Francois Pienaar biography

Synopsis

Early Life

Athlete. Born Jacobus Francois Pienaar, January 2, 1967, in Vereeniging, South Africa. Served as captain and flanker for the South African Springboks national rugby team in the 1990s. Won 29 international caps (awards for appearing in international tournament games) and led the 1995 Springboks to a Rugby Union World Cup championship. Pienaar's achievement in sport on such an international level during Nelson Mandela's post-apartheid presidency was instrumental in helping unite all South African people behind a common cause.

Francois Pienaar was the eldest of four boys born into a working class Afrikaner family in Vereeniging, South Africa. He attended high school in Witbank, a coal mining area in eastern South Africa. There he won an athletic scholarship to the Rand Afrikaans University (now the University of Johannesburg) to play rugby and study law. In 1989, Pienaar joined the Transvaal Province rugby team and played with them for a few years. During this time Transvaar won the Super 10, Currie Cup, and Lion Cup under Pienaar's leadership. In 1993, he was selected to be part of the South African national rugby team, the Springboks.

Rugby Star

Between 1994 and 1995, South Africa was going through a historic transition away from apartheid. Nelson Mandela and F.W. De Klerk were carefully steering the country from minority white rule to majority black rule through difficult and sometimes treacherous negotiations. During this time, Mandela had taken in interest in rugby. The Springboks had only one "colored" player on the squad, Chester Williams. As both South Africa and its national rugby team entered international mainstream news, Francois Pienaar realized that his individual participation in rugby and the team transcended mere sport. He used his elevated position to advocate for national reconciliation stating that the team represented the entire nation of South Africa, not just the white minority. Nelson Mandela encouraged the nation's black population to get behind the previously detested Springbok team as South Africa hosted the 1995 Rugby Union World cup.

The Springboks were seeded ninth in the World Cup tournament and not expected to dethrone incumbent champions Australia. But in a stunning match, they defeated the Australians in the first round, 27-18. Then in successive games, the Springboks defeated Romania, Canada, Western Samoa, and France. South Africa and New Zealand met in the final round at Ellis Park Stadium in Johannesburg.