FROM GRASSROOTS TO GREATNESS
02/19/2025 05:43 AM
For any national sports team to be successful – and there is no denying the success of the Springbok rugby side – they need to have a strong base from which the best players will rise, like cream, to the top.
For rounds 11 and 12 of the Vodacom United Rugby Championship, the tournament shines a spotlight on the identities of the clubs, schools and communities that do an incredible job of giving children the chance to first pick up a rugby ball and guide the lucky few good enough to reach the elite level.
South Africa is blessed with an inordinate number of traditionally strong rugby schools within the length and breadth of its borders, as well as some schools a little off the radar, that still manage, against the odds, to produce great players who will one day reach the pinnacle of the sport.
Hollywoodbets Sharks star player and Springbok captain Siya Kolisi epitomises the rise of the hardworking, the humble, the ambitious and the talented who defied the odds to lead his country to successive Rugby World Cups in 2019 and 2023.
Born to humble beginnings in Gqeberha in 1991, four years before the Springboks would win the first of their four Rugby World Cup titles, Kolisi attended Grey High School in Port Elizabeth.
This was only due to the generosity of Vincent Mai who established a school bursary scheme for worthy recipients from less-privileged backgrounds to receive a high quality education.
Mai was also born in the Eastern Cape, he too attended Grey High, and his philanthropic endeavours as a businessman in the United States have benefitted many young boys who may not have had the opportunity to attend a rugby school with such a rich history.
“I was one of those kids," Kolisi told Carte Blanche. "Without that opportunity, there is no way I’d be where I am today and I couldn’t be more grateful.”
Kolisi was named Man of the Match on Springbok debut in 2013, coming on as a replacement in the Boks' 30-17 victory over Scotland at Mbombela Stadium and has since gone on to make 92 appearances for the national side that include three Rugby World Cups (2015, 2019 and 2023).
A man of the people, his humility underpins his belief that the role of Springbok captain is so much more than simply leading his team in battle, but to make the Springbok brand something that touches people across all walks of life, through his personality that embraces fans across the spectrum.
It is clear that the responsibility he carries in his role is never too big or too much. Modest, deferential and free from vanity, it is clear that he lives his own credo:
"Rugby teaches you discipline, accountability and respect."
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