First off, let me say it’s been an amazing week for sports fans, expats and weekend stock pundits. Dricus came back from being severely pummelled to dramatically defend his UFC title. The Springboks, for the first time in living memory, achieved back-to-back victories in Australia. The NGU seems to be working in some areas, big wins being reported in the Department of Home Affairs in clearing their backlog for one. And there’s been a lovely uptick in the markets.
I happen to really like Australia, and Australians. I backpacked there for three months after London, I have great friends there, and I think as a country they mostly look like they have their sh*t together. And I am slightly addicted to Vegemite, that foreign cousin to our local Marmite and Bovril. I don’t know what it is, but my prized possession in the pantry is the giant-sized tub my mom gave me for my birthday a few years ago. Goes great with rye rolls and cheese.
Back to my rant. What I don’t like is the way we, as South Africans, always seem to feel second-rate when it comes to the Aussies. Whether it is in sport (particularly cricket), business (their economy is four times the size of ours) or impact on Hollywood (yes, we have Charlize Theron, but they have Hugh Jackman, Margot Robbie, the mighty Thor)…. The Aussies come ready with a slight whiff of superiority, and it drives me nuts.
Many people in South Africa emigrate to Australia and New Zealand, thinking it offers them a better life. More security, more opportunity, etc. etc… and even in this, we reinforce the idea that they are somehow better.
Which is why I’m delighted that, at least when it comes to rugby, we have finally come to realize our worth. Let me explain.
I know the COVID pandemic was a horrible thing. Many people died, whole industries were threatened (I should know, being in tourism) and society was changed in many ways, a lot of it not for the better.
There are a few rays of light, however. In interviewing business founders for my new book, Boks to Business, I found a few common threads. Themes of resilience, of consistency, of self-belief were universal. To keep on pushing even when you lose a little faith, to not give up.
There was also, in quite a few cases, a recurring theme on how the COVID pandemic helped the businesses to refocus on their core offer, and innovate on top of that. For Rich Mulholland from presentation powerhouse Missing Link, it was to start his public speaking mentorship program online. For Andrew Smith and Yuppiechef, it was to discontinue underperforming operations and focus on their core business. And for South Africa and our beloved Springboks, COVID-19 disrupted a relationship that had not served us for years.
For almost thirty years leading up to 2020, we have participated in both the Rugby Championship with Australia, New Zealand and Argentina, as well as a domestic competition called Super Rugby. In making a lucrative deal to play against these nations, we allowed a couple of things to happen:
We gave Australia a platform to grow and expand their own game. This led to numerous early victories, particularly for the Brumbies, another World Cup win in 1999, and years of equality with South Africa.
We perpetuated the idea that the Kiwis are better than we are at rugby. New Zealand’s teams won the bulk of trophies in both contests, reinforcing the belief that we were second-stringers. Part of the reason was the brutal travel schedule and associated jetlag to get to Oz and especially New Zealand. Because of the competition format (5 SA teams and 10 Oz/Kiwi teams) our tours would usually be 4-match odysseys, while their tours were quick 2-match hops to South Africa. The log results would usually favour the Kiwis, which meant we would once again need to travel halfway across the world to face a strong team in front of a home crowd, severely jetlagged.
Then came 2020, and global shutdown. South Africa was already in a tough financial spot, and when the Kiwis and Aussies decided to proceed with a local competition in a bubble that excluded South Africa, the die was cast. South Africa needed a new competition, and needed new friends to play with. Enter Europe and the United Rugby Championship.
In the first year of participation, South Africa finished with a trophy for the Stormers. In the following two years, a South African team would host the final, albeit on the losing side. This new allegiance, with a longer but more forgiving travel component, has served to build confidence, enhance the local games’s coffers… and help us shrug off the idea that we’re not good enough.
While we are playing good rugby in a more balanced contest, the Aussies and Kiwis have lost the opportunity to test and harden themselves against the South Africans. They are playing in a limited environment against each other. And what’s happened?
The All Blacks are a shadow of their former selves.
The Aussies have slipped to no 9 in the world rankings.
The Springboks are the undisputed no 1 in the world, with four World Cups to prove it.
We no longer feel like second-stringers. We no longer play in a stacked game, rigged to the benefit of the other. Our administrators, our coaches, our leaders have wizened up to the game, and as fans, we are truly grateful.
It was incredible to see Dricus du Plessis, so visibly supported by the legend Springboks Eben Etzebeth and Siya Kolisi, come back from the dead to seize his moment and win the bout against an opponent who, by all accounts, had him on the ropes. It was gratifying to see the Springboks flawlessly execute a game plan of blooding new talent while keeping old hands in the mix to close out a wet and muddy game in Perth.
A common theme is belief. Dricus, to me, looked like he was going down. But he never stopped believing. The Springboks have a consistent theme of chasing lost causes, most beautifully modelled by the terrier titan that is Cheslin Kolbe. We have a lot of reasons to doubt ourselves in this country, for sure. But let’s not forget that we also have many many reasons to believe. And it starts with us, with our belief in ourselves, and that we can overcome.
The UFC title fight on Sunday had two wonderful participants. One was a black man and a champion who had made a foreign country his home, leaving behind his roots in his native Nigeria. The other was a white man born into a complex national conversation in South Africa, but who had decided to be part of the change in his motherland. I know which one gets my vote.
PG’s PRO TIP(s):
Be careful about who you play with. And know your own worth. Often, we can go into negotiations overestimating the other and underestimating ourselves. Get a bird’s eye view more often than not, and evaluate the playing field. And know that players are always trying to rig the game… so, if you can, be the rigger, not the riggee…
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