‘The Springboks are a way to bring hope’ to South Africa

Published on : 15/02/2023 – 11:34

Fifteen days before the start of the 2019 World Cup in Japan, South Africa learned terrible news: the death of former Springboks Chester Williams, at the age of 49. He was the only black player in the South African national team that won South Africa’s first world title in 1995, four years after the end of apartheid.

Chester Williams had become a symbol in South Africa, that of a national rugby team capable of better representing the population, which is 80% black and of mixed race, according to the 2011 census. He had often recounted the difficulties he had to face in order to become a starter in this selection long reserved for whites. For him, the quota policy put in place during the 2000s was necessary to allow the Springboks, in the long term, to change their face. “By doing this, we see that a lot of black children can have the chance to play for the Springboks”, he explained to The Economist.

This quota system has never been retained for the national selection, only applying to the local championship. A debate has pitted defenders and critics of this measure for more than 25 years. Peter de Villiers has never been in favor of it. However, at the beginning of 2008 he became the first black coach of the Springboks, with the mission of initiating a real transformation of the South African team. But it did not pass, according to him, by a system of quotas which constituted only a “waste of time”.

Rassie’s “masterstroke”

For Peter de Villiers, the selection of players for the national team should be based on merit criteria and the priority was to increase the pool of selectable players. A doctrine also followed by current coach Johan “Rassie” Erasmus, who arrived in March 2018 at the head of the Springboks. This former third line recovered a team in decline, which had just suffered a series of heavy defeats, including a humiliation 57 to 0 in New Zealand in September 2016. With 18 months of the World Cup organized in Japan, he was on a mission to get the Springboks back on track.

He quickly made a very strong choice by choosing to name captain Siya Kolisi, the first black player to be entrusted with this honor. A decision which then earned him many criticisms. “I lost a lot of friends when I appointed Siya as captain. There were a lot of insults. (…) We had to fight for people to believe in Siya, I had to fight”, he confided a year ago to the Daily Mail.

“The appointment of Siya as captain was a masterstroke by Rassie. At that time, our rugby was still having some debates around the racial question. They were swept aside and the whole country got behind Siya”, explains the South African journalist Gavin Rich, author of the book “Our blood is green” which traces the history of the Springboks.

Siya Kolisi lifted the Webb Ellis Cup on November 2, 2019 in Yokohama, leading a team with seven players of color out of the 23 who beat England in the World Cup final. And this player, who grew up in the township of Zwide, near Port Elizabeth, has logically become a symbol for the 60 million South Africans. “He is one of the biggest sports icons. I would even say he is the Sports Icon given the number of posters he advertises different products on in Johannesburg,” Gavin Rich says of this player who will play for the French club Racing 92 next season.

The heartbreaking loneliness of Mapimpi

Before joining Europe, Kolisi, who turns 32 in June, wants to win a fourth World Cup for South Africa next fall in France, one more than New Zealand who also have three. on his track record. The South African captain has often returned to the importance of these trophies for the South African population, a large part of which faces a very difficult socio-economic situation. “During a World Cup, the Springboks are a way to bring hope during dark times. There are a lot of things wrong right now, just like in 2019. But when the Boks played the final against England, the whole country was behind them,” says Gavin Rich.

Their journey at the last World Cup was at the heart of the documentary series “Chasing The Sun” which followed the South African selection for 18 months, until their world title. Its five episodes, which have had great audience success on streaming platforms, illustrate both the sporting urgency that Erasmus experienced when he was appointed as coach and the need for better representation in a national team. long reserved for whites.

A poignant moment in this documentary shows a very emotional Rassie Erasmus as he recalls the heartbreaking life of winger Makazole Mapimpi, born and raised by his grandmother in a very poor South African village. On their jerseys, South African players wear the portraits of their relatives or friends. Mapimpi only provided one shot, a photo of him, because all his family members are dead. “We don’t fight in the same category. The other teams don’t have players who come from Zwete” or other very disadvantaged areas, asserts Erasmus, before the quarter-final against Japan.

The coach at the time, who has now become director of rugby within the South African Federation, confides in “Chasing the Sun” that he tried to preserve these players in 2019 by asking them to focus only on the game. But the pressure on his shoulders was very strong and Rassie Erasmus ended up asking them to win the final for all those who believed in them and needed a coronation.

A speech that resonates in the same way four years later. “During the World Cup, the Springboks are guided by the idea that they are playing for something bigger than themselves, in order to unite the nation”, summarizes Gavin Rich. A motivation that will serve them again in a few months in France, when the 2023 edition promises to be very tough for them since they will face in particular in group matches Ireland, the first nation in the world ranking, and Scotland.