Playing Tough: The World of Sports and Politics

7. Sports and South African Liberation

Nelson Mandela, one of the greatest revolutionaries in world history, eventually would use rugby, his opponent’s own sport, as the platform on which to secure the country’s new multiracial democracy. After twenty-seven years of imprisonment, Mandela emerged to lead his party and, four years later, his nation. He would use a brilliant political ploy—adopting the Afrikaners’ beloved Springboks as a symbol of all South Africans—to bring a measure of stability to his nation. AP Images Sport has the power to change the world. It has the power to inspire, the power to unite people that little else can. Sport can create hope. It is an instrument for peace. . . . It is more powerful than governments in breaking down racial barriers. —Nelson Mandela [7] Sports and South African Liberation Nelson Mandela was the greatest revolutionary in the history of the African continent. He catalyzed fundamental political change in his country of South Africa essentially without firing a shot. He used not guns but politics, negotiation skills, and the South Africans’ love of sports to transform his nation from a land of racist tyranny into a multiracial democracy elected through universal suffrage. Then, in a remarkable demonstration of forbearance, Mandela and the black masses of South Africa forgave their oppressors. It was an impressive, almost impossible, story. Mandela’s reconstruction of South Africa—a fundamental change in its government —must be considered a revolution. Whether brought about by mobs storming the Bastille in Paris or the Winter Palace in Petrograd or through the actions of organizations that muster military and political power, revolution is a transcendent, political, social, and economic struggle. It would seem a most unusual occasion for the use of sports. Nelson Mandela understood that the people and politics of South Africa were burdened with the oppressive policy of apartheid. The self-image, respect, and pride of the ruling Afrikaner minority were closely tied to maintaining their position of absolute authority in a country with an overwhelming black 176 Playing Tough majority. Out of fear of the consequences of moderation, Afrikaners remained vigilant and unyielding. Mandela knew that achieving political power through the barrel of a gun, assuming it could be accomplished, would fracture his country , eviscerate its economy, and sentence South Africa to decades of misery. He understood intuitively both the concepts and methods of participatory politics and the axiological assumptions of the ruling class. As a politician, Mandela knew he needed to unify those who would mobilize against their rulers. As a revolutionary, he needed to reach beyond periodic elections that provided temporary political power to promote a substratal reform of values and perceptions. Recognized as a s avior by most black South Africans but as an object of fear by many whites, Mandela eventually would use rugby, the Afrikaners’ own sport, as the platform on which to secure the country’s new multiracial democracy. In the process, he would win broad acceptance from white South Africans. It was a longshot, but no more than the odds of the nation’s rugby club, the Springboks, winning the Rugby World Cup. Throughout the revolutionary process, Mandela would sustain a commitment to societal cohesiveness across a multiracial constituency while diminishing , as much as possible, the risks to life and property. That did not mean Mandela was a pacifist. While he knew the methods of Gandhi, he did not practice them. Before his incarceration at the Robben Island prison, Mandela had formed the armed wing of the African National Congress (ANC ). He himself trained in the use of arms. Lives were lost and blood was shed in the revolutionary transfiguration, but the Mandela revolution was overwhelmingly peaceful. After twenty-seven years of imprisonment, Mandela emerged to lead his party and, four years later, his nation. Negotiating universal suffrage with the white-run government would consume his energies after his release. Once achieving power through the ballot box, Mandela would lead a campaign to win the trust of the white minority. By his actions and his words, Mandela would show white South Africans first that he was tolerable, then acceptable, and then finally that he was the true leader of the nation. It would take a brilliant political ploy—adopting the Afrikaners’ beloved Springboks as a symbol of all South Africans—to bring a measure of stability to his nation. He would show the white minority that he loved exactly what they loved, this sport that...