I am delighted to share, in collaboration with Educate Magis, the fourth episode of Sportingly+, titled: “Nelson Mandela United South Africa Through Sport!” In this episode, we share how Nelson Mandela used the power of sports to unify and rebuild the image of South Africa as one nation. Nelson Mandela is widely recognized for his involvement in the anti- apartheid movement in South Africa. But he was among the first global leaders to understand the potential of sport in generating social change. Read more below!

Sportingly+ is a series of videos that tell stories from the world of sports that highlight the values and positivity of sports. Sports can teach values such as fairness, team building, equality, discipline, inclusion, perseverance, and respect. Sport has the power to provide a universal framework for learning values.

We invite you to use this and the other videos of this series as resources in your classroom! To watch this and other videos of the series click here

Nelson Mandela United South Africa Through Sport!

The story I am going to talk about is how Nelson Mandela used the power of sports to unify and rebuild the image of South Africa as one nation.

Nelson Mandela is widely recognized for his involvement in the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa. He was among the first global leaders to understand the potential of sport in generating social change and firmly backed international boycotts of South African teams at international sports events during his prison days. South Africa was banned from the Olympic Games from 1964 to 1992, as well as had various other suspensions by international sporting federations. While in prison, he also supported the Makana Football Association, which used football as a symbol of hope and liberty in Robben Island prison in South Africa.

On May 10, 1994, Mandela became South Africa’s first black president after three centuries of white domination. He used sports as a tool to get white and black people in South Africa to come together

Shortly after becoming President of South Africa, he attended a football match at the Ellis Park Stadium in Johannesburg to see South Africa defeat Zambia. When asked why he chose to watch football, a sport favored by the black majority, instead of attending the inauguration parties as a new president of South Africa. Mandela responded, « I wanted to make sure our people know how much I appreciated the sacrifices made by our athletes during the many years of the boycott. I have no doubt I became president today sooner than I would have, had they not made those sacrifices.. »

A year later, at the 1995 Rugby World Cup final held at the same stadium, Mandela made a widely unimaginable gesture of reconciliation and nation-building. Rugby was the most popular sport among South Africa’s white minority. For blacks, the mascot of the national rugby team, the springbok, was a symbol of tyranny. In fact, during his imprisonment, Mandela said that he always supported other countries to defeat his own.

When the tournament opened in Cape Town, about five miles from where Mandela was imprisoned, he told the players: « Our loyalties have completely changed. We have adopted these young men as our sons. » This actually got the whole nation to come together and support the team as one.

By 1995, apartheid had been replaced by full democracy, and although South Africa had only one black rugby player, the Springboks played under the slogan « One Team, One Country » at the World Cup.

A month later, South Africa defeated New Zealand in the final in Johannesburg. Mandela ignored the advice of many advisers and presented the award to Springboks captain Francois Pienaar, wearing the green shirt bearing Pienaar’s number 6. A moment that shaped history and helped accelerate healing in a South African society torn apart by years of political dysfunction and inequality. On Mandela, the Springboks, an emblem of repression was transformed into something unifying and restorative.

Nelson Mandela famously said n 2000, at the inaugural Laureus World Sports Awards,  » Sport has the power to change the world. It has the power to inspire. It has the power to unite people in a way that little else does. It speaks to youth in a language they understand. Sports can create hope where once there was only despair. It is more powerful than governments in breaking down racial barriers. It laughs in the face of all types of discrimination. »

Under Mandela’s leadership, sport became an affirmation of possibility not just for South Africa but actually for the whole world. His authority led to the 2010 FIFA World Cup. The world’s most-watched single-sport sporting event came to South Africa for a month and the world celebrated football and South Africa.

So the next time you are disappointed because your team didn’t win, your favorite player didn’t play well, or the season didn’t bring much success, think about how sports made the world better, and maybe those disappointments too will seem less important.

We hope that you liked this story of Nelson Mandela and how he used the power of sport to unite his nation.  Write to us if this story inspired you. If you happen to have a sports story or know about a story that can highlight the values and positivity of sports please send it to us at TimeOutTalkies@gmail.com, and we will story tell it on your behalf.

Keep following SPORTINGLY + on Educate Magis! See you at our next story!

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About the author: My name is Rahul Mukherji, and I have the privilege of serving on the Managing Committee of St. Lawrence High School and in the Governing Body of the St. Lawrence Old Boys’ Association (SLOBA) in Kolkata, India. Additionally, I am honored to be a member of the St. Xaviers College Calcutta Alumni Association (SXCCAA). I am also an International Olympic Committee (IOC) certified Master Trainer for IOC’s Olympic Values Education Programme.