Mandela and the Springboks

Nelson Mandela was a smart man.  He knew that the best way to unite a divided country was to use sports.  Athletics get disrespect, but if you look through history, sports are what bring people together, and minus a few acts of violence, are generally peaceful times.  Rugby was the white man’s game and black people did not care about it, but Mandela used his political power to unite all the people of South Africa past the apartheid during the 1995 Rugby World Cup.  Mandela was seen around the South African rugby team, the Springboks, and even wore the jersey of the captain, Francois Pienaar, during the tournament.  So why is all of this relevant?  Mandela, a black man himself, associated himself with the Springboks and campaigned for them, always speaking good and always trying to get the entire nation to rally around them.  Blacks did not play or care about rugby, but they did care about and respect Mandela, so they rallied around his cause.  They learned the game of rugby and cheered full force for the Springboks during the World Cup and rooted them on to victory against the All-Blacks of New Zealand, another power in the game.  With Mandela backing up the team and the team doing their part on the field, the entire nation of South Africa was overjoyed and finally together.  Mandela used rugby to unite a nation, and maybe I only feel this way because of how much I love sports, but it seems that is the best way to unite people.  Forcing them into things politically and economically never seem to work, but to unite them on a common ground, to have them root for their fellow people against another country, that is what brings people together.