Sport, honesty and the nation

Many of us want our Rugby World Cup win to have lasting impact and continue the feeling of goodwill it generated amongst millions of South Africa. We felt it in the lead up to the final, and strongly during the game, with people gathered throughout the country watching it. We felt it even more so as the final whistle blew, and again at the Springboks homecoming welcome at OR Tambo, followed by the victory parades.

The joyous impact of the win was the best feeling of national pride our country has experienced in a long while, but there were two cautionary voices, none other than the captain, Siya Kolisi and the coach, Rassie Erasmus, two incredibly likeable, humble, honest, servant leaders. As the victory whistle was blown, they thanked the nation and expressed the beauty of celebrating victory as one diverse country, then they emphasised the need to move beyond the win, to put structures and programmes in place to create equal opportunity not only in rugby but in our society.

On arriving at OR Tambo, as quoted in the SA Rugby Mag, Rassie said: “We have to focus on making sure that everybody gets equal chances of playing, everybody gets good nutrition and everybody gets a fair chance. There are so many things that we have to fix…There are so many other things that can help the Springboks win consistently. There are so many bigger things that we have to fix. Let Siya and the boys enjoy today, but let’s keep it going.” By ‘let’s keep it going’ he meant, ‘let’s keep unifying the nation with practical, tangible processes and changes that everyone can feel and from which everyone can benefit’.

It got me thinking and researching about sport and national pride, and I came across an interesting article titled: How to influence national pride. The Olympic medal index as a unifying narrative. The authors are Ivo van Hilvoorde, Agnes Elling and Ruud Stokvis, all members of the WJH Mulier Institute in the Netherlands.