Context (Field collection)
This cap was purchased on 11 May 2000 at Flagworld, Shop KM1, Victoria and Alfred Waterfront, Victoria and Alfred Wharf, Cape Town, South Africa.

This object was collected by Julia Tanner while undertaking fieldwork in South Africa from March-May 2000. The fieldwork was financed by MAA's Crowther-Beynon Fund, in order to research and update MAA's South African collections.
Event Date 11/05/2000
Author: maa

Context (Analysis)
Sport is an extremely popular national activity in South Africa, enabled both by the climate and the geography. However, during the apartheid era the country's black population did not have the same access to sports facilities and training. Rugby, which has been described as the 'national religion' of South Africa, was particularly associated with the Afrikaner culture. The springbok emblem represented to many a symbol of apartheid, white domination and injustice. In the mid-1990s there was a campaign to remove it as a symbol of South African sports teams. The national flower, the protea, was expected to replace it. However, at the Rugby World Cup final in 1995, Nelson Mandela walked out onto the field wearing a Springbok jersey and cap. In this conciliatory gesture Mandela sought the power of symbols to unite as well as divide. The National Sports Council later decided that the symbol may remain. As part of the process of reconciliation, the springbok it is now commonly referred to by its indigenous name, Amabokoboko.
Event Date 2001
Author: Lucie Carreau

Description (Physical description)
South African rugby cap. A cream coloured body is composed of six triangular sections sewn together, each with a air-hole in the centre. The cap has a green peak at the front, a green button at the top and a velcro fastening mechanism at the rear. On the front of the cap is written 'SA Rugby', above which are the images of a rugby ball, a springbok and a protea flower. On the inside rim is a label that also bears these symbols, along with the text, 'Official licensed product of the South African Rugby Football Union'.
Event Date 5/5/2012
Author: maa