Andrew Austin: Rainbow nation united in hope

COMMENT

It's a well-worn cliche that sport has the ability to break down barriers. In South Africa, that was perhaps best seen during the 1995 World Cup. But while all has not gone perhaps as smoothly as hoped in that country in the intervening years, those heady days and the optimism they reflected are not necessarily over.

South African rugby fans are a fairly forgiving bunch - as long as their team is winning. The steady progress shown by the team at this World Cup, culminating in the thrashing of Samoa last weekend, has raised the expectations of a victory over New Zealand this weekend.

Word is that many South Africa rugby fans of all colours are pretty confident that the Springboks can triumph in Saturday's quarter-final. By many accounts, people - black fans included - seem to have pushed aside thoughts of racism in Springbok rugby (for now) and are prepared to give this largely white, largely Afrikaans team their support.

This is the nature of the complex rainbow nation. In apartheid days, many white people used to regard their black countrymen as inferior, but would think nothing of allowing black nannies to raise their children. Many an adult white South African looks back fondly on those black caregivers who gave them as much love as their own children.

Whatever the differences, there is still a deep-seated desire for unity among South Africans. The rainbow might be a bit washed out, but there seems to be a genuine yearning to return to the halcyon days of the 1995 World Cup final. This was a time, with the 1994 elections, when racial barriers crumbled. In Johannesburg, white and black partied the night away and there was no hangover the next morning. It was the dawn of a new day.

There is a misconception that rugby is a "white sport" in South Africa. Sure, it was used as a foundation block of apartheid and yes, many people see Pieter van Zyl, the "plaasjapie" who attacked Irish referee David McHugh last year, as the archetypal South African fan. But there is a large black following, particularly among Xhosa-speaking people.

Travel around the rural areas of the Eastern Cape and all you see are rugby posts scattered in the veld. There are more rugby players there than anywhere else in the country and most of them are black. Anti-apartheid leader Steve Biko was not interested in soccer when he was locked in solitary confinement; all he wanted to know was the latest Springbok score.

The late Elliot Mtshozeni, a former colleague, was a proud Xhosa who loved to regale colleagues with stories from the 1962 British Lions tour. He could name the entire squad and if he were alive today, there is no doubt his money would be on the Amabokkebokke.

South Africans love to beat the All Blacks, because once you have beaten them you have beaten the best. Fans cherish the fact that New Zealand has not beaten the Springboks in the previous two World Cups and the Springboks will have taken heart from the All Black-Wales match.

Coach Rudolf Straueli and captain Corne Krige know they have to win this one. And yes, they can do it. Forget the Tri-Nations, this is a different team. It is harder, it has a new front row, depth among the loose forwards and a young first five-eighths, Derek Hougaard, who has big match temperament.

And at the end of it all on Saturday night, when the scores are tallied and the result celebrated or mourned, a not inconsiderable proportion of South Africa's 43 million people will agree - if not in so many words - "those were our people today, too ... "

* Andrew Austin is the Herald's South African-born deputy chief reporter.