Bafana Bafana need to take a leaf out of the Springboks’ book if they want to conquer the continent and to be the darlings of the country once again. They did it in style in 1996 when against all odds, they steamrolled past some of Africa’s feared sides like Cameroon, Ghana and Algeria en route to the final against Tunisia where they romped home with the Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon)trophy.
At that time, the Madiba Magic encomium was on the rise and Mzansi national teams, and athletes such as Josiah Thugwane and Penny Heyns, were slaying opponents with the brutality of war veterans.
Madiba stepped down in 1999 and seemingly simultaneously a decline, akin to freestyle-skiing, started for Bafana – they are still trying, and struggling to make their way to the top of the hill again but seem to be on the right track under Belgian coach Hugo Broos.
There is definitely light at the end of the tunnel.
On the other hand their rugby counterparts, the Springboks have been on an upward trajectory in the last decade or so. They won two consecutive World Cups and entrenched South Africa as the number one rugby nation in the world.
They have not released the foot on the accelerator, and they are still going for more gongs.
What the Boks are showing us in this Rugby Champions tournament, formerly known as the Tri-Nations, is that once you get hold of the whip, do not lose the grip – in fact swing as hard until the opposition howls and sobs pitifully in a flood of tears.
Last week’s win was the Boks’ third in a row against the mighty All Blacks. They have stretched their lead at the top of the table.
Before yesterday’s match in Cape Town, SA were leading the competition on 14 points, ahead of the Kiwis who were sitting on six points). Argentina was on five and with Australia the cellar dwellers with four points.
The victory over the All Blacks was also the Boks’ third win in a row over their arch-rivals.
It’s a pity that considering his age, Broos is not going to be around for a long time to see out the revolution that he has started.
Said Broos midweek: “When we go back to the last eight months of this year, in the beginning of the year, I think we can be very happy with the results of Bafana Bafana.
“We had a very good Afcon, came back with a bronze medal. After that, a friendly game against Algeria (3-3), very good and then the games against Zimbabwe (3-1) and Nigeria (1-1) in the World Cup qualifiers, also we had very good results. So that means, yeah, we are confident, and we believe in ourselves to start those qualifiers for Afcon 2025.”
While it’s great to have confidence levels sky-rocketing in Bafana, Broos is smart enough to fathom that it does not just take eight months to turn a national team into a feared, well-oiled machine that commands respect among its opponents.
The change and the insurrection take years of planning, sweating, foresight and people who are dedicated to the cause at hand.
We can only wish that there could also be such a positive mindset change at Safa House…if only!
