South Africa and Sports

    Since we were free to choose our own topic this week, I decided to come back to the one thing that made me choose this country, sports. I originally chose South Africa as my country because of the golfer Ernie Els. Golf has been a pretty big sport in South America through out the 19th century. Producing some great golfers including Gary Player, Retief Goosen, Trevor Immelman, and of course Ernie Els. Even though South Africa has found some success in golf, it is not one of their main sports. The three main sports in South Africa are rugby, cricket, and soccer.
   Soccer, or football as a South African would call it is probably the most popular sport in South America. There is a league in South Africa and is very popular among the youth. The national soccer team is called Bafana Bafana which was created in 1992. Even though South Africa has never won the FIFA World Cup, in 2010 they played host to the tournament.

                                   http://kitwetimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/Bafana-Bafana.jpg
   
     Cricket is a sport that has mostly been associated with the white race. South Africa is considered one of the best countries in cricket, being in the Cricket World Cup every year since 1992. South Africa has never won a title in the World Cup, but they have made it to the semifinals on three separate occasions. In 2003 South Africa played host to the World cup.
   Rugby is also a very big sport in South African and a very good sport. The national team is called the Springboks which has been around for a very long time with much success. South Africa competes every year in the Tri-Nations Rugby Championship. They have won the tournament twice in the past 15 years, showing that they are one of the top teams in the world. Rugby has also experienced a defining moment in South African culture. This moment was in 1995 when the Springboks won the Rugby World Cup with the team consisting of both white and black men. The moment when Nelson Mandella gave the cup trophy to the Springboks captain Francois Pienaar was pretty much a symbol to the end of the Apartheid.

                                     http://www.espnscrum.com/PICTURES/CMS/6200/6283.2.jpg



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"Cricket in South Africa." - SouthAfrica.info. Web. 02 Mar. 2012. <http://www.southafrica.info/about/sport/cricket.htm>.

"FIFA.com - Previous FIFA World Cupsâ„¢." FIFA.com. Web. 02 Mar. 2012. <http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/archive/index.html>.

"Previous Winners of the Cricket World Cup." Abc of Cricket. Web. 02 Mar. 2012. <http://www.abcofcricket.com/Article_Library/wcsquads/wcwinners/wcwinners.htm>.