Springbok icons Jean de Villiers and Bryan Habana have urged fans to lead the way in showing South Africa’s admiration and gratitude to Nelson Mandela by packing out the FNB Stadium on Saturday, August 17.
The Springboks and Argentina will be in action in the opening round of The Castle Lager Rugby Championship as part of the Mandela Sports & Culture Day in a special tribute to Madiba.
Tickets for the event, which will include the unique combination of a soccer friendly and an international rugby match played on the same day on the same field, are now on sale through Computicket outlets nationwide.
The current Springbok captain, and Habana (the first Springbok to score 50 Test tries) believe this sporting extravaganza will give rugby fans a chance to show what Madiba meant to them.
De Villiers said: “Madiba is such an inspiration for all the people in South Africa and he always showed great support for us as sportspeople. I therefore appeal to Springbok fans to unite and to lead the way in showing South Africa’s admiration and gratitude to Madiba by packing out the FNB Stadium on Saturday, August 17.”
According to Habana it will be fantastic to see the huge stadium filled with fans wearing Green & Gold, supporting both a unique sporting occasion, the Springboks and Madiba.
“The match against the Pumas is of huge importance for the Boks because the team wants to kick-off The Castle Rugby Championship on a good note in front of our passionate fans,” said Habana.
“I would therefore urge Bok fans to move quickly and snap up the tickets to this special occasion.”
The Springboks’ opening Test in The Castle Lager Rugby Championship will be staged in the 90,000-seater FNB Stadium on the outskirts of Soweto. The bonanza sports programme includes a friendly soccer international between Bafana Bafana and Burkina Faso earlier in the day, a music concert and other entertainment.
The Castle Lager Rugby Championship match will kick off at 17h00 with Bafana Bafana taking the field at 13h30. A Legends soccer match between teams from South Africa and Italy will kick off the day’s proceedings at 11h00.
Tickets for the day – which concludes with a music festival following the Springbok Test – are priced from R220 and fans can buy them at any Computicket outlet or online at www.computicket.com.
All tickets offer reserved seating and are available in the following price categories: R220, R350, R450 and R550.
SARU and the event organisers will announce travel and logistics arrangements such as shuttle and train services and also traffic arrangements as soon as they have been finalised by the relevant law enforcement authorities and service providers.
SARU, in co-operation with the event organisers, will also produce a special Match Programme, which will be jam-packed with unique feature articles, event information and the necessary rugby news, line-ups and statistics.