Football unites many South Africans

The tournament, a warm-up event for next year's World Cup, has seen South Africans singing and dancing in a show of unity that stresses their country's ongoing battle with the racial divisions of its past.

“You have every South African of every shade and color,” at matches, Danny Jordaan, the head of the local organizing committee, said. “This is the kind of society we worked hard for, that we struggled for.”

Jordaan said the audience for South Africa's match against New Zealand topped 6 million, outstripping the 5.2 million people who watched the Springboks win the 2007 Rugby World Cup.

He said 492,000 Confederations Cup tickets had been sold — mostly to South Africans — and it was hoped that the average number of fans at a match would end up being higher than Germany's 37,000.

“So you can see the general level of interest that the Confederations Cup has generated in this country,” Jordaan said. Football has long been the sport of the country's black majority while rugby is regarded by many as the reserve of the white elite. But in the last two weeks there has been an outpouring of patriotism that is reminiscent of the period when Nelson Mandela become the country's first black president, bringing about the end of apartheid in 1994. It was then that Archbishop Desmond Tutu coined the phrase “rainbow nation” to describe South Africa's melting pot of races, cultures and languages.

The Confederations Cup has seen local fans embrace their national team and its qualification for the semifinals has been a massive boost for the morale of the country.

Jordaan paid tribute to the passionate fans who have come together “regardless of color, religion or income” to celebrate their “common love for the game.”

He also spoke about how taxis transporting fans from Soweto to matches had mothers and business executives sitting next to each other.

In the central city of Bloemfontein, even rugby fans have come out in support of the South Africa team.

“To see that kind of dimension emerging from this tournament ... that it is really bringing the nation together. This is a wonderful development,” Jordaan said. “It must truly be a celebration of all South Africans.”

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