SA Rocks in 2010 Varsity Cup
The FNB Varsity Cup presented by Steinhoff International will embark on a campaign this coming season to help players and supporters become even prouder of their country, in what is shaping up as a massive sporting year in South Africa.
With the 2010 FIFA World Cup already dominating most media coverage and bar-room talk, the Varsity Cup – itself a very popular part of South Africa’s sporting calendar – will help to build SA pride with its unique South Africa Rocks campaign this season.
“It’s very important, with the 2010 World Cup nearly upon us, to get the country’s sports fans feeling as patriotic as possible,” explained Varsity Cup CEO Duitser Bosman.
“At the same time, however, as much as we would like to deny it, there are some sceptics out there,” he added, “but we want to make sure that those sceptics have no alternative but to join in and be as patriotic as all of us at the Varsity Cup are.
“The Varsity Cup is all about the youth… we’re helping develop the next generation of South African adults and we want them all to be positive about their country and its resources.”
In a bid to maximise this patriotic element of the Varsity Cup – and once again taking a leaf out of the book of American sports – a Varsity Cup Credo (which has been agreed upon by all eight universities) will be read out before all matches, the South African flag will be displayed at all matches and the South African anthem, Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika, will be sung before kick-off.
Bosman said: “We have a beautiful anthem and a beautiful flag and this is just another way for us to embrace it and to encourage national loyalty.
“A whole bunch of Varsity Cup representatives travelled to America on a fact-finding mission last year and we watched up to eleven different sports – all of those events had the American anthem and national flag involved in some way and that’s where we got the idea from.
“We will allow each of the universities to do something unique before the game, with the flag and the anthem, and we’re expecting some very fun and exciting methods of incorporating South African patriotism before matches.”
