Penguin SA

According to Simon Kuper of the Financial Times, no World Cup benefits the economy of the host country. But the handshake between Nelson Mandela and Francois Pienaar, now immortalised in Clint Eastwood’s Invictus, may just trump 2010.

It remains the most stirring South African sporting moment. The country’s Springbok rugby team had just won the World Cup of 1995, uniting South Africans of all colours. Nelson Mandela walked on to the pitch wearing a Springbok jersey, shook hands with South Africa’s captain Francois Pienaar and said, “Francois, thank you very much for what you have done for our country.” Pienaar famously replied: “No, Mr President, thank you for what you have done for our country.”

John Carlin, who recounts the handshake in his book Playing The Enemy, believes this was “possibly the happiest moment of Mandela’s life”. The old man had created a nation. That moment is the focus of Clint Eastwood’s movie Invictus, based on Carlin’s book and due out on December 11.

• Complete article in the Financial Times

Book details

• Playing the Enemy: Nelson Mandela and the Game That Made a Nation by John Carlin
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  EAN: 9781843548690
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• Invictus: Nelson Mandela and the Game that Made a Nation by John Carlin
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  EAN: 9781848873353
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