Having never been a real cricket fan, even I was all choked up seeing the Proteas fall yet again in the face of World Cup adversity.
It’s been a tradition in our family to support South Africa in any given world stage, be it from netball (OK not netball) to the prominent game of rugby.
Yes, in 2010 I bought myself a Bafana Bafana jersey in support for our boys in the FIFA World Cup, hosted right here in the Republic. And recently I tried my best to support the South Africans in the Olympics, though with all my other commitments this proved to be a little challenging.
This year I switched off momentarily from rugby because I knew that the Proteas would need my full support and to my surprise a lot my rugby loving mates emulated me in this regard. And so we fell to the Black Caps and our captain courageous, AB de Villiers, wept in disappointment.
Seeing him like that hurt, but it also reminded me of a saying that I have encountered on numerous forums about South African sport in general: South Africans rely on passion too much.
Now in rugby I can see this statement as pretty accurate. It’s not to say that South Africa are the only rugby nation who rely on passion to get us through in games, but it is still a problem that we need to address.
Since Heyneke Meyer’s taken charge, the Springboks have only lost a total of two home games, and both of those games have been against the world’s premier side, the All Blacks. Now that in itself is a pretty great statistic when you take into consideration that teams like England, Wales, France, Scotland and Argentina have lost against numerous sides at home since the last World Cup.
Australia have lost against South Africa, the British and Irish Lions and New Zealand at home since then. Only New Zealand remain unbeaten at home.
But why? Are the All Blacks also a team that strive on passion? Most likely, yes. You’d do well to find a team that doesn’t play better at home than it plays in away fixtures, but I find that there is a tangible difference between how New Zealand and South Africa approach things in terms of mindset.
Now, as we all know, the team that plays at home wins the majority of the times. Naturally there have been plenty of exceptions to this rule, but overall it is the norm. I use South African teams in general as a prime example.
The Republic’s been through a lot and it continues to stumble in everyday life. Once divided, now united, rugby has become an instrumental facet of everyday South African life. People of all races and cultures have embraced the sport and embraced the typical South African psyche that goes along with it.
The teams that represent our country know this. They are fully aware that a large chunk of our population watch their games week in, week out. They are not in solitary confinement, they read everything we say and how we say it.
It is because of the undying demand for success and the pride of our rugby nation that our teams cannot tolerate losing a home fixture. Supporters pack stadiums to watch the Springboks, to carry the Springboks in pursuit of our never-ending quest to reclaim the throne from our fierce and respected rivals.
When South African teams fail to win, it’s understandable. When a South African team loses at home, then we want the coaches to be sacked, the players to be reprimanded, the groundsmen to be drilled and the stadiums to pay back the money.
It is the ultimate sin to lose on South African soil, every South African and his dog knows that. Our professional players fear the suburban streets of our cities whenever they lose a home game. The fans are just too furious.
The reason for this is passion, plain and simple. Passion in the first, second and third degree. If South African rugby had a currency it would be passion. No passion, no performance.
This mentality seeps through even to the highest of echelons in our sport and once again, the players know this. They know this because they were the furious fan once, they were the ones throwing tantrums in the face of the terrified tellie.
So, come game day when ‘die biltong lekker loop‘ and ‘die bier nie suur is nie‘, 60,000 spectators fill Ellis Park, eagerly waiting to see the Springboks deal with the All Blacks.
The players then play with all this in mind and it absolutely consumes them. Clear-thinking, open-mindedness and absolute, unwavering zen goes flying out the window. It is replaced with that fiery fury stirring in the belly. That fiery fury is not constipation, it’s the pride and joy of fifty million fans cheering you on on home soil.
For many years this has been enough. For many years we have defied the odds and we beat the teams that challenged us. Games like the Springboks versus All Blacks at Ellis Park in 2004 and 2013 (even though we lost) and 2014 are all great examples about how our teams lift when they know it’s now or never.
It happened in 2008 off the back of a heartbreaking home loss to the Wallabies in Durban, only to give back with interest in Ellis Park with a 53-8 victory. At home the Springboks have always been a major threat.
But now there seems to be a change brewing.
We can take it down a level and it will also ring true. The Bulls had become a force to be reckoned with in Pretoria in their golden years. The Sharks were outstanding in Durban last year and the Stormers have only lost five games at Newlands in the past 32 games.
What happened recently? The Bulls went down to the Brumbies in their semi-final in 2013 at Loftus, almost inconceivable. They lost to the Hurricanes this year. The Stormers lost to the Waratahs last year and now again to the Chiefs.
It doesn’t sound that bad, but coupling the recent All Blacks successes in South Africa with their franchises winning more often in the Republic and you get the steady sense that the whole ‘we play for pride and joy’ sword is slowly losing its edge.
Herein lies the difference between the way that Kiwi teams utilise their pride and the way how South African teams completely rely on it.
I have seldom seen an All Black team jog onto the field jumping around, fist-bumping, high-fiving or doing the funky chicken. No. They look focused and ready to take on whatever the world throws at them.
It’s a simple summation at first glance, they are here to play ball. That is where they have the edge. The All Blacks are undoubtedly energised by their fanatic fans, but there is no reliance on the energy they shower on their team. Yes, a contributing factor, but not the sole reason for success.
I believe that this is why they are always so composed during the last 20 minutes of a game. They focus, they think, they trust. South African teams panic because the heart just isn’t working at the moment. They don’t calm down and think about what it’s going to take to win, they think about the disappointment and the scorning they’ll receive when they lose. We saw this last year when Wales almost beat them.
Fellow South African Roarer, the wise Biltongbek, has said something in particular ever since I joined The Roar. He often says ‘South African teams and management fear failure so much that it makes us too conservative’. And it is true, but then we fans should take a little responsibility for that too.
In general, South African supporters are far too harsh on our players and management. Whenever they try something new and it doesn’t work, we blame them. Whenever they do the tried and tested and it doesn’t come off, we blame them. This is our mentality. We take things a little too far. It’s because we are too proud and passionate to accept that change requires time and execution.
We, as supporters, need to start giving our players and our management some breathing space and they need to start realising that while the passion of a nation can always carry a team, it cannot be the only thing that makes us a formidable rugby playing nation.
We need an open mind, we need to be clinical, we need adaptability, we need leaders in our teams who can calm our players down and remind them to stay focused.
Other nations can also learn from this as we are certainly not the only ones making this mistake.
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