“Tonight, We Conquer”? Re-think Rugby's Story

This chapter aims to explore how we convey stories that value life. How do we tell new stories—create new, more dignifying visions for the game of rugby and the Springboks? In fairness, rugby has a strong history of bringing people together. But this history must be read with nuance. Drawing on illustrative examples, in this chapter, I point to seemingly unintentional slights to Black dignity and honour that have arisen in adverts that centre around the Springboks. I do this under the realisation that we still live with lingering biases that license many to be disinterested in valuing the protection of Black dignity. In other words, not carefully minding the honour of Blacks remains a relatively unremarkable everyday practice. We see this even in prominent rugby adverts, as this chapter avers with the use of interesting anecdotes.