the hopes of a nation go with them - dean allen · first-ever springbok tour, one should remember...

AS THE Springboks embarkon their defence of theWorld Cup trophy this weekin New Zealand it is per-

haps fitting that we reflect on thefirst ever Springboks and their inau-gural tour overseas. In much thesame way that the expectations ofthe current Bokke will unite SouthAfrica in support of rugby triumphover the next month or so, for cap-tain Paul Roos and his men of 1906the team held the hopes of an entirecountry trying to rebuild throughsport.

As a major part of South Africa’sheritage, the history of rugby foot-ball has received detailed attentionfrom those seeking to explore theintricacies of the game and thecountry. Rugby historian ChrisG r e y ve n s t e i nwrote during theearly 1980s how“more than 90years of triumphand defeat,achievement andh u m i l i a t i o n ,have gone intothe forging of atradition ofwhich theSpringbok jerseyis the symbol”.The traditionand past ofwhich he talksowes much to theearly days of the1900s. The dayswhen South Africans emerged fromthe destruction of the Anglo-Boerwar to build again in life as in sport.Former South African Rugby BoardPresident AJ (“Sport”) Pienaar oncereflected that rugby was the “great-est cementing influence between theAfrikaans- and English-speakingsections in the country”.

Today’s team of Springboks,under the leadership of coach Peterde Villiers and captain John Smit,will be performing a similar role inuniting South Africans in the pur-suit of World Cup glory in NewZealand.

Back in 1906 South Africa lookedvery different, consisting of fourseparate British colonies: the CapeColony, Transvaal, Natal and theOrange River Colony. The politi-cians were still four years awayfrom uniting these into a singlecountry, with the nation racked bydivision among its population.

To gain a true perspective on thefirst-ever Springbok tour, one shouldremember it took place only four

years after the war of 1899-1902.In 1908, sports writer EJL Plat-

nauer described the 1906-7 tour as“the most important event that hasever taken place in the history ofSouth African Rugby football”.

For others, however, the signifi-cance of the tour went beyond rugby.For the first time, a touring teamwas made up of players actuallyborn in South Africa – a point madeby Platnauer at the time of the tour:“The men we have sent away to rep-resent us are part and parcel of ourlife and our existence; they are ourbrothers; their success is our suc-cess; their joy is participated in byevery one of us.”

Those very sentiments couldhave been echoed in Joburg or herein Cape Town last week as thou-

sands waved thecurrent squadoff on their wayto the WorldCup.

Peter de Vil-liers will beaware that themost successfulrugby teams arethose who areunited in theirdesire for suc-cess. Perhapsthe most incred-ible thing aboutthe 1906 teamthen was that itcontained play-ers who had

fought on either side during a war.The idea of players being in thesame scrum only four years afterfacing one another in battle is, per-haps, today unthinkable, but that iswhat made the first Springboks soremarkable.

As the team embarked on theirgroundbreaking tour of the UK andFrance, one local politician pro-claimed how a “generation has cometogether in sport and the visit of ateam largely composed of bornSouth Africans to England has ahigher significance than that ofsport”.

This “united” South Africanteam (pictured right) was thus set tobegin a tour that many had hopedwould blot out misunderstandings ofthe past and cement lastingfriendship.

A new team identity was neededand soon one was established withinthe British press, with the squadcalling themselves the Springboksfor the first time and adopting themyrtle-green jerseys first worn in

1896. On the field, the tour was anunprecedented success.

In all, South Africa played 28matches in Britain, winning 25, los-ing two and drawing one, scoring 553points to 79. Narrowly losing to Scot-land in the first Test, defeats of Ire-land and Wales were followed by adraw with England in difficult con-ditions at Crystal Palace. An easyvictory against a naive French sidein Paris at the end of the tour fol-lowed the team’s only other reverse,a 17-0 defeat by Cardiff.

By emulating the performancesof New Zealand, who had embarkedon their first tour of Britain a yearearlier, the Springboks had shownthey had truly arrived as a power ininternational rugby.

Here’s wishing that the 2011 teamcan produce similar results.

Yet the real significance of the1906 tour went beyond rugby. Aswith the current Springbok squad,there was a togetherness within the1906 South African team, a unity

that many believed led to its success. Aware of the symbolic impor-

tance of his team’s visit, SouthAfrican captain, the articulate PaulRoos, exclaimed at the time how “thetour had united us from Cape Agul-has to the Zambesi. South Africawas one, and all differences hadbeen forgotten. Here, we are one;may it always be the same”.

Back in South Africa, the team’sprogress had seemingly galvanisedthe rugby-supporting populationand each victory was met with greatenthusiasm. Following the win inSwansea against Wales, one newspa-per reported how “cheering crowdsmarched through the streets forhours afterwards”. Many hope thiswill be the same on Sunday follow-ing the opening fixture againstWales in Wellington.

● Dr Dean Allen is a senior lec-

turer at Cape Peninsula University of

Technology. Having lectured in the

UK, Ireland and Australia, his work

covers sport, history and social issues.

ISSUES FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 9 2011 15

A FRIEND keeps sending dire mes-sages to overseas acquaintances,warning them not to come to SouthAfrica. It’s just too dangerous, hetells them. You’ll be mugged, robbed,raped or worse if you set foot on thesoil of this benighted country.

I keep sending counter-instruc-tions telling people not to take noticeof him. We’re no worse than anyother country. In fact, we live prettywell here in the Cape. I wouldn’twant to be anywhere else.

I was interested to read an articleby Hugo Rifkind in a recent issue ofSpectator magazine.

He admits that he keeps an ironbar under his bed, just in case. And

he lives in a relatively peaceful partof England.

After the recent London (andelsewhere) riots, he says, sales ofbaseball bats increased onAmazon.com by 5 000 percent.

And there are not that manybaseball players in Britain. Oddlyenough, sales of baseball balls didnot rise at all.

Rifkind inquired among hisfriends and found that most of themkept the equivalent of an iron barunder, or near, their beds.

The hammer from the tool-kithad taken to staying on the bedsidetable, the cricket bat had mysteri-ously moved from the under-stairs

cupboard to the floor beside the bed,the firewood axe was no longer inthe garden shed.

Rifkind says he believes the edi-tor of the New Statesman sleepswith a truncheon beside his bed.

In a previous issue of Spectator,Toby Young describes how hepatrolled his garden wielding a base-ball bat, just in case some aspiringrioters chose his area.

So far none of my British friendshas written to warn me of the dan-gers of visiting Britain, but I’mwaiting for the first precautionarye-mail.

It would be interesting to find outhow many of our local friends and

relatives keep the equivalent of aniron bar under their beds.

What about that sturdy hikingstick leaning against the wall? (Well,I often hike in Tokai forest, youknow.) The carved African“knobkierie” next to the front door?(Just something I found in Kwa-ZuluNatal. I liked the design.)

I keep a stout bamboo stick nearmy front door, but it’s because I can’treach the curtains to open and closethem, so I use the stick. Yeah, right.

I think we have to admit that –worldwide – as the rich get richerand the poor stay poor, we’ll con-tinue to see an increase in crime andviolence.

And we’ll continue to see wrinklyold farts in every country posing infront of their bathroom mirrors try-ing to look fierce and imaginingthey’d know what to do with thatUnder-14 B team cricket bat if a bur-glar bust in through the window.

Maybe the clever inventorsshould put their money in sportsequipment factories.

Last LaughFifty metres above the street a build-ing worker strolled along a narrowsteel girder, hands in pockets, noteven looking where he was going.

Down below an office worker

looked up in horror at this casualbehaviour.

When the worker came down theman said admiringly: “You seem tobe fearless. How did you manage toget a job like that?”

“Oh I used to be a school busdriver, but my nerves gave out.”Tavern

of theSeas Tel: 021 788 9710

Fax: 021 788 9560E-mail: dbiggs@glolink.co.za

D A V I DB I G G S

Sure,New Zealand,make a profit,but be modest and think long-termPETER BILLS

AUCKLAND: They might have beena silent lot, the kind all airlinesdream about. Not for the passengerson board Qantas flight 43 from Syd-ney to Auckland on Monday after-noon this week the sort of notoriousantics which we rugby men haveknown on myriad flights across theglobe these past years.

Like the return flight to Londonone year from the Hong Kong Sev-ens. As we levelled off after take-offfrom somewhere in the Middle East,a well-known former England inter-national with a flushed face stoodup, took a sip from a line of drinkshe had amassed and which includedchampagne, white wine, red wine,port and brandy, and announced: “Ifthis goes down boys, we have hadour fill.”

Well, we all drank to that… asyou do. But the plane-load of trav-ellers crossing the Tasman this

week were a more circumspectbunch. Perhaps they were ponder-ing just what they could expect fromNew Zealand at this seventh RugbyWorld Cup. The possibilities are var-ied. A fleecing from the rip-off mer-chants, a few of whom I pointed outlast year on my visit to the countryfor the Tri-Nations tournament?

Or maybe they will uncover aplace just content to extract themaximum financial advantage froma once-in-a-lifetime opportunity andthen retreat into the quiet world thatthis land’s geographical isolationinvites. Perhaps, too, some resenttaxpayers’ money being spent on arugby event at the height of a majorworld recession.

Fact is, all three emotions wouldbe wrong, quite inappropriate.

New Zealand is not the land itwas, certainly not the secluded, hid-den-away location that I first visitedback in 1975. My parents had been ayear or two earlier and their judg-

ment was as one. “It is like Englandbefore World War II,” they chorused.

I found it quaint, but desperatelyisolated as I travelled on my ownthrough both islands. Once, stayingwith friends on the South Island,they turned in for the night at7.45pm. I too retired, bewildered atmy surroundings and finding solaceonly through a radio which I tunedto the BBC to hear the late JohnArlott’s dulcet tones, commentatingon the first Cricket World Cup finalfrom Lord’s.

In truth, much of New Zealandwas like a closed country in thosedays, a strangely introverted place.

Today’s offspring is brash, bright,so much more challenging and con-fident, not to say interesting. Itoffers excellence in so many fields;horticulture, oenology, literature,food, theatre and music, to mentionjust a few. It goes without saying thatsport remains omnipresent in thisland, as integral a part of the

national psyche to some as a beer inan Australian’s hand. But many inNew Zealand have grown up. Sportis no longer their only interest.

Indeed, some of my friends insistthat the world’s raging economicrecession and the contagion it hasspread to all corners of the globe,will continue to assume far greaterimportance than this World Cup, nomatter what the outcome.

In a way, that is to be welcomed.A nation in which parameters beginand end with its national rugbyteam invites ridicule for such ablinkered existence.

If the great legacy handed downby so many people who achieved out-standing success on New Zealand’sbehalf, such as Sir Edmund Hillary,Dame Kiri Te Kanawa and GeneralBernard Freyberg, is to be truly hon-oured, national pride should neverreverberate solely around a sportingactivity.

In my estimation, New Zealand

has grown up rapidly since thosetimes. Today, it offers culture, his-tory, craftsmanship in a variety offields and a broad canvas of activi-ties and interests. This is the hall-mark of an increasingly maturesociety. But, another elementdenotes true maturity among a peo-ple, and that quality is vision.

Those who can see beyond theimmediate and peruse a horizon faraway, hitherto not yet glimpsed bymost, invariably profit from theirforesight. Taking the long view,adopting a stance and philosophythat it is the next 10 to 20 years thatwill really count and define thatindividual or his land, not the imme-diate or even the next six weeks orsix months, is the hallmark of areally mature mind.

New Zealand in this week, thestart of the World Cup, has a glori-ous opportunity to sow seeds thatwill continue to flourish for 20 yearsor more. If the tens of thousands of

overseas visitors who will flock tothe country over the next six weeksenjoy an experience without paral-lel, then the nation will indeed reapa rich harvest.

If, at the end of the tournament,they depart for every corner of theglobe carrying a message of a beau-tiful land, a warm, friendly peoplewhose company is to be enjoyed andrevered, then the true success of thisevent should not be gauged by whichnation holds up the Webb Ellis Cupat the end of it all, but the long-termvalue accrued by the host nation.

Manifestly, that can and indeedshould happen. New Zealand has thekey ingredients to make it work –great people and one of the mostbeautiful, aesthetically delightfullands on the planet. So why wouldn’tit be a straightforward task?

Excessive greed, a widely sharedrapacious attitude that seeks tofleece every visitor for just aboutevery moment he is in the place,

could undo all that potential, ruin allthose possibilities. If, amid a ragingworld recession, visitors cringe atindividual or corporate acts ofextortion, then one of the greatestopportunities ever presented to thiscountry will have been lost, crimi-nally squandered on the back ofshort-term profit.

Should that prove to be the case,then Kiwis will be able to blame noone but themselves. Only they willcarry the tag for ever more that says:“We invited the world to our countrybut turned them off forever by ourgreed and stupidity.”

The alternative, I would suggest,should be a more alluring scenario.Offer all-comers a wondrously warmwelcome from ordinary Kiwis,proud of their country and anxiousto show those in the world who havenot yet been here just why their hos-pitality can be quite unique.

Make a profit, sure, but be mod-est. And above all, think long-term.

UNITED: The 1906 Springbok squad. To gain a true perspective on the first ever Springbok tour, one should remember it took place only four years after the war of 1899-1902. For somethe significance of the tour went beyond rugby.

‘The tour had united

us from Cape Agulhas

to the Zambesi. South

Africa was one, all the

differences had been

forgotten. May it

always be the same’

TEAM: The Springboks take on Wales in 1906. Captain Paul Roos (moustache) is in the middle. As with thecurrent Springbok squad, there was a unity within the 1906 team, which many believed led to their success.

The real significance of the 1906 South African rugby tour,during which the ‘Springboks’were born, went well beyondrugby, writes Dean Allen

The hopes of a nation go with them