It’s a week since the Rugby World Cup Final brought and end to the sport's greatest competition. England against South Africa and, as in all sporting finals, there could only be one winner. Or could there?

The difference this time, following South Africa’s victory, is that millions might benefit. In a country still divided by race, with mass poverty engulfing the black population, this victory could ignite a change in attitudes and policies. When Tabo Mbeki raised the cup above his head, millions of South Africans celebrated; it was a sea of green and gold, not black and white.

As England supporters recover from their loss and begin to forget about Mark Cueto’s boot brushing against the touchline (or not), they can comfort themselves in the fact that South Africa’s triumph might have an impact that England’s never would.

'Why is it that in the biggest matches at the 1995, 1999 and 2003 World Cups the Springboks fielded teams featuring one black player?'


Might, however, is the most important word and you can’t help but feel a sense of déjà vu. Twelve years ago and insert Nelson Mandela in place of Mbeki. When the Springboks won the Rugby World Cup on home turf in 1995, Mandela appeared in the shirt of captain Francois Pienaar, a white Afrikaner, a scene which was broadcast around the globe as a sign of changing times. South Africa was a free democracy in which your skin colour would no longer determine your chance in life. It was, as we now all know, a false dawn.

South Africa, a country of immense national wealth, and Africa’s richest nation, overtook Brazil as the world’s most unequal society around the time of the 1995 tournament. We were told things would change but it seems they didn’t. Rugby was then a predominantly white sport and so was the national team. It has had 12 years to change and has failed, similarly mirroring the rest of South African society.

In a country were politics and sport are intertwined, sport cannot be underestimated in its power to unite. Lest we forget, sport was used as a vehicle to rid the country of the apartheid policy. Now it can have a role in creating a fairer and more equal society. People and politicians, however, can’t sit back and wait for it to happen. Instead, they must use the momentum it has created.

The early signs are promising with Sports Minister Makhenkesi Stofile saying the Boks squandered the opportunity, after their first title triumph in 1995, to make the game truly representative of the country's racial mix and a repeat failure would be unacceptable. “This victory should herald a new era - an era in which we all embrace change and tackle the challenges still being faced by our rugby and sport in general,” he said.

“Our victory during the 1995 World Cup offered us a window to see what South Africa can be. We did not build on that. May we not commit the same error after this second chance.”

Stofile, and other powerful figures in South African sport, have alluded that a quota system needs to be employed in order to achieve more diversity in the national team. Many will not like this positive discrimination. They are wrong.

The Institute of Race Relations is against the idea of a quota, saying: “Sport is one South African factor that is able to bring people together across racial and class boundaries. The success of sports teams and not their racial make-up appears to be the primary unifying factor.”

But if sport was unifying the nation in the long term, then all South Africans would feel part of the game. So why is it that in the biggest matches at the 1995, 1999 and 2003 World Cups, the Springboks fielded teams featuring one black player? This year there were two coloured players. And in this season's Super 14 the five South African teams fielded 28 non-white players

The IRR's Chris Kriel said: “Other than parts of the Eastern and Western Cape, you are unlikely to come across groups of back school children playing rugby. Without development at primary and secondary school level, transformation at national and provincial level will not take place.”

The truth is that a change at national level will provide the role models that will inspire more young black South Africans to take up rugby. This is the only way that the change Kriel wants will come about. In a similar way that black footballers in the 70s paved the way for the thousands of black children who now play football in England, resulting in the more representative national team that we now see, so can black rugby players be brought in by a quota. Once the process has started it will become self-sufficient and the quota can be removed.

A more representative national team would help to bring about social change in South Africa, leading to a more equal society. Sport can bring people from different backgrounds together, provide a platform from which people can speak out, promote cultural tolerance and give people hope of a better life.

With the correct policies for the future and a holistic approach, involving an increase in facilities and equipment at the grass-roots level, programmes to engage black youngsters in rugby and by providing role models at the highest level, rugby can finally become the diverse sport that South Africa needs. And, unlike most sporting events, the 2007 Rugby World Cup can have multiple winners.

Do you think South African rugby can become a truly diverse sport? Post a comment below or submit an article to Sportingo.