A man for all seasons

There are so many extraordinary photographs of South Africa’s favourite son, but the one image that captures the mood of this country’s greatest sporting achievement – securing the rights to host the 2010 World Cup – is of Nelson Mandela clutching that priceless 6kg, solid gold trophy in Zurich.

It was May 15, 2004 and South Africa had just won the three-way contest to be the first nation in Africa to host the planet’s biggest, single-code sporting event. An emotional Mandela then reportedly said: “I can see my grave now”.

But four years have passed and Madiba (and much of the planet, it seems) is now celebrating his 90th birthday. Boxing may have been his sport of choice as a young lawyer and activist, but the international football community has embraced this icon for many years.

Flashback to 1994 when a new nation was born and 70 000 turned up at the inaugural Nelson Mandela Challenge to watch South Africa beat Zambia at Ellis Park. Heavyweights like Argentina, the Netherlands and Brazil are among the countries which have also competed in this annual event.

Last weekend, Germany’s southern city of Munich played host to the Goal4Africa soccer match to celebrate Mandela’s birthday. The game at the 69 000-seat Allianz Arena featured stars such as Michael Ballack of Chelsea and Germany, multiple Formula One World Champion Michael Schumacher and our home-grown heroes Kaizer Motaung jnr and Shaun Bartlett.

At his inauguration as the country’s first democratically-elected president, Mandela stressed his determination “to create a rainbow nation at peace with itself and the world”. It was these ideals which helped secure the rights to host the tournament in the first place.

Despite the formidable challenges that this country faces on the road to 2010, we join the millions of people around the world who are supporting our efforts and saluting a statesman who made it all possible.