With the World Cup just over a month away, the coming three months will be a time offrantic activity for the Springboks. In this podcast I try to unravel the tangle of cultural,national and emotional factors that give them meaning to us as South Africans. Why do they mean what they do? And why is it that the Springboks mean so much?I was born in 1964, and became aware of the Springboks from a young age. I can’t have been more than seven or eight when I saw a colour photograph of Frik du Preez for the first time. With the ball clamped to a Goliath hand, Frik was impressive enough, he looked both good-natured and menacing even in the photo, but more impressive by far was his jersey. We hadn’t been introduced. This was the fabled green and gold. We are rightfully suspicious of backward-looking sentiment and so we should be, for excessive sentiment is a kind of caricature of life. White South Africa is set fast in the aspic of nostalgia, addicted to the consolations of yesterday like there is no tomorrow, and so I realise in saying what I’m about to say that I expose myself to all kinds of objection. Get full written episodes of the show a day early on Substack.Check out The Luke Alfred Show on: Facebook YouTube