RWC19: Only the Boks, in SA team sport, have achieved greatness on the world stage

Aside from highlighting the national rugby team’s tremendous ability, the impressive World Cup results produced by the Springboks since 1995 have also exposed the gaping chasm that exists between South Africa’s other national sides.

National teams in some codes, like netball and hockey, have consistently tried – and repeatedly failed – to punch above their weight at World Cup tournaments as they continue to receive a lack of support.

In other codes, like football and cricket, the national squads have been given sufficient opportunities and significant resources, but they simply haven’t reached their potential at the highest level.

Rugby

Just to draw a line so we can make a comparison, listing the Springboks’ achievements at the quadrennial Rugby World Cup is a worthwhile exercise.

In their seven appearances since making their debut in 1995, they have never been eliminated before the quarter-finals, and they have two bronze medals to go with their three titles.

South Africa’s only world champions in any team sport, the Boks are one of only two sides (along with the All Blacks) to have lifted the World Cup three times.

Netball

Though they have never secured the Netball World Cup title, of all South Africa’s national teams, the Proteas have come closest to emulating the success of their compatriots on the rugby field.

After delivering a superb performance to secure the silver medal at the 1994 Netball World Cup, however, they have not been able to repeat their medal-winning performance.

Having missed out on the semifinals at five successive editions of the showpiece between 1995 and 2015, the Proteas took a big step forward in Liverpool last year, progressing to the playoffs and narrowly missing out on a podium place.

They will hope to make further progress at the 2023 World Cup in Cape Town, but they still have a lot of work to do if they are going to cause an upset by lifting the trophy for the first time on home soil.

Cricket

Despite regularly turning out among the favourites over the last few decades, the SA cricket team’s history at the global showpiece is a collection of mishaps and calamities.

The Proteas have reached the semifinals on four occasions – in 1992, 1999, 2007 and 2015 – but they have never gone on to contest the final.

In 1992, they were set an impossible rain-adjusted target; in 1999, Allan Donald dropped his bat in an infamous run-out; and in 2015 they were cruelly denied after a rain-affected tie against New Zealand. A miscalculation of their adjusted target in the group stages of the 2003 tournament would also have been comical if it hadn’t been so devastating.

Having competed in eight successive Cricket World Cup tournaments, the SA team have always had the potential to lift the trophy, and their repeated failure remains one of the worst blemishes on the face of South African sport.

Football

Their history at the World Cup has hardly been awe-inspiring, but Bafana Bafana’s results must include an important disclaimer.

Easily the most popular sport in the world, football is incredibly competitive. While other codes are more limited in terms of opposition, every sovereign state recognised by the United Nations is listed in the Fifa World Rankings, so to be crowned football world champions is no mean feat.

Still, the SA team’s performances at the Fifa World Cup can’t even compare to what the Boks have achieved.

Having played at three World Cup tournaments, the SA football side have won only two of their nine matches and they have never progressed beyond the group stages.

Hockey

Of all the national sides on this list, the SA hockey teams probably get the least support, and it shows in their results.

The men’s squad have competed in six Hockey World Cup tournaments since making their debut in 1994, but they have never finished higher than 10th.

At the last edition of the spectacle, in India two years ago, they finished stone last in 16th place.

The women’s side haven’t faired much better.

Though the women do boast a slightly better record than the men, they too have not even come close to earning a medal, securing a best result of seventh place at the 1998 World Cup in the Netherlands.

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