Why are certain sports so popular and why do millions of people watch them with excitement and full focus? This is a question that those who are not interested in sports usually ask, and the answer to this question is not that simple. Sports teams usually represent either a city or a country, and the population of these areas finds a connection with their team, as they are defending their name on the world’s biggest stage, and this connection and national pride is even stronger when the team you are supporting is achieving success.
Because of this, many people consider that Africans should choose Rugby as their national sport. The reasoning behind this belief varies from person to person, and each person has their own view as to why Africans should support their Rugby teams the most and make it their national identity. So let’s take a deeper look at this thought.
Rugby as an African national sport
When choosing a national sport, there are usually two criteria that need to be met in order for it to be considered a national sport. First of all, there should be a huge interest in this sport from people residing in these countries, and the second one is this sport should be developed and taken care of by certain sports organizations inside the country.
So, why should Africans call Rugby their national sport? The African continent and African people have gone through a lot, from slavery to colonization in the past centuries. This has put the continent behind compared to Europe and the American continents, so getting something back and saying that they are the best in something will be a great morale boost to the people of Africa. The South African Rugby team has been the face of Africa for the past decades as they have managed to win 3 Rugby World Championship titles, the joint record. Based on this, we can see that Africans can easily compete with other, much richer countries, and making Rugby their national sport will be a step toward the right decision. Looking at the list of upcoming Rugby games, we will mostly see Western and Oceania countries and the only African representative will most likely just be South Africa, and the goal should be to have more African countries fighting for the glory of being the best in the world.
Genetics is also a deciding factor in this conversation. It is a well-known and studied fact that Africans have better physical capabilities and are stronger than Europeans, Americans, or people from any other continent. And since Rugby is a very physical sport, where a person’s strength is a decisive factor, Africans will have an advantage when it comes to rising top talent in the world of Rugby. With the top talent around and people behind these players, African Rugby is destined to grow and become the biggest Rugby scene in the world.
Potential Challenges
Despite having a huge potential, there are still some potential challenges that African rugby can face. One of these challenges is immigration and it is probably the most apparent challenge out of many. A lot of African countries have been left devastated after colonization, which has created poor living conditions, and many Africans are migrating to other parts of the world in hopes to find a better life. With this high level of immigration, a lot of young athletes, who have the potential of making it big in Rugby are being raised in different countries, and most of them end up representing these countries, as their native countries find it difficult to support the development of these athletes and are unable to provide them with necessary resources.
Another challenge that stops Rugby development in Africa is high levels of corruption. Every African country that has a Rugby team, a Rugby league, or is involved with Rugby in some way, puts aside some money each year that is supposed to go into the development of this sport. But because corruption is high in Africa, most of the money set aside for the development of Rugby is pocketed by people in power, and the actual support that these Rugby teams receive is not enough for development. This causes outdated equipment, infrastructure, poor training conditions, unqualified coaching staff, and so on.
Final thoughts
Rugby is a very popular sport in the world, but despite this, it is not considered the national sport of many countries or continents. This gives Africans a good opportunity to take up Rugby and make it their sport and put themselves on the pedestal of world sports. Seeing success in Rugby will give Africans a moral boost and will take African countries in front when it comes to development and acknowledgment from the rest of the world.
But there are certain challenges that these countries are faced with, and fixing these problems is essential in order to succeed in this goal. Because of this, this goal is a very hard thing to tackle but something that needs to be done for the benefit of Africa and the African people.