It has been an amazing 42 days, each game better than the one before. Giants being squashed by grasshoppers. Tomorrow it all ends, the winner takes it all, the loser has to crawl.
24 June 1995, I had only been married for 3 months. I sat in the lounge with my then young husband and watched Nelson Mandela lift the Webb Ellis Trophy. Fourteen months before that, we had all stood in line to vote in the first democratic election in South Africa. Desmond Tutu walked down Adderly Street in Cape Town wearing a Springbok rugby jersey. Never before in our nation had every person joined as one to celebrate the beauty of being South African.Tomorrow night, 15 young men will once again carry the hopes of 48 million people on their shoulders. Our democracy is no longer shiney and new. We have taken bumps and scratches, the paint work needs lots of work. But tomorrow holds the promise of joining us together again, no matter who you are or were you come from.
It all comes down to one game, 80 minutes. No matter what has gone before, this is all that counts.
I will be sitting glued to the screen, watching every move, yelling at the ref when he forgets to do his job. My team will win and my country will be the champions of the world.
Rosemary Gough
2 comments:
Oh, what memories this brought back! I remember that day in 1995 like it was yesterday. I remember driving down the street after the game to join my brother in celebration and people just running out of their houses into the street and partying there. Incredible. I think the country has never needed the kind of a boost that a win would give as much as now.
I will be flying the flag & sitting with eyes glued to the screen and springbokkie in hand tomorrow night!
We WON!!!!
This is a great time for South Africa.
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