I know this is a geography related question, but what do you call it? Football or soccer?
LOL! So that makes you an American! I use both socer and football regularly as I can American and European friends that I hang out with on a regular basis.
We call it soccer in South Africa, football is American football, but we are big on our rugby and cricket, our soccer team (Bafana Bafana, it literally means boy boy) is still probably having try outs for the under 10 girls soccer league, our soccer is bad… lol
Isnt Rugy massive in south Africa (Spring Box?) I remember a movie about it years ago with Matt Damon in it.
Yes, rugby is very big in South Africa, Invictus is the movie called, Nelson Mandela (played by Gordon Freeman) wanted to give the people of South Africa (white and black) something which they can be proud of, something where color does not matter, something to bring the nation together, so Nelson Mandela approached the Springboks team captain Francois Pienaar (Matt Damon) and ask him to win the world cup and that’s exactly what we did in 1995, some of the highlights included Joost van der Westhuizen tackling one of the biggest guys in the world cup, Joma Loma from the All Blacks, Joost was our smallest player
I was about 8 years old when these event took place, do yourself the favor and watch the movie, really really good movie
Why are they called the Springboks? The movie was awesome.
A Springbok is a deer-like animal that is native to South Africa, I guess that’s why they called our rugby team Springboks, I like the name 
here is a picture of a Springbok (if anyone is wondering what it looks like)
http://images.nationalgeographic.com/wpf/media-live/photos/000/886/cache/pronking-springbok-karoo-africa_88623_990x742.jpg
Ah okay, so you have seen the movie, my bad, yeah it was a very good movie, Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon played their rolls exceptionally well, I was really impressed
\I gues maybe they are called the Springboks due to the way that the ball is thrown in from the sideline, and they “springbok” to catch it?
Here is the wikipedia entry. Guess it is not just rugby.
The springbok has been a national symbol of South Africa[/URL] since the white minority rule in the 20th century. It was adopted as a nickname or mascot by several South African sports teams, most famously by the national rugby union team. The springbok is the national animal of South Africa. Even after the decline of apartheid, [URL=‘https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelson_Mandela’]Nelson Mandela intervened to keep the name of the animal for the reconciliation of rugby fans, the majority of whom were whites
Yeah, but it’s not only South Africa who participates in the sport, England Wales, New Zealand All Blacks, Australian Wallabies, France Les bleus/ Les tricolors and the list goes on
I think the reason for the name is because it is the national symbol of South Africa (and that it is native to South Africa)
Still a much better name then Bafana Bafana… lol
Thats right. Poor Ireland - all they have is a half drunk leprechaun
Lol poor Ireland xD
endless discussion
Yeah - true. We could argue until we are blue in the face.
Football!
Footy laa
Dont advertise dude, Someone gonna search that and laugh at us!! lol
Although this is a SOCCER post… Rugby just is the best sport ever… World Rugby is obviously not as big as Soccer, but at least it stretches further than just one country (American football lol)…
Just check this out,
Those are big hits, no pads, no ladies, just raw power!
Springboks… although we in trouble now, with the rugby championship coming up, we gonna be a brand new team, against the Kiwis and Australia, Japan and Puma’s don’t worry me, but we gonna come short this year!
I agree. Ireland in the last world cup broke my heart with their captain getting sidelined.
I sense a dustup coming here…
This man knows whats up. Rugby is awesome.