What is the most popular game in South Africa?

Rugby union is the most popular team sport among white South Africans, but in more recent years has garnered a dedicated following among other ethnic groups.The national team is known as the Springboks. South Africa hosted and won the 1995 Rugby World Cup, in what was their first appearance as South Africa emerged from the isolation of the Apartheid era. The defeat of the All Blacks in the final is remembered as one of the most famous South African sporting moments overall. The domestic league – the Currie Cup – is also played annually. From 1996, South Africa fielded sides against teams from Australia and New Zealand in the Super Rugby competition. This was expanded to include teams from Argentina and Japan but, after the COVID-19 pandemic forced the competition to split into three, South Africa left and joined the United Rugby Championship facing teams from Ireland, Scotland, Wales and Italy. This new alignment to the Northern Hemisphere led to South Africa’s inclusion in the European Rugby Champions Cup from 2022.

After being tainted by associations with Apartheid, the Springboks (or ‘Boks’) have sought to become part of the ‘New South Africa’, with President Nelson Mandela wearing the Springbok jersey, once only worn by white South Africans, at the final of the 1995 Rugby World Cup.

South Africa has won the Rugby World Cup four times, in 1995, 2007, 2019 and 2023, the only country in the world to ever do so.

Rugby league

Rugby league is popular, although to a much lesser extent than rugby union. The national team, nicknamed the Rhinos, have enjoyed moderate success since their first international matches in the 1960s, reaching the World Cup in 1995 and 2000 and were among the premier nations in the sport in the 1990s and early 2000s. They are ranked 25th in the world. Rugby league (XIII) is a more recently growing spectator sport in South Africa in current years, but it has struggled to gain a foothold in the country due to the popularity of sports such as soccer, rugby union and cricket, and also due to their location, meaning a lack of meaningful international matches.

The South Africa national rugby league team (Rhinos) is ranked 25th in the world out of 51 countries ranked and doesn’t manage to enjoy the success or media attention that most other sports receive. The national team dates back to the early 60’s and have featured in 2 World Cups, the 1995 Rugby League World Cup and the 2000 Rugby League World Cup.

South African players who have played professionally in Australasia’s NRL and the Super League include Tom Van Vollenhoven (St Helens R.F.C.), Jamie Bloem (Castleford Tigers, Huddersfield Giants and Halifax) and Jarrod Saffy (Wests Tigers and St. George Illawarra Dragons).

There are currently three competitions, the top-level Rhino Cup consisting of 8 teams, the Protea Cup, consisting of 4 and the Western Province Rugby League, consisting of 5.

Rugby sevens

The South Africa national rugby sevens team (known as the Blitzbokke) compete in the World Rugby Sevens Series, the Rugby World Cup Sevens, the Summer Olympic Games and the Commonwealth Games. They won the bronze medal in the 2016 Olympic Games, and silver in the 1997 Rugby World Cup Sevens. They have won the Commonwealth Games tournament twice in 2014 and 2022. South Africa have also won the Sevens World Series four times. The South Africa Sevens is an annual tournament held in Cape Town as the South African leg of the Sevens World Series.

Soccer

Soccer, as the sport is known in South Africa, is the most popular team sport amongst all South Africans, with a very strong following among majority of South Africans.

South Africa hosted the 2010 FIFA World Cup, becoming the first African nation to do so.

Bafana Bafana, as hosts of the 2010 FIFA World Cup, were drawn in Group A with Mexico, Uruguay and France, they played their first match against Mexico which ended in a 1–1 draw in Johannesburg. They played their second match against Uruguay and the match ended in a 3–0 defeat in Pretoria, their last match was against France in Bloemfontein which South Africa needed more goals to advance to the knockout stages but the match ended in a 2–1 win that was not enough for them to progress to the knockout stages, thereby becoming the first host nation to exit at the group stage in history of World Cup. After the world cup the team continues to struggle as they missed the 2014 and 2018 FIFA World Cups.

The team has made three appearances in the 1998, 2002 and 2010 FIFA World Cups and 10 appearances in the Africa Cup of Nations, they won in the final of 1996.

Mamelodi Sundowns is the most successful team in the South African Premier League era, the DStv Premiership, boost the most number of years of representing South Africa in CAF Champions League (Champions in 2015), Africa Football League (inaugural participant in 2023) and in the FIFA Club World Cup (2016). The other significant teams are Orlando Pirates and Kaizer Chiefs, dubbed Soweto rivals. The domestic cups are MTN 8, Black Label Cup and Nedbank Cup while the international cups are CAF Champions League and CAF Confederation Cup. The sport governing body is SAFA.

Cricket

Cricket is one of the most popular team sports in South Africa. It is the only sport in South Africa to feature in the top two sports of all race groups. The national team is known as the Proteas.

South Africa is one of the leading cricket-playing nations in the world and one of the twelve countries sanctioned to play test cricket. Ever since the readmission into international cricket, the Proteas have been contributing largely to the development of the game mainly by bringing innovations in coaching and training. South Africa is famous for its batters, fast bowlers and fielders such as AB De Villiers, Dale Steyn and Jonty Rhodes.

Cricket was traditionally popular among English-speaking whites and the Asian (Subcontinent) community, though the latter were not able to compete in top-level South African cricket in the apartheid era. Since the end of the apartheid era, a higher proportion of white players have come from Afrikaans-speaking backgrounds, and attempts have been made to increase the number of non-white players, in part through a quota system. The current national team features prominent non-white players, such as Kagiso Rabada, Hashim Amla (the first Muslim to play for South Africa), Keshav Maharaj, Temba Bavuma, Vernon Philander, Lungi Ngidi, and Tabraiz Shamsi. Afrikaners in the team include Faf du Plessis, Rassie van der Dussen, Wiaan Mulder, and Heinrich Klaasen. Charl Langeveldt, a non-white player, also became the first South African to take a hat-trick in an ODI match in 2005. Kagiso Rabada became the third after JP Duminy, and currently boasts the best match figures by a South African, 6 for 16, in an ODI.

The team has had success with batsmen like Herschelle Gibbs, who was one of the sport’s most dominating batsmen, all-rounders like Jacques Kallis and Shaun Pollock, the former being one of the greatest all rounders of the game, and bowlers such as Makhaya Ntini, who reached number two in the ICC Player Rankings in 2006. Dale Steyn is currently ranked as one of the best test bowlers, and former captain Graeme Smith was one of the most dominant left-handed batsmen in recent world cricket history. Wicketkeeper Mark Boucher has the world record for the most dismissals for a wicketkeeper in Tests. Kevin Pietersen, who is white, was forced to leave the country to pursue his career given he was put at a disadvantage by the discriminatory racial quotas, and within a few years became one of the world’s top batsmen, playing for England. South Africa is one of the strongest teams^{[citation needed]} and in 2006, in Johannesburg in what was the highest scoring 50 over ODI ever, South Africa led by Gibbs’ 175 chased down Australia’s mammoth and then world record score of 434–4. South Africa hosted the 2003 Cricket World Cup an event that was disappointing to them as they tied against Sri Lanka in what happened to be in a farcical situation and were eliminated on home soil. In the 2007 Cricket World Cup, South Africa reached the semi-finals of the event but lost to Australia. They were sent home by New Zealand in the 2011 Cricket World Cup and the same team also defeated them in the 2015 Cricket World Cup in a thrilling semi-final.

South Africans are at the top and are a consistent team in the test format for the last half decade.^{[citation needed]} They are often considered as fearsome for the teams touring from the Indian subcontinent because of their brutal fast bowling.

Hockey

Major events: Hockey Africa Cup of Nations, Hockey World Cup and Women’s Hockey World Cup

Hockey in South Africa has been played for decades, mainly by the white minority. Like most other sports, South Africa was banned from international Hockey from 1964 onwards. In August 1992, the South African Hockey Association was formed, with the aims of “Creat[ing] opportunities for participation without distinction based on colour, race, creed, religion or gender” and to “Redress historical disparities to allow all to participate and compete equally and specifically address the needs of historically disadvantaged communities through special programmes.”^[14] As a result, South Africa was allowed to take part in international competitions from 1993 onwards, including the Hockey Africa Cup of Nations, a trophy that has been won every time since by both the South African Men’s Hockey team and the South African Women’s Hockey team.

On the national level, the major competition within South Africa is the Premier Hockey league. This consists of two leagues (one men, one women) each of six teams. The men’s teams are the Addo Elephants, Drakensberg Dragons, Garden Route Gazelles, Golden Gate Gladiators, Mapungubwe Mambas and the Maropeng Cavemen. The women’s teams are the Blyde River Bunters, Madikwe Rangers, Namaqualand Daisies, Orange River Rafters, St Lucia Lakers and the Wineland Wings. The Golden Gate Gladiators and the Namaqualand Daisies are the South African national U21 teams for men and women respectively. The teams played each other on a round robin tournament and the bottom two teams are eliminated (and then play each other to determine 5th and 6th place.) The top four teams play in two semi-finals, the 1st against the 3rd and the 2nd against the 4th. The winners of each semi-final then play each other in the final (and the losers play each other for 3rd and 4th place.)^[15] The league usually plays over four weekends from late November to mid December.

On the World Stage, the men’s team has qualified for the Olympics four times, highest placing 10th (2004). They’ve also qualified for the Hockey World Cup six times, highest placing 10th (2010). The women’s team has qualified for the Olympics four times, highest placing 9th (2004), and the Women’s Hockey World Cup six times, highest placing 7th (1998).

South Africa’s Men’s and Women’s teams are currently rated 12th and 16th, respectively, in the FIH World Rankings. Both teams are members of the African Hockey Federation, the governing body for Hockey in Africa, and the International Hockey Federation.