song will be released next week.