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Thursday, April 28, 2011

The Moment that the new South Africa became a nation

The film "Invictus" with Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon comes across as almost too good to be true, except that it was. The event was the 1995 Rugby World Cup, one year after Mandela became South Africa's first elected black President where equal rights became a reality rather than a dream.

Rugby was the sport of the hated ruling Afrikaaners. Mandela stood alone among his ruling party in letting the team wear its traditional green and gold colors of the past. He won them over and his appearance at the game wearing the formerly hated jersey as the unfancied South African team beat New Zealand to win the cup is one of the epic stories of sports because it was so much more than that.

Here Francois Pienaar, the captain reminisces about that historic day. To hear a white South African crowd chanting, "Nelson, Nelson" will live forever.

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