“I don’t think it was and I don’t think it would have had the same
resonance if it had been,” said du Plessis. “It was not a
methodical plan to use the World Cup as a tool to win over Afrikaans
support. It was simply his feeling at the time. It was him believing that
this is what needed to be done and it was him who was going to do it. It was
just want the country needed and still needs. It was the day we believed
anything was possible.”
Nelson Mandela: life in
pictures
Joel Stransky, the man whose extra-time drop goal won the World Cup for South
Africa, can remember Mandela looking into his eyes just moments before the
teams ran out at Ellis Park 18 years ago.
“I was just a boy who wanted to play rugby for my country and was not
aware of the significance at that time of the president being in the
changing-room wearing a Springbok shirt,” said Stransky. “Yet as
he moved round the room I quickly realised that he wanted to engage with
each and every one of us personally. I can’t remember the precise words he
used – I so wish I could – but I do vividly recall that he was making a
point of speaking to me as a person. It was specific and to me alone. It was
not some generic massage about wishing us luck and hoping we would beat the
All Blacks. Madiba had a personal message for each and every player. That
touched me as it did everyone in the room. It had a real calming as well as
uplifting effect.”
It worked. New Zealand were favourites but there seemed to be something in the
Johannesburg air that day (apart from the giant 747 that came swooping in
over the ground before kick-off) that took South Africa to great heights.
The All Blacks missed chances, South Africa did not, Stransky’s kick eight
minutes before the end of extra-time, soaring between the Ellis Park posts,
ignited scenes of great celebration across the country. The Rainbow Nation
was born that day as President Mandela danced on the podium alongside
Springbok captain, Francois Pienaar.
“It was such a brave thing for him to do,” said Stransky. “Again,
I did not realise it at the time. He won the hearts of the nation. He would
have faced opposition from his own people as well as from many Afrikaners.
We were a 100 per cent white Springbok side when the tournament started
(black wing, Chester Williams was injured) but the president recognised that
rugby could be a force for good, a vehicle for change. He was an incredibly
wise person. He did not contrive the moment otherwise it would not have
worked. His feelings were genuine. And the euphoria of that day has carried
on. We were on the brink of civil war and there was huge debate as to where
the country was headed. It took me time to realise it but there is no doubt
in my mind that the World Cup victory, and particularly President Mandela’s
part in it, contributed to a peaceful transition. The euphoria of that day
carried through to help make us a fully democratic country.”
Francois Pienaar accepts the William Webb Ellis trophy from Nelson
Mandela in 1995
Edward Griffiths, in charge of public relations and soon to become chief
executive of the South African union, turned to du Plessis in the Ellis Park
and remarked that ‘things would never be the same again.’
“I remember just before kick-off, standing in that tunnel, looking out at
Ellis Park, a stadium that had played ‘Die Stem,’ the anthem of old South
Africa, played against all edicts prior to the game against New Zealand in
1992 on the Springbok’s return from isolation, and hearing this chant go up,
‘Nelson! Nelson!’ You have to know Ellis Park and what it represents to
appreciate fully the significance of that. It sent a shiver down my spine.
It was a spontaneous response to events and something which minutes before
would have been considered unthinkable was actually happening.”
Griffiths was involved in the process by which the Springbok shirt was
dispatched to the president’s office on the Saturday morning of the final.
“It was a gesture that changed the country if it did not manage to change
rugby,” said Griffiths, now chief executive at Saracens. “It still
is one of the most powerful of images for any South African. It wasn’t a PR
stunt. It was a genuine action on his part. Imagine if David Cameron were to
appear in an England football shirt at the World Cup. He would be laughed
out of the stadium. It could have been jarring for Mandela that day given
the opposition from various political flanks but it wasn’t. It was a
profound thing. Did it change rugby? Not as much as it should have done. It
was a wasted opportunity and that is because rugby leaders lacked the vision
and understanding that Mandela had. But it did change the country. White
people who had seen the ANC as the enemy, as a threat to their very way of
life, now saw other possibilities. And the blacks who saw the Springbok
jersey as a symbol of oppression now saw things differently”
All those connected with South Africa and South African rugby have one clear
wish for the future.
“It is so important that we heed Mandela’s values now that he is no
longer with us as much as we did when he was among us,” said Griffiths.
Joel Stransky speaks of the man as much as he does of the politician.
“He had such humility and interest in people as human beings.
“We have to take that with us and move on into the future. We have to
take responsibility.”
How will you remember Nelson Mandela? Please email your tributes and
memories to mandelatributes@telegraph.co.uk
Nelson Mandela: South Africa"s 1995 Rugby World Cup winners pay tribute
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