We arrive early to take in the game's pageantry, and are engulfed in a sea of royal blue. Flag-waving Bulls' fans, bedecked in their favorite players' jerseys, stream into the stadium to root for their cherished team. John, Karen and I are joined by John's best friend 'Andre,' who nearly turned pro before becoming an engineer. He is the perfect person to (patiently) point out the game's nuances to a couple of tyros like Karen and me. We apprehend the scoring and essential thrust of this game (it has a lot of the same elements of something we used to call 'rumble' and play on the blacktops in Miami 100 years ago) but its finer points are lost on us. What is not lost on us is the diversity and unity reflected in the vast stadium. Bags of biltong (SA's version of beef jerky) are passed around, and people of every stripe cheer and high-five as the Bulls crush the Reds 61-8. Andre explains the power of the game to unify the once rigidly separated country: "Rugby brought us together in ways that no program or initiative ever could have. When we won the World Championship in '95, and Mandela wore the winning team's jersey (depicted in the film "Invictus") South Africa was suddenly one. Sports has been a God-given gift of healing for our land." Filing out with 50,000 other fans, we join in the belief, the hopeful ideal of a unified South Africa where freedom and equal opportunity exist for all.
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