Let sport turn us into SA United - Lascaris

Negotiations are under way for sponsorship rights to the 2010 Soccer World Cup. SAFA is gathering funding for stadium upgrades. Committees and focus groups are already discussing the projected payback for the nation.

After all, 400 000 soccer tourists are expected and an estimated R9 billion could be injected into the economy, while 22 000 new jobs might be created.

Missing something?

But aren't we missing something?

That something goes beyond economic spin-off to the heart of what sport is all about - the philosophical, healing and unifying qualities of sport and their importance to South Africa.

Sport can be divisive. Back in 1969, El Salvador and Honduras went to war following outbreaks of violence during their World Cup qualifiers for Mexico 1970.

Sport can also uplift and unify.

Anyone who thinks South Africa does not need a regular rub-down with sport's healing balm has not heard full and frank exchanges on subjects such as quotas, affirmative action and BEE.

On many issues, we are still at odds with one another and all too often the disagreements follow the ancient racial fault-lines.

Play as a team

Yet, as 'South Africa United', we are well-positioned to score all our national goals. The challenge is to play as a team - and sport has to be one of the best mechanisms for getting us on the same page.

How can sport help? Let me count the ways...

• Sport makes individuals push the limits and set new standards - useful habits when those individuals move into the economy and have to help their companies compete internationally.
  
• Sport encourages team players to support one another and demonstrates that you can do together what you can't do alone - a key message if ever there was one.
  
• Sport creates a community of change and progress because standing still is not an option.
  
• Sport turns antagonism into mutual-respect - and we sure need more of that.
  
• Barriers become bridges because a shared love of sport gives us a shared language and a mutual interest.
  
• Sport transcends political affiliation and ethnic allegiance. Performance is the criterion in an arena where only the scoreboard and stopwatch measure your contribution.
  
• Sport helps us discover ourselves and our inner potential while forcing us to recognise the potential in others.
  
• Sport uplifts, motivates and provides inspirational moments that keep you going when the going gets tough.

The plus-points are so numerous, you wonder how sport as an engine of reconciliation and self-actualisation could ever be overlooked. Yet we seem increasingly blind to sport's wider benefits.

The blind-spot is one reason for the launch of the Let's Play initiative to get our kids back on the sports-field and away from the TV and video games.

About 20% of our kids are overweight. Sport has dropped off the school curriculum and activity levels among the young are dropping off as well.

Fresh start

Yet the post-freedom generation - those born after 1994 - give us the best chance of a fresh start without the racial baggage of the past. These kids, more than any other group, have to start playing with one another.

The challenge of unleashing sport's unifying powers occurs just as our national and sporting planners are getting down to the job of preparing for 2010.

They are looking at the detail at the moment - how best to spend R364 million to increase the capacity of Soweto's Soccer City from 80 000 to 94 000 and how to boost Ellis Park capacity to 64 000 for a R23 million outlay etc.

While they're at it, they might usefully look at the Big Picture by extending the scope of the work undertaken by the focus groups that are currently examining 2010 Legacy Projects. Understandably enough, these teams tend to look at issues such as long-term optimisation of transport infrastructure and tourism.

Greatest legacy

But the greatest legacy of all would be to use the 2010 opportunity to create a sporting framework for long-term reconciliation and shared national values.

Get the schools involved. Bring in big business. Put nation-building through sport on the corporate social responsibility agenda.

Sport is healthy. Among other things, it helps sustain a sturdy immune system. The emotional release and chance fight stress are important, too. Sporting interaction is group therapy for the nation.

And scoring on the sports field has to be a lot better than scoring drugs.

Playing together keeps you together. Pre-school kids know that ... does grown-up South Africa?