R.I.P., Nelson Mandela

He emerged into bright winter sunshine, stepped on to the lush field and pulled on a cap. His long-sleeve green rugby jersey was untucked and buttoned right up to the top, a style all his own. On the back, a gold No.6, big and bold.

Within seconds, the chants went up from the fans packed into Ellis Park stadium in the heart of Johannesburg: "Nelson! Nelson! Nelson!"

Nelson Mandela, South Africa's first black president, was wearing the colours of the Springboks and 65,000 white rugby supporters were joyously shouting his name.

The day spawned books and a blockbuster Clint Eastwood movie. It still speaks - nearly 20 years later - to what sport is capable of achieving. With his cap and a team jersey, Mandela showed an incisive understanding of the role sport plays in millions of lives.

"Sport has the power to change the world," Mandela said in a speech five years after that match. "It has the power to inspire, it has the power to unite people in a way that little else does."

A statesman, Mandela didn't just have brushes with sports, occasional appearances timed only for political gain. He embraced them wholeheartedly - rugby, football, cricket, boxing, track and field, among others. And, by many accounts, he truly loved athletic contests, with their celebration of humanity and how they unite teammates, fans and countries in triumph and, sometimes, in despair. At one time in his youth, Mandela cut an impressive figure as an amateur boxer.

On June 24, 1995, Mandela and South Africa were triumphant. And he may just have saved a country by pulling on that green and gold jersey with a prancing antelope on the left breast. The Springboks were dear to the hearts of South Africa's white Afrikaners and loathed by the nation's black majority. By donning their emblem, Mandela reconciled a nation fractured and badly damaged by racism and hatred.

"Not in my wildest dreams did I think that Nelson Mandela would pitch up at the final wearing a Springbok on his heart," South Africa's captain on that day, Francois Pienaar, said in a television interview some time later. "When he walked into our changing room to say good luck to us, he turned around and my number was on his back.

"It was just an amazing feeling."  Quoted from Sydney Morning Herald's, Rugby Heaven.

........and so Team Canada's Sevens Warriors prepare to do battle at the Mandela Stadium, Port Elizabeth in about eighteen hours time.  The boys open up in their Pool against South Africa!  One can imagine the motivation that will fill the hearts of the Blitzbokke.  The second match of the day is against no lesser of an opponent in Kenya.  The day will close out when Spain becomes the opponent.  On paper, it may seem a little less intimidating than Dubai but none the less, one has the impression this group gets motivated by the adversity they face; adversity it will strongly be, in games #1 & 2.  Back in Canada, the outcomes will be front and center as we are rugby starved this weekend. Totally behind you guys, we know you will be "full on" and we will wish for a bounce or a call or two to go your way.