ABSTRACT
One of the most poignant and enduring images of post-apartheid South Africa is President Nelson Mandela handing the William Webb Ellis trophy to François Pienaar, captain of the victorious Springbok rugby team in the 1995 World Cup. This chapter consider the role of race and ethnicity in shaping South African sport over a 150-year period. Soldiers, administrators, officials, businessmen, and workers took sport to all parts of the Empire. South Africa was no different and sport became a central component of local culture more generally and a significant reference point for the rest of the world. The National Party won the 1948 election in South Africa and ushered in the system of apartheid. In February 1990, former minister of sport de Klerk freed a range of political prisoners and unbanned political parties. This resulted in a process of negotiations that culminated in Nelson Mandela being elected as the first democratic president of South Africa in April 1994.
