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    Playing The Enemy

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    Maria Camacho Cabrera
    Nelson Mandela seized the opportunity of hosting the 1995 Rugby World Cup in South Africa to help unify the newly democratic but deeply divided nation after the end of apartheid. As the national rugby team was seen as a symbol of white supremacy, Mandela allied with the team's captain to transform the side into an example of a united team. Through visits to disadvantaged communities, Mandela gained the support of all South Africans for the team. Their success in winning game after game helped increase national confidence, culminating in an intriguing final match that revealed the power of sport to bring a country together.

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    Playing The Enemy

    Uploaded by

    Maria Camacho Cabrera
    690 views1 page
    Nelson Mandela seized the opportunity of hosting the 1995 Rugby World Cup in South Africa to help unify the newly democratic but deeply divided nation after the end of apartheid. As the national rugby team was seen as a symbol of white supremacy, Mandela allied with the team's captain to transform the side into an example of a united team. Through visits to disadvantaged communities, Mandela gained the support of all South Africans for the team. Their success in winning game after game helped increase national confidence, culminating in an intriguing final match that revealed the power of sport to bring a country together.

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    playing the enemy

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    Nelson Mandela seized the opportunity of hosting the 1995 Rugby World Cup in South Africa to help unify the newly democratic but deeply divided nation after the end of apartheid. As the national rugby team was seen as a symbol of white supremacy, Mandela allied with the team's captain to transform the side into an example of a united team. Through visits to disadvantaged communities, Mandela gained the support of all South Africans for the team. Their success in winning game after game helped increase national confidence, culminating in an intriguing final match that revealed the power of sport to bring a country together.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    690 views1 page

    Playing The Enemy

    Uploaded by

    Maria Camacho Cabrera
    Nelson Mandela seized the opportunity of hosting the 1995 Rugby World Cup in South Africa to help unify the newly democratic but deeply divided nation after the end of apartheid. As the national rugby team was seen as a symbol of white supremacy, Mandela allied with the team's captain to transform the side into an example of a united team. Through visits to disadvantaged communities, Mandela gained the support of all South Africans for the team. Their success in winning game after game helped increase national confidence, culminating in an intriguing final match that revealed the power of sport to bring a country together.

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    of 1

    Playing the Enemy: Nelson Mandela and the game that made a nation

    Could a sport as rough as rugby may seem ever bring back together a whole nation? You
    would be able to answer that question if you have read the book Playing the Enemy:
    Nelson Mandela and the Game that Made a Nation, written by John Carlin in 2008. If you
    don’t, this review fits you like a glove.

    After having spent almost 30 years in a prison cell, the black South African activist Nelson
    Mandela is released and elected as president of the country. Apartheid, a system of racial
    segregation has just been abolished, and the country was on the brink of a civil war. But
    what role did rugby play in this situation?

    In 1995, the rugby world cup was being hosted in South Africa and Mandela seize the
    opportunity to unify black and white people. The national rugby team was seen as a symbol
    of white supremacy, so black people didn´t support it. Moreover, the team was not
    expected to perform well, as it has been out of high-level competition for a long time.
    Discouraging as the situation may appear, none of this stopped the newly elected president
    from achieving his goal.

    By allying with the team’s captain, they both managed to transform a divided team into an
    unbreakable one, setting an example for the rest of the country. With simple but significant
    acts like visiting with the team the most disadvantaged areas of the country, Mandela also
    managed to win the backing of every South African. All these facts combined increased the
    confidence of the team, which began to win game after game until it reached the final. And
    in this final match… well, I suppose that you should read the book to know its ending.

    To sum up, this is an extraordinary reading that you definitely should do, as it combines an
    historical background with a trepidant sport story… and the feeling that we are all the same
    no matter the colour of our skin.

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