The 'cursed' final that united apartheid South Africa: six heroes have already died

In 1995, the International Rugby Football Board, now World Rugby, decided to allow South Africa to rejoin the World Championship after not participating in the New Zealand 1987 and England 1991 editions after being sanctioned for its apartheid policy.. Nelson Mandela's victory in the 1994 elections and the construction of a young and fragile democracy needed a symbol. And for this symbol, Mandela, chose rugby.

“It was a way to neutralize threats from the extreme right,” says John Carlin, a British journalist who was then working as a correspondent in the South African country.. Carlin is the author of the book The Human Factor, which analyzes Mandela's ability to unite the South African people, which crystallized when the Sprinboks team qualified for the final of the 1995 Rugby World Cup, in which they would have as their rival the fearsome new zealand. A party that holds a curse.

Recently, the death of Hannes Strydom, South African second line, at the age of 58, after a traffic accident, was announced.. It was not the first incident he had suffered with his car.. Strydom had already had to spend several days in the ICU after an attempted kidnapping while driving his vehicle through the streets of Pretoria. The former player faced several assailants.

The shadow of doping

Strydom's death was not that of any athlete. His was the seventh death of the participants in that mythical final.. All of them have disappeared before reaching the age of 60.

Cancers claimed South African team coach Kitsch Christie (58 years old) in 1998, and flanker Ruben Kruger (40 years old) in 2010.. Jonah Lomu, the only New Zealander affected by this curse, also died at the age of 40.. Kidney disease ended his existence in 2015.

Later, in 2017, another of the best players from that 1995 World Cup, scrum-half Joost van der Westhuizen (46 years old), died from a neurodegenerative disease.. Two years later, heart attacks claimed James Small and Chester Williams (50 and 49 years old, respectively).

Strydom is the last of this tragic list that, although coincidental, already raises the eyebrows of many in the African country. “It never occurred to me that it was a case of bad luck.”. It is true that it is curious because they are young and were physically well in their day,” answers Carlin, very empirical.

There are many speculations, most of them unfounded, that try to explain what happened to these athletes.. 30% of that Springbok team has died. It is true that there is an ongoing investigation that affects the premature death of 400 former players of this sport and that has to do with brain injuries caused by blows to the head, but due to the variety of causes in this case, I would not enter this section. It is not an explanation, but it is a rumor that speaks of possible doping, a matter fueled by the testimony of a great protagonist.

François Pienaar, the Springboks captain, admitted in an interview a few years after that final that he consumed supplements that helped performance. “I started taking pills because everyone was doing it,” he explained about some stimulants he took in 1992.. “They helped get through the hard 80 minutes if you had physical problems,” the captain confessed.

INDIGESTION

To add more mystery to that final, it is worth remembering Suzie, a waitress who appeared in the All Blacks kitchen staff the day several of the New Zealand players suffered food poisoning.. Years later, Mandela's assigned bodyguard claimed that the team had been poisoned.. However, the All Blacks coach blamed it on spoiled milk.. «These guys were in extraordinary condition and that happened two nights before the final. If the spoiled food had been consumed a day before the game, it could have affected them,” says Carlin.. The journalist also assures that there was talk of a patriotic initiative or a conspiracy but that it could never be verified.

The fact is that South Africa ended up taking the title. “They won because they wanted it more strongly, because of the great responsibility they felt towards their nation and towards Mandela,” says Carlin.. The game ended 15-12, without a single try, and with Joel Stransky and Andrew Mehrtens scoring all the points for their respective teams. Many remember James Small grabbing Lomu by the neck in every throw. “When he knocked him down on the first play they saw that Lomu was not Superman,” reveals Carlin.

The real Superman of that story was prisoner number 46664. The one who wanted to make rugby the glue of a country. Thus, that final, that victory, achieves what Mandela had been looking for since the beginning of the championship. «It absolutely achieves its political purpose. There was tremendous euphoria, whites and blacks throughout the country celebrating equally,” says Carlin. What was a blessing for more than 40 million people, was a curse for seven protagonists of that match.