June 1995. Ellis
Park, Johannesburg, South Africa. The year Rugby went from black and white to
colour. South Africa win the World Cup against the odds, beating the mighty All
Blacks in front of Nelson Mandela and in front of the world. They hadn’t even been allowed to participate
in the first two world cups because of Apartheid. The images of Mandela in the
South African shirt after victory have gone down in history. Joost Van Der Westhuizen
was one of the reasons they did so. The greatest scrum of his generation and
possibly of all time. Certainly one of the greatest rugby players of all time.
An athletic, skilful warrior with movie star looks, some people are just born
luckier than others it seems. He continued to inspire millions (and terrorize
opposition fans) as a Rugby player till his retirement in 2003. In 2011, at the
age of 38, however, his luck ran out. He was diagnosed with Motor Neuron
Disease, cruel for anyone but for a professional rugby player it must have been
almost overwhelming for him to take, as he gradually faded away physically and
lost the power of speech. But his notorious bravery as a rugby player served
him well. Rather than saying “why me”, he said “why not me” and made it his new
purpose to serve the world as an ambassador in the combat against MND. He once
said in an interview that time and health are two things we take for granted
that we shouldn’t. When he lost those things, he said he lost his ego and arrogance and he was
determined to stay around for as long as he could to make a difference. He
managed five years; significantly more than doctors expected. Joost Van Der Westhuizen
was an inspirational sportsman and arguably even more inspirational in his
fight and contribution to increasing awareness of a cruel and humiliating
disease. I wish I’d met him.
RIP Bro’ in
my best South African accent.
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