A Boot Against from page 31 "We all had a sense of the difficulties of our new democracy and its politics, but we were rugby players who wanted to play the game on a world stage Stransky says of the 1995 championship. "We understood that we had responsi- bilities toward the political sensitivities, but it was not our main focus. "We watched through the tournament as the support base of the Springboks grew and how it became more multi- cultural: he says, "but it was only really sometime after the World Cup that we realized the actual significance." With South Africa hosting its first World Cup, with the less-experienced Springboks unexpectedly reaching the championship game, with South Africans' interest mounting in the days before the game, the final was played in Johannesburg's Ellis Park Stadium, packed with more than 60,000 scream- ing fans. Stransky says he didn't notice the crowd. "You're so focused" on the game, he says."You're so focused on what happens between the four [boundary] lines: In a scene Stranksy says is portrayed accurately in Invictus, Mandela visits the team's locker room and tells the play- ers the entire country is behind them. Then, in a gesture that helped define his early presidency, he walks onto the rugby pitch before the game to screams of "Nelson! Nelson!" He is wearing a Springboks cap and a Springboks jersey. "He got the mood right. It was so inspirational: Stransky says in Carlin's book. "I would have thought it was completely impossible to cup) the feelings amongst us before the game, but Madiba did. He 'upped' us even further: Madiba is Mandela's tribal, Xhosa name by which he is popularly known in South Africa. "I've spent some time with Nelson Mandela: Stransky says. "I know how smart he is: The Springboks were outplayed much of the game. With Stransky scoring, they rallied to tie the game at the end of regulation time. With about seven min- utes left in extra time, the ball came to Stransky. From 35 yards away, at a slight angle to the right, "it's definitely not a gimme Stransky says. "Joel collects and strikes the most perfect drop goal: Pienaar writes in his autobiography, Rainbow Warrior (Collin.sWillow, 1999)."It soars higher than the uprights, but passes between them." Then the game is over. "Our lives change forever. We are world champions: Stransky's favorite memory from the game was Mandela's exuberance after- wards,"the joy on his face: No. 10: Joel Stransky The players were feted at a black- tie banquet that night. The next day, Stransky went to his brother's wedding. His value on the rise, he played profes- sional rugby in England for three years, suffered a knee injury, retired from the sport at 31, "moonlighted" as a TV com- mentator for a while, and then went into the sports marketing business. "Business is my focus;' he says. "You see sportsmen who don't move on: who keep trying to relive past glories. Stransky says there's "absolutely noth- ing" from the World Cup game in his office — the only sign there of his athletic past is a bottle of wine from a long-ago celebration. "I don't want to just trade on something I did 15 years ago: Stransky still plays veterans league rugby. One day, he says, he'd like to become a coach. Fifteen years later, South Africa is still a work-in-progress, he says. Reconciliation between whites and blacks is not corn- plete."This is not an easy process for the bulk of our country. [It] will take years before the legacy of the past is truly behind us," Stransky says. "The rugby World Cup played a role for a period and laid some sort of a foundation that future sporting events could follow in terms of uniting a divid- ed nation: In any case, Invictus will refresh South Africans' memory of No. 10 and his performance in the World Cup championship. "I am remembered predominantly for the drop goal, but I like to think of myself as much more a complete player than just a kicker of the ball: Stransky says. He wants his legacy to go beyond sports, he says. "I have the most wonder- ful family. For the last two years I have successfully run a $150 million com- pany, and next year I am doing an ultra- mountain bike race to raise more money for charity" Sports, Stransky says, gave him his initial fame. But he's moved on. "I did so much more:' Invictus is currently in theaters. 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