One Team, One Country

Determined to use the world stage to unite our nation, Nelson Mandela rallied international support to bring the Rugby World Cup to South Africa in 1995.

Rugby is a sport of brute force and as such, rugby symbolised apartheid opression to many black africans but this didn’t deter Madiba.

He addressed a gathering of clearly disinterested black South Africans, wearing a Springbok cap, ” You see this cap that I am wearing?  I ask you all to stand behind them because they are our pride”.

The Springboks visited Robin Island to see where Madiba spent 27 years and some were moved to tears. The team began to realise that what they were doing was so much bigger than just playing a game.

 

You will not understand how big this one man was to the game of rugby until you watch this.

Beneath the stadium where the Springboks prepared for the final, Madiba walked in to the change room, wearing a Sprinkbok jersey! Francois Pienaar said that never in their wildest dreams did they ever expect Madiba to wear a Sprinbok over his heart.

This icon, Nelson Mandela, is bigger than the game!

 

 

 

Test Rugby History at Mbombela Stadium

Castle Incoming Series Double Header Test

Tomorrow will mark the first ever rugby test match played at Mbombela Stadium in Nelspruit and the people of Mpumalanga have welcomed SARU’s decision to host the Castle Incoming Series in their province, with great excitement.

Mbombela Stadium

 Usually they would have to travel 350kms to watch the boys in green and gold play in Pretoria or Johannesburg.

 The town population of Nelspruit is 110,159 and it felt as if the entire town had come to welcome the Boks, Scots and Samoans when they arrived earlier this week at KMIA Airport.

 

 For many years, Mbombela (Nelspruit) was known as a far-flung north-eastern outpost of South Africa, offering not much more than easy access for visitors to the world-famous Kruger National Park. In those days, it was a frontier town. Times have changed. Political change and economic development of the N4 Maputo Corridor have transformed the city into a gateway for neighbouring markets, a business centre and a provincial capital. Mbombela, the Siswati word for “a lot of people together in a small space”.

 

Mbombela Stadium was newly built, at a cost of R 1.2 billion, for the World Cup in 2010, and boasts 40,929 seats.

 

 

Mbombela Stadium hosted Honduras, Chile, Italy, New Zealand, Australia, Serbia, Korea DPR and  Côte d‘Ivoire in the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

Captains are (from left to right): Paul Williams (Samoa), Sergio Parisse (Italy), Jean de Villiers (South Africa) and Kelly Brown (Scotland).

 

Tomorrow it hosts South Africa, Scotland, Italy and Samoa