Thread by @Elmakapelma

The 2021 @LionsSeries
A THREAD:

Many consider this Lions tour to have been weakened by the circumstances. Less impressive, not as meaningful. A hollow spectacle. One that tarnished the image of the sport, even.

Tell this to a South African generation who already lost out on 15 opportunities to play for the Springboks. If the average Springbok gets about 30 caps, that’s half a test career worth of tests cancelled. Tell them.

Tell this to the governing body who creates work for hundreds, if not thousands of South Africans, directly & indirectly. More people are unemployed than there are people who have jobs, here in SA. It wasn’t just the dignity of an emblem or an ideal that was at stake.

“It’s not worth the risk. Its all about the money. What about the fans?” Tell this to the hotel staff who left their families to offer a safe, sanitary refuge for the Boks & Lions. No medals. Just a chance to work, in an industry ravaged by a pandemic that seems to have no end.

Tell the Lions, who left their families, missed milestones & travelled straight into the eye of what seemed like a perfect storm. A country ravaged by its biggest wave of infections yet, compounded by a week of large scale violence & looting (the word insurrection was used).

To get on with it all, despite positive test results and close contact isolation - even when the team had to be selected on the bus to the game. This wasn’t what anyone dreamt of when they watched their first Lions Tour as a kid.

Personally, all I kept hoping for in the second half, was that it wouldn’t end in a draw.
A draw would probably have been a fair reflection of the game. But this series, after all the sacrifice, perseverance & determination it asked of so many people, deserved a winner.

This tour was peak South Africa. It was loud, it was angry and it left some marks. It was never supposed to be possible. The fact that three tests were played, much like most of what is achieved in the rainbow nation - in hindsight - seems miraculous.

So grateful to have stood witness to the power of the human spirit.

Thank you to every single person who put in such a massive shift on this project. From our team at @WeAreWhisperTV, right through to the @Springboks, SA Rugby, @lionsofficial, SARES & @CSM_Worldwide