Actually, it’s just a game, twice for 40 minutes, 15 against 15, England V South Africa. And yet it is much more. To understand this, you need a phone to Johannesburg.

Here is Shaun Bartlett is alive, and he says: “The Sport can change our country, without a doubt. On Saturday all stick together, regardless of race and social class.” South Africa needs change, the economy is hard hit.

twenty years Ago, Bartlett was at home in Zurich and played for the FCZ. In 1998, he came from Cape town and saw Switzerland as a springboard to a bigger European League. After nearly two and a half years he made the switch to Charlton in the Premier League.

striker Shaun Bartlett 2000 Cup winner was with the FCZ. On Saturday, he presses the Rugby players of his home, the thumb. (Image: Andreas Meier/fresh focus)

This Thursday, he has 47. Celebrated the birthday. On Saturday, he has a lot to do. In the afternoon he meets with the Kaizer Chiefs, where he works as an assistant coach in the national Cup, the Orlando Pirates. This is not only the great Derby of the Clubs from the Metropolitan area of Johannesburg, but South African football at all. The stadium with its 90’000 seats is sold out.

“The whole country is looking at the Final”

The time it takes Bartlett to sit in the Morning in front of the TV and watch the world Cup final in the Rugby . Rugby is his favourite Sport is of course football, and also Cricket is closer to him, because he played it himself in the past. But he says: “The whole country is watching the Final. Because I have to.”

The Springboks, short Boks, in their Sport, a world, and the largest against players of the legendary All Blacks from new Zealand. You can shoot on the Saturday, to you unlock and also their third world Cup win. In 1995 they brought the first title, in 2007, the second, and now in 2019. The twelve series goes on, when the Springboks, of all things, the opponents resist that has them evicted in the semi-final the All Blacks with a superb performance out of the way.

“When success is missing, are always the players fault.”Shaun Bartlett

football is in South Africa, the Sport of the Black, “since the times of the Apartheid,” says Bartlett. 80 percent of the 57 million inhabitants are black. In spite of all the passion for the game of football the national team is waiting for the resounding success. Once, in 1996, she became with Bartlett, Champions of Africa, the first three times you made it to a world Cup, the last time in 2010 in their own country. Also since they were eliminated in the preliminary round.

“When success is missing, are always the player to blame,” says Bartlett, “it is the leadership, which is not good. For 25 years, it consists of the same people.” He misses a concept, a structure to develop young talent. He misses what he sees in Rugby.

Mandela’s legacy

Rugby is traditionally the Sport of the White, which make up only 9 percent of the population. Nelson Mandela was discovered, of all things, the game with the Egg, to reconcile the rainbow nation.

From the first two world cups, in 1987 and 1991, had been ruled out of the Springboks because of the Apartheid, nor, in 1990, Mandela was released after 27 years in prison, in the following year the process began, racial segregation was abolished. Three years later, Mandela became the state President. And then the world Cup came in South Africa, for Mandela, a Plan had The Boks should win the title.

His life is a typical South African story, he says: Siya Kolisi. (Image: Richard Heathcote/World Rugby via )

15:12 they defeated in the Final of new Zealand. Since that day, the number 6 is an iconic number in South African Rugby, Francois Pienaar wore them as a Captain and Mandela as a sign of solidarity with the team. Chester Williams was the only Black.

in 2007 were white, the Boks still, only two players were black. Now the picture is different, six Black, were last Sunday at the semi-final against Wales in the starting line-up. To Siya Kolisi, he is wearing the Six and is the first black Captain in the history of the Springboks.

“That I am able to help people, inspired me.”Siya Kolisi

Kolisi is on 16. June 1991 has been born, a day before the vote, about the end of Apartheid. He grew up in Port Elizabeth in abject poverty, the parents were still Teenagers, the grandmother took care of the small Siya, and brought as a cleaner, hardly the school’s money for him. As a twelve year old, he was discovered on a dusty seat at the Rugby games. That was his luck. So he came to a school education.

“am I aware”, has Kolisi told a year ago the Guardian, “my story is a typical South African story. Yes, to be a professional athlete, is hard. And sometimes you wonder whether it is all worth it. But then one thinks of its origin, and the people who are looking to a high. I am able to help people, inspired me. That is my Motivation.”

“the success of the Springboks had a massive influence in the country.”Shaun Bartlett

Since June of last year, Kolisi is the Captain. For Coach Rassie Erasmus, the skin color was a choice beside the point, for him, the personality was one of the 28-Year-old. The opponent in Kolisis first game in the new role was called England. The Boks were 3:24, before he led them to a 42:39 victory.

Bartlett’s final word

today South Africa is a country with urgent problems. The corruption is large, the debt is high, unemployment also.That’s why Lyn Snodgrass, a Professor at the Nelson Mandela University, writes in the newspaper “the Citizen”: “Many South Africans have the hope that winning the world Cup can be a defining Moment for the country. I think he would make for new stories of youthful courage and youthful resilience that the country urgently needs.”

Shaun Bartlett says it’s shorter and says the Same thing: “the success of the Springboks had a massive influence in the country.”

Created: 01.11.2019, 17:27 PM