Bafana's First Goal
With so much to prove to local and international fans, Bafana Bafana scored the first goal of the 2010 Fifa World Cup.
I’m not even a soccer fan, but when Siphiwe Tshabalala booted that new ball through the net I leapt to my feet screaming, “Laduuuuumaaaaa!!!” Then the air erupted in a vuvuzela volcano spewing not ash, but unmitigated joy that seeped through every pore, charging and swelling an entire nation with pride. All the dissenters were washed away in the tidal wave and sent cowering back into their caves of negativity.
After a return goal by Mexico, if you were strong enough, you might have been able to strain the tension through a sieve. A nation was hovering over their seats. So this is what a united nation felt like.
The question is will this feeling of brotherhood and unity last after the last game is played, the Cup won, and the world left our shores? Will we still feel the urge to hug a stranger in the streets? Or after the dust has settled will we go back to complaining about characteristics that are nothing more than cultural traits and not personal attacks on our way of life?
We need to take this time when it’s easy to make friends outside of our usual cliques to not only have a beer and a laugh but to learn more about those we consider the Other. We naturally fear the unknown, but if we now have such opportunity to socialise with people we know little about and spend time in areas we would on any other day never consider frequenting, then we can transform the Other into the Another – another South African; him just like me, me just like him.
The Super 14 final in Soweto opened many eyes and hearts to the idea that we’re not so different after all. The World Cup can only enhance this. Let’s hold on to these ideas after it’s all over.
I’m not even a soccer fan, but when Siphiwe Tshabalala booted that new ball through the net I leapt to my feet screaming, “Laduuuuumaaaaa!!!” Then the air erupted in a vuvuzela volcano spewing not ash, but unmitigated joy that seeped through every pore, charging and swelling an entire nation with pride. All the dissenters were washed away in the tidal wave and sent cowering back into their caves of negativity.
After a return goal by Mexico, if you were strong enough, you might have been able to strain the tension through a sieve. A nation was hovering over their seats. So this is what a united nation felt like.
The question is will this feeling of brotherhood and unity last after the last game is played, the Cup won, and the world left our shores? Will we still feel the urge to hug a stranger in the streets? Or after the dust has settled will we go back to complaining about characteristics that are nothing more than cultural traits and not personal attacks on our way of life?
We need to take this time when it’s easy to make friends outside of our usual cliques to not only have a beer and a laugh but to learn more about those we consider the Other. We naturally fear the unknown, but if we now have such opportunity to socialise with people we know little about and spend time in areas we would on any other day never consider frequenting, then we can transform the Other into the Another – another South African; him just like me, me just like him.
The Super 14 final in Soweto opened many eyes and hearts to the idea that we’re not so different after all. The World Cup can only enhance this. Let’s hold on to these ideas after it’s all over.
