It’s OK to be devastated by our loss to Japan

For some this is an obvious headline, but for others its a point of contention. After all, rugby is just a game, an otherwise inconsequential entertainment and more so as you consider the fist-full of big issues facing South African society at the moment.

I’ve seen a few comments to that effect online, calling for more attention on the plight of the poor, the oppressed and the innocent — the rationale is easy to follow and the issues are real, but there’s more to it than that.

The social justice issues facing our community are huge — income inequality, skills shortages, transfer of land to those deprived of it during Apartheid, corruption and even more importantly paralysis of state departments because of the fear of being labelled corrupt — these and many others are all huge issues that will not come right without intervention.

I followed a conversation online this week about the transfer of land to the landless — the combined thoughts and perspectives produced exactly zero viable solutions to the crisis, other than to highlight the risk of continuing as a community divided on just about every facet other than species. Thank goodness we at least have humanity in the bag. The only suggestions made required improbable acts of sacrifice by the privileged.

Solving these issues will require teamwork, for lack of a stronger term. They require a community that looks out for each other, a community that feels some responsibility for its members and importantly a community willing to make sacrifices for the good of their fellow citizens.

You have to capture the hearts and minds of a community before you can expect them to identify as one. Communities need figure heads, jargon, uniforms, in jokes and commonalities to create an identity — and South Africa is critically short of people or organisations around which our communities will naturally unite.

National sport is an opportunity to feel proud of your country without risking anything. If we can’t cheer together in victory, and moan together in defeat when there’s little at stake, should we expect unity when facing issues which demand personal sacrifice?

It need not be sport, but it needs to be something.

It need not be sport, but it needs to be something. As things stand I would be more alarmed if people weren’t shouting at the TV, moaning even louder than normal or tweeting despondently. So go ahead and mourn South Africa — at least lets unite around our defeat at the hands of Japan, in many respects that’s progress.