Sport Shows Humanity’s Best Colours
I follow and sometimes watch the game of rugby.
It has so many life and Leadership dimensions to it, apart from the thrill of the play as teams use guile and brawn to win.
I see it as a microcosm of humanity, and that of South Africa in particular, the country I call home.
On Saturday 28 September 2024, it was with two deeply conflicting emotions that I witnessed a game of rugby between the national teams of South Africa and Argentina.
Yes, I was a witness—neither a watcher nor a spectator.
So, as is my custom, I joined the first play of the game, skipping the national anthems, the flag waving and other jingoist proceedings.
It seems to me that these activities tend to precede belligerence rather than the inherent fraternal nature of sports—the comradery of sport.
My primary emotion was joyousness as the images of the animated spectators welcomed the two teams onto the field of play.
The South African team is probably the world-beating team right now, and without any doubt, it is the finest South African rugby team ever, since the first national team played in 1891.
The spectators were mostly clad in the South African team colours, with a smattering of Argentinians in their colours seeded amongst the local fans.
Smiles, laughter and banter.
The fans showcased the spectrum of South Africa through their skin tones, genders, ages, dress sense and every other feature that makes us each unique.
The South African team is a replica of those faces and hearts in the stadium—a grand collection of colours, creeds, languages, backgrounds, shapes and sizes.
But, but it was not always like this.
There was a time when the fans were of one colour and race, as was the team.
It is this thought and memory that roused my other emotion.
Sadness.
A mournfulness of what we all lost for over a hundred years in rugby—forget about all the other dimensions of life for now.
- South Africans lost.
- Every other rugby-playing country lost.
- Anyone and everyone who loves to watch the game lost.
- Each person who could have played and was unable to, lost.
- Even those who did play because they were of the ‘right hue’, lost.
- There were no winners.
Furthermore, I felt wretched that humanity has learned so little from the South African story, and the South African rugby story in particular (and of course many others).
It is indeed a truism that we learn history, but we learn little from it.
I share two anecdotes from and about the South African rugby team.
The first is about my favourite player.
I like and admire him for a variety of reasons, mostly because he reminds me of my indomitable Jack Russel Terrier.
He is as quick as a weasel, as deft as a juggler, as energetic as an electric toy, as bouncy as a rubber ball, as unpredictable as a lottery winner… and he beams when he smiles with his scrumcap squishing his face.
In the South Africa of the past, he would not even have been able to watch rugby from the proper grandstands, and he would have been too brown, too small, from the wrong side of the track, attended the wrong school…
This chap was the final straw in the thinking that only big people can play rugby. Today, every coach is looking for a carbon copy, and small people are playing big games.
Today he is arguably the most accomplished player on the planet, and the most highly rewarded.
And, might I add, his high wage has not diminished his appetite to contribute, to continue to pay his rent.
Here is a lesson in self-discipline… being at the top has not degraded his effort!
The second story is about the chap who captains the national side.
He happens to be ‘black’; he was born and grew up in an impoverished community in one of South Africa’s poorest areas.
Apart from being the ‘wrong colour’, he too did not attend the right schools or have the rugby pedigree.
If he had been born in 1900 or 1949 or 1960, he would not have been the captain of the national rugby team.
And, neither would his son have been able to nurture ambitions to play because he would have been classified as ‘coloured’—his mother is ‘white’.
And the ‘white’ wife and mother would have faced prison for a cross-race relationship.
I invite you to examine the four infographics at the end of the text below. You will see the timeline between a bitter past and the magnificent present.
Influential Leadership Lessons
I make four points about the Leadership lessons to learn—inclusiveness, mutual respect, paying ones rent and how little we learn.
- While Leadership is always about what individuals do to change things for the better, they do it for the collective—the team, family, business, community, country, humanity and beyond.
- Each of us is different, which is great, because then we can each make unique contributions to improve matters for everyone. It is a team of great diversity that happens to be the greatest, not one of all the same.
- Make a contribution—pay the rent. No free rides. That is what counts—our contributions—not the shape of our noses, the brand of clothing we wear, the place we were born, what our forebearers did or not, the language we learned… each team member must pay their rent, or the team fails.
- We learn so little… people all over the world are still choosing to kill each other, they use zero-sum thinking in politics, business and other settings, rather than learning to live together, to be better together.
What are the lessons for each of us—wherever we live, whatever our life conditions, however the manacles of our culture, history or religions might blind us—about inclusiveness, mutual respect and paying one’s rent?
The foundation of Influential Leadership is our Philosophy that states:
The unconditional acceptance that the quality and value of each life
is inseparable from others’ lives,
thus establishing Influential Leadership’s
foundation and purpose.
Regards,
Colin @ Karoo
We Activate Leadership!
Leadership Weekly Note: 4024.300924
e: colind@karoo.world
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