As the official team sponsor of the South African Springboks, Absa coined the phrase Team of Millions. They built a very patriotic campaign around this with an amazing song coming from the series of Shaka Zulu on TV in mid 80s as well TV, print and radio adverts that stirred the patriotic blood from within!
Lead SA, whatever one does have to say about them, got stuck in and mobilised various send-off and passion campaigns which got the SA population behind the Boks for the Rugby World Cup 2011. For once I really feel that the national rugby team is a Team of Millions, the support back here in SA has been and remains sensational.
We are well-known for our fickleness as a sporting nation and yet even with all the chat around before the teams departure of “no hopers”, “Smit to old, a spent force” etc this team got the whole country behind it. One of the watershed moments for me was the Bok send-off hosted at the Nelson Mandela Square organised by Lead SA. This was the first moment that I got a sense of the whole of South Africa being committed to the Bok cause. The MEC of sport in Gauteng and the national minister of sport and recreation really motivated the squad and the fans with phrases of support.
So through the tournament the Boks have looked better and better for different reasons and although our heroes of the pool stages forgot to show up against the Australians, the support in SA has been sensational. There is no real glaring negativity, Lead SA has been in social network contact mobilising the support for the boys when they get back to SA on Monday, October 10.
The fickleness seems to have abated for now, the support has remained intact — the talk is positive. We kind of knew that national captain John Smit was retiring from international rugby and that Coach De Villiers would probably also call it a day so in losing the quarter-finals there were certain ends that this brought about and so the supporters are perhaps looking at that against what is coming up next for the Boks. Yet what I am loving is how for the whole of Sunday October 9 I still saw South Africans wearing their supporters’ gear. I still read messages of support for the Boks on social networks and praise for Smit and Victor Matfield.
I see this as a great step forward in our country in support of our national teams, the same should apply to Bafana Bafana right now as they battle. This is when the support is most needed and we must stand behind our players. Well done South Africa, well done to Absa, Lead SA and the SA Rugby Union, I truly hope you all realise how great this is and that you will build on this going forward! We don’t want to miss this opportunity.
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