“People actually looked at this and thought, ‘Wow, this can actually work. For instance, he remembered turning up at a match in Bloemfontein and not being allowed in due to some slight taken about his style of reporting. The Springboks used every avenue available to dispel traditional ideas that rugby in the country was a segregated sport. “That was the first time there had been any kind of affirmative action in South African rugby to redress the imbalances of the past. The 1995 World Cup is a year away and is set to be hosted by South Africa. The world was coming to visit after years of boycott and sporting isolation due to apartheid and rather than have an old-style administrator front of the house, rugby president Louis Luyt reckoned it was time to put on a more compelling Springboks show with a fresher face in Griffiths. If you have any updates on any of these players, please let us know – admin@sapeople.com: MARK ANDREWS (LOCK/NO 8) Andrews retired from international rugby in 2002 and played for the Newcastle Falcons in England until 2004. As a member of the Springbok class of 1995, Chester was not only well-known in the rugby fraternity, but he was a much-loved South African … First, though, a spin through a multitude of vivid tournament anecdotes, starting with the left-field Griffiths idea that played a major part in getting Mandela on board supporting the Springboks, the team of the white oppressor during the dark days of the divided South African society in the decades prior. I was very clear about the agenda I wanted to follow, which was transforming the game very quickly and using the opportunity of the World Cup to transform the game. The 1995 Rugby World Cup Final will be re-screened on SS1 at 3pm today. He succumbed to cancer in 1998. Williams was the only nonwhite on the Springboks when it won the 1995 World Cup and was embraced by Nelson Mandela in a message of reconciliation. If the black population were able to get behind the Springboks then that would bring the country together in that sense. There is no way we can get the players to relearn an anthem on the morning of the game’. The executive committee, many of them didn’t want to follow that agenda and their influence weighed more heavily on Louis Luyt than mine and that is why I got fired. They all got back to bed at about half-past midnight and that is how the next day we actually did play the full version of Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika and the full version of Die Stem and the players sang both anthems perfectly.”. Amid the hoopla, Griffiths realised there and then that the Springboks class of ’95 would never have it so good again. Of course, that culminated in a final where the crowd started chanting ‘Nelson, Nelson, Nelson’. As a show of unity, the Springboks had practised singing the full length of Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika, a song banned during apartheid, to go with Die Stem as their pre-game anthem, but Griffiths discovered to his horror on a stadium visit the night before the opening match that a choir had only recorded a shortened composite version. That significance will always endure but the specific rugby significance, the opportunity was largely wasted.”. This was the squad that won the RWC1995 and the hearts of a nation. En 1995, les Springboks participent à leur première Coupe du monde depuis leur retour dans le concert des nations de l'ovalie après plus d'une décennie d'isolement. Indeed, though we mourn, our hearts are filled with joy for the great privilege of having known this legend. Fu una manifestazione che ebbe un grande impatto culturale e contribuì a scrivere un importante capitolo … “When you see the impact the tournament had on the country, on people from all communities and all backgrounds, it was astonishing because when you’re in a tournament you are in some way of a bubble with the team and you don’t necessarily see what has happened in the wider country. This was the squad that won the RWC1995 and the hearts of a nation. The world was coming to visit after years of boycott and sporting isolation due to apartheid and rather than have an old-style administrator front of the house, rugby president Louis Luyt reckoned it was time to put on a more compelling Springboks show with a fresher face in Griffiths. Griffiths was ousted the following February, and some years later Mandela was a witness in court as SA Rugby tried to stare down the Government. Avec un jeu léché et efficace, l’Afrique du Sud terrasse la pauvre équipe des Samoa avec au final un score très lourd de 45-12. “That legacy was largely wasted. BREAKING: Nelson Mandela has been posthumously inducted into the World Rugby Hall of Fame: http://t.co/98mZKcJ4ixhttps://t.co/n7rCnxRLi8, — World Rugby (@WorldRugby) October 3, 2015, “So we dragged 40 members of the choir out of their hotel in Cape Town down to re-record the full version of Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika and the full version of Die Stem at about 11 o’clock at night to lay down the track. By Mick Cleary 06 December 2013 • … For the white South Africans, the Springboks rugby team was one of the few things that provided hope and joy to a group that lived in a divided nation. Nelson Mandela, South Africa's first black president, was wearing the colors of the Springboks and 65,000 white rugby supporters were joyously shouting his name. The fairy tale success memorably went on to become the stuff of Hollywood legend, Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon respectively playing the roles of inspirational South African president Nelson Mandela and team skipper Francois Pienaar. RugbyPass takes a trek through South African rugby in Jim Hamilton’s Rugby Explorer, Super Rugby Trans-Tasman Live on RugbyPass! “Looking back on it, the anthem seemed like a natural and obvious thing to do but at the time it didn’t seem an obvious thing. He got a call the night before the game because his friend’s father was not feeling well and couldn’t go to the game, so John got a ticket for the 1995 final as a schoolboy the night before, came down to the game and watched it. Gallo Images Kitch Christie 1940-1998 “There were times when it was not easy. ADVERTISEMENT SA Rugby confirmed that Williams passed away from a heart attack in Cape Town, where he lived and worked as a … There was still too many people there who felt that rugby was a white man’s game and should be kept as such. May 25 marks the 25th anniversary of how their swaggering gallop to greatness initially began, defending champions Australia beaten in the tournament opener in Cape Town. South Africa was a society where the alternative view wasn’t tolerated and it wasn’t very popular generally either.”. Kitch Christie (Coach): After coaching the Springboks to a then record of 14 consecutive wins, inclusive of the 1995 Rugby World Cup, Christie left his post as Springbok coach. “I was finished because I wanted that World Cup to change the game and I pushed through more affirmative action policies at Craven Week which were unpopular. “My responsibility was overseeing the preparations of the Springboks and more importantly the profile of the Springboks team,” explained Griffiths. “That was the challenge, but for him to throw his weight behind rugby he needed to see from rugby – unprompted – that the sport was prepared to do things which had not been considered before. A number of the 1995 squad will tweet memories during the game. “His face was everywhere, on every billboard. “Then, of course, we had the suspensions of Pieter Hendriks and James Dalton against Canada and we were able to bring Chester back into the squad as a result for the quarter-final when he scored four tries against Western Samoa. Come 1995, though, the prevailing mood was that South African rugby needed to put its best foot forward. The men came together when Pienaar captained South Africa to victory at the 1995 Rugby World Cup. Come 1995, though, the prevailing mood was that South African rugby needed to put its best foot forward. I couldn’t believe it was a job where you could write about sport and get the best seat in the house, get to tell everyone what you thought of the game and get paid for it. Excuses still not tolerated all these years later https://t.co/bMWFGtGDGt. “There was a group of 28 players and they would have bought into the message to varying degrees. Casting his thoughts back to the seismic Springboks breakthrough 25 years ago, Griffiths told RugbyPass: “I was saying afterwards to Hennie Le Roux it was an incredibly happy day but it was also a sad day. “He saw a gap,” explained Griffiths, taking up the story about how he was parachuted in as SA Rugby CEO that March, just two months before the start of the World Cup after he had served as Springboks team media liaison officer on the European tour the previous November. Please send corrections, suggestions and positive criticism to SARugbyFan@hotmail.com.Submitting missing photo material of Springbok players and teams, especially of yesteryear will also be appreciated “It was a bit of negative thing to say but it’s not often that you find yourself in the middle of something that is so obviously historic and significant and you just need to try and enjoy it.”. Within five years I was sports editor.”, South African fans watch Francois Pienaar lift the trophy (Photo by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images), It wasn’t all plain sailing. He briefly coached at both Northern Transvaal (The Bulls) in Super Rugby and the Falcons as a consultant in the Currie Cup. The Springboks made their Rugby World Cup debut in 1995, when the newly democratic South Africa hosted the tournament and the team, under the captaincy of Francois Pienaar, defeated the All Blacks in the final (15-12), a moment which is remembered as one of the greatest in South Africa's sporting history. Ed Griffiths has never forgotten his moment of clarity in the immediate aftermath of the Springboks’ 1995 World Cup triumph. Springboks: In this June 10, 1995, file photo, South Africa’s Chester Williams cuts across the open field during Rugby World Cup action against Western Samoa in Johannesburg. window.scriptsToInit.push('BrightCoveEmbeddedScrollVideo.init("6008674683001");'); The passage of time wasn’t kind to some of the squad either, venerated coach Kitch Christie (leukaemia) and four star players – Ruben Kruger (brain cancer), Joost van der Westhuizen (motor neurone disease), James Small (heart attack) and Chester Williams (heart attack) – the non-white poster boy of the campaign – all tragically passing on early to their eternal rest. I was standing next to Mark in the players’ tunnel and when the drop goal went over it just felt there was something guiding this campaign to end the way everybody wanted it to end.”. It was 1995. He was sadly right. It managed to catch on and become a byword for the team. That was all fine and then on the night before the opening game where it was going to be the first time they were going to sing the anthem and where it was so important that the team was seen to be singing the anthem, I went down to Newlands and checked with SABC, the broadcasters. What we did during the tournament did that but that opportunity was unfortunately not taken.”. Rugby needs investment, but it should be careful whose money it takes. The celebrations that followed for weeks and months live vibrantly on in Griffiths’ memory. South Africa first played Test rugby in 1891, against a British Isles touring team. That idea that a primarily white crowd could be chanting the name of Nelson Mandela was unthinkable the year before.”, Watch: Legendary South African Musician, PJ Powers lifts our spirits with her iconic song 'Jabulani' dedicated to our fallen hero, Chester Williams. “I covered the last Formula 1 Grand Prix at Kyalami two weeks after arriving straight out of university and within a year and a half, I was chief rugby writer and cricket writer on the Sunday Times, the largest newspaper in the country at the time. It created an image of a united country winning on the international stage and that is why that profile of Mandela, the trophy, that image is still emotionally significant for tens of millions of South Africans because it was a moment when the united country was shown. I remember saying to someone I could sit in that job for 20 years and not make a hell of a lot of changes and just enjoy the ride, but I saw it as an opportunity to make real and substantial changes and to change the sport which had largely been the standard-bearer of apartheid into the standard-bearer of the new democracy. “The other important thing was about two weeks before the tournament, we announced there was an under-19 team going to tour Romania. Listen and subscribe on Soundcloud, Spotify and Apple Podcasts.. I said, ‘This isn’t helpful’. It even had people like John Smit (the 2007 cup-winning captain), who was a schoolboy in Pretoria. 'It's just not acceptable': Waratahs boss calls for cultural overhaul following record loss to... 'People can't say that northern hemisphere rugby is s***… it will be good for South Africa to go north', British and Irish Lions vs Tokyo Olympics: Springboks star Cheslin Kolbe makes decision for next year, 'I tried to kill him': Why Springboks star went 'psycho' at All Blacks, it was a moment when the united country was shown. “Mandela would have seen that rugby was an opportunity to bring the country together. A number of the 1995 squad will tweet memories during the game. IN THE SPOTLIGHT: Legendary 1995 World Cup-winning Springbok wing Chester Williams had passed on Friday at the age of 49. There was one particular confrontation before the final pool game versus Canada in Port Elizabeth. That largely unreported gesture of putting in place a small racial quota on an under-19 tour to Romania just gave him an idea that if he did back rugby he wouldn’t be let down. It wasn’t the only issue where Griffiths refused to compromise, the administrator particularly annoyed that some Springboks fans would still wave the old South African flag at games. He was always going to a massive force for good in what we were trying to do. More of that legacy later. World Cup 1995 favourites Kobus Wiese and Hennie le … I walked around the ground through the crowd, made my way through the terrace which was packed and got right up to the guy who was waving this flag. When South Africa was chosen to host the 1995 World Cup, the Springboks, South Africa's rugby team, had the duty to transform their identity in order to fit in with the new order in South Africa. The Rugby … The final was played at Ellis Park in Johannesburg and refereed by Ed Morrisonof England. This was the country that had been very largely isolated, a pariah state for 20, 30 years. “I did the same in the final, holding the coat hanger, and I remember Mark Andrews had just come off because he was injured, Rudolf Straeuli had just gone on. RugbyPass is the premier destination for rugby fans across the globe, with all the best rugby news, analysis, shows, highlights, podcasts, documentaries, live match statistics, fixtures & results, and much more! “It was strange having this rugby tournament happening at the time when there was so much fluidity in the way people were thinking about the country and looking at the country. The eyes of the world were on South Africa. There would have been a significant number of people within South African rugby who just considered that black people were disinterested in rugby, not really involved in rugby and frankly didn’t care whether they were involved or not. Just look at France... Nick Abendanon is a shining example of how overseas players should adapt to life in France, Kyle Sinckler's emotive interview stood out on a weekend of sparkling rugby and controversy, 'That scares me': All Blacks great Richie McCaw breaks silence on Silver Lake saga. Within a few years, Mandela and SA Rugby were on opposite sides amid a rumbling race row about rugby’s evolution in South Africa. The 1995 victory was particularly poignant, as the country’s first Black president, Nelson Mandela, and the captain of the predominantly white rugby team, François Pienaar, used the tournament as an opportunity to build support… The 1995 Rugby World Cup Final will be re-screened on SS1 at 3pm today. “It wasn’t a massively multi-cultural team but they won a World Cup, a Springbok team won representing the whole country. He went on to represent the Boks at the 1999 and 2003 World Cups before retiring as the then most capped Springbok. I thought if we are going to keep on winning I would have to continue holding a coat hanger and stand in the players’ tunnel. Thirty days later, it all culminated in Joel Stransky’s title-clinching drop goal in extra time at Ellis Park. It did turn sour. #RIPChesterWilliams pic.twitter.com/RA5lOWCaJT, — Min. 1995 Springboks South Africa. I said, ‘We can’t compromise on this, we have got to get this right. That winning feeling at the final whistle in Ellis Park (Photo by Mike Hewitt/Allsport), “I did a book about the country a year afterwards and spoke to a lot of people about their experience of the final day. “That message of the old flag was very much supportive of the old South Africa and was the flag associated with apartheid, exactly contrary to the message we were wanting to send and it was in full view of all the TV cameras. South Arican President Nelson Mandela, left, cheers as Springbok Rugby captain Francois Pienaar holds the trophy high after winning the World Cup … “The reality is that within three years South African rugby was putting Nelson Mandela in the dock because the Government wanted to appoint a commission of enquiry into rugby and SA Rugby fought that commission in the court and Nelson Mandela was literally standing in the dock taking questions as a witness. Sign up to our mailing list for a weekly digest from the wide world of rugby. South Africa defeated Western Samoa in the quarter-finals, and then France in the semi-finals to reach the final; New Zealand defeated Scotland in the quarter-finals, and England in the semi-finals, a game in which Jonah Lomu famously scored four tries for the All Blacks. Whilst every attempt is made to keep the data in this database correct, there are however errors. “It was very important that the team did not mumble through Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika. That was really the plan, to try and project this team as a team that was trying to represent the whole country. The actors cinematically re-enacted that wonderfully symbolic moment where the jersey-wearing politician who had been incarcerated on Robben Island for so long at height of apartheid handed the glistening golden trophy over in Johannesburg to the rugby captain of the Rainbow Nation. The dizzying euphoria eventually lost some fizz, though. Suddenly they came back and won a World Cup. SPRINGBOK rugby coach Carel du Plessis has made six changes to this season’s South African international Test side. This country has actually got a future as a united, democratic nation’. “I never sat down in any game in the finals,” he said. Starts 14 May, 'Beginner's luck': O'Flaherty's sensational try, Premium feature exclusive to TheXV.Rugby - Free Trial, Alex Dombrandt has hit every marker required to showcase his sumptuous talents at the highest level, Tadhg Beirne can help the Lions combat the Springboks' brilliant back-row Pieter-Steph du Toit. Although it didn’t get much publicity at the time, I know that it was certainly noticed by Government and that gesture certainly played a role in Mandela’s decision to get behind the team during the tournament.