a thing that matters more than people might think at first glance

Sat, 02 Nov 2019 23:46:39 GMT

South Africa won the World Cup.

Kiya Solisi became the first black captain to lift the Webb Ellis Cup.

No, seriously, this is actually a big deal.

South Africa is a rugby nation, but the composition of the Springboks, for a long time, very white. (Soccer was for black people, and yes, frankly, the fact that under Apartheid, black people got soccer and white people got rugby should be taken as an accurate summary of the relative merits of those two sports.)

Despite the ridiculousness of the notion that all the best players could be drawn from a minority of the population, the Bokke were still a good team.

This is their third World Cup win.

But it's the first - by any nation - in which the winning captain was a black man.

It's also the first time South Africa actually scored tries in the World Cup Final, and the man who scored was Makoze Mapimpi.

Sport *is* real life.

I cried this morning because South Africa has two new heroes who can and will be heroes to *all South Africans*.

There is hope yet for healing in the Rainbow Nation.

comments

wot I done tonight

Sat, 29 Aug 2009 13:50:24 GMT

... I went and watched the rugby.

Wallabies vs Springboks at Subiaco Oval. AWESOME GAME. Very glad I went.

Did discover a down side to the ban on smoking within the stadium - while I breathed blessedly fresh air throughout the match, all the addicts light up th emoment they leave the stadium, which made the walk out kind of annoying.

Although less annoying than the dude who stuck his face in my camera just as I was taking a picture (spoiling the shot, and by the time he'd moved the moment I wanted to capture was lost), then made an "oooh - what a bitch" noise when instead of laughing at hilarious antics, I glared at him then returned my attention to my camera.

Arse.

Other than that, a truly excellent experience. I'd never been to a football game before, and I really enjoyed it - being part of the crowd, the cheers going up around me, and there's something shivery and powerful about singing with thousands and thousands of other people. (This being Perth, there were a lot of South Africans in the crowd, and I wasn't alone in joining in singing Nkosi Sikelel'i Afrika, and this being Perth, there were a lot of Australians in the crowd, so I was far from alone joining in singing Advance Australia Fair, although South Africa's is a much more moving national anthem.)

I won't spoil the match result until after it airs, though.

comments

Moments of Permanence

a thing that matters more than people might think at first glance

wot I done tonight