A nation divided?

[mother]

I think NOT! These last 3 days I saw nothing but Bokke-T-shirts everywhere! And of course this morning's game just lifted spirits even higher.

I live in a small conservative (mostly) Afrikaans town called Brits, surrounded by farms and bushveld. Here the boere still wear their khaki's and the tannies have 80's hairstyles. If I'm not mistaken we have over 300 000 voters in our district, of which only 30 000 are white, and more than 90% of the voters live in informal settlements outside of town. In the recent municipal elections nearly 50% of the wards went to the DA.

So what am I getting at? In this town, where conservative Afrikaners and (mostly) poverty stricken Tswana's and Sotho's live and work side by side, we DO NOT feel anything but unity. Julius talks about a struggle... The only struggle here is black and white united, struggling against corruption and lack of service delivery. Did you know that we have not been able to drink our tap water for the last 15 years?

When I look around me I see people of no particular colour or race, who all wore their Bafana Bafana t-shirts last year, and are all wearing their Bokke t-shirts now, with an enormous sense of unity and belonging. A high-five to this nation that is NOT divided! And another finger to anyone who tries to resurrect ghosts of YEARS gone by, in a hateful attempt to create division!

[Blurock]

Exactly my experience. We play together, laugh together, support the same heroes and generally treat each other with respect. That is why we should not be put off by racists such as Mal Emma.

[murdock]

i also noticed this yesterday...how many people of all race groups where wearing the bokke shirts...but dont look at the black person who is now supporting the bokke and say what do you know about rugby...i am the first to admit that is what went thru my selfish mind...and not being a big rugby supporter myself... i am finding myself wanting to join friends for the social outings to enjoy the excitement...if it can lift the spirits of all south africans...who am i to judge...i hope everyone enjoys the rugby.

[mother]

but dont look at the black person who is now supporting the bokke and say what do you know about rugby

Hehehehe! I had such a good laugh now, because what you're saying is so true. People can be pretty posessive about the things that lie close to their heart. By the same token: I wish I took photos of these staunch Boere (= posessed Blue Bull supporters), dressed in their vellies, long socks, khaki shorts and Bafana Bafana t-shirts! You see, I don't think it's about how much you know about the game, but rather how we side with each other in support of one common goal.

[Blurock]

After all we are all South Africans. I know nothing about jukskei or marbles, but I will even support those teams when they compete against other countries.

Funny how we become big buddies when we meet in London or elsewhere in the world, but want to kill each other on home ground.

[Dave A]

I honestly don't see the friction between the races in my neck of the woods that the politicians claim is so endemic throughout the country. Either there are areas where the problem is more pronounced than others, or the problem is actually those leaders.

As in "they believe it's there, and in consequence it keeps happening around them."

[twinscythe12332]

As in "they believe it's there, and in consequence it keeps happening around them."

or they keep making it happen and wonder why =/

[Just Gone]

It is SO awesome to see unity in the form of everyone wearing their colours - you pop down to the local butcher on a sat morning before a game and everyone is buying biltong with their shirts on - the atmosphere is fantastic on a game day - there is no colour with a nation united - it is the most awesome thing in this country whent we unite for sport - one of the reasons I would never emigrate.