I believe that Nelson Mandela’s plan of supporting the springboks in an effort to abolish racial tension was genius. Instead of temporarily fixing small problems in South Africa, he decided to tackle the issue of racism which was dividing the nation in half. I believe Nelson Mandela chose rugby to tackle racism because it was something most South African whites truly cared about. If rugby was taken away it would only have made whites mad, which would then make matters worse regarding racism. Nelson Mandela turned the springboks into the nation’s team. After their victory in 1995 the entire nation celebrated, not just the traditional white fans. I see Nelson Mandela’s effort with the springboks as the first success in uniting South Africa under democracy.
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