Rugby as glue

I've just seen the film Invictus with a group of fellow South Africans, all Mandela fans though not necessarily rugby fans. It's the heart warming (and true) story of how Nelson Mandela, newly elected the country's first black president, understands that he has to help white South Africans face what is, for them, a scary picture in which they felt they had no place.
He fixes on the rugby world cup, which in 1995 was due to take place in South Africa, as his medium.
 
Traditionally in South Africa, soccer (football) was the "black" sport and rugby the "white" sport, with the result that the Springboks, the South African rugby team, was reviled by the majority of the population. Added to that, as a team it was in the doldrums, losing most of the matches it played.
 
Mandela, being Mandela, realised that the problem was leadership so he invited the captain of the Springboks, Francois Pienaar, to tea. During this strange but delightful encounter the two men, so different, discover they have something in common. They both believe in leading by example.
 
Mandela's advice to Pienaar is that he needs to find inspiration. Inspiration for himself, which will allow him to inspire his team. Mandela talks about his own source of inspiration - the song Nkosi Sikelele Afrika (God bless Africa), and poem Invictus. He shares these with Pienaar.
 
But what Pienaar discovers "and what we realise Mandela intended all along" was that he finds his real inspiration in Mandela himself, and in the reality of the rainbow nation, the new South Africa. And so, of course (this is not just narrative logic, it's also historical fact) the Springboks came from back to lead South Africa to victory.
 
For years prior to this South African sports teams had languished on the sidelines of international competitions as sports boycotts added to the pressure on the Apartheid system to change. So this was a fantastically unifying moment as the entire nation regardless of race or heritage came together to share in pride of being (if only briefly) world-class.
 
It was strategic genius of Mandela to see the potential and act on it. And some people would say it was brave of Pienaar to respond. But actually, if you strip away the politics and the history of violence, fear and suspicion, you have two leaders who understand that if you want people to follow you, you have to believe in something, and show others that this belief will pay off.