Sport-event with the greatest influence

Guess he's not replying because of realising how wrong he was...

:-)

Greetings from down under in New Zealand.

As there appears to be no reply from Focus HH, I thought I would answer by attempting to compare the two events.

On the political front, South Africa had only just come out of the international wilderness in the early 1990s after the end of apartheid. South Africa's far right hatred of the blacks and coloureds, perhaps mirrors the German Nazis hatred of the Jews. The winning of an official international sporting event was important for the South African people in being accepted back into the international community and finally uniting the country. Just as West Germany's 1954 triumph was important for the people of West Germany in giving back their self belief and regaining their confidence.

On the sporting front, there's really no comparison in popularity between the two sports. Football (fussball, voetball, futbol, soccer or whatever the preferred name of the individual/country) is THE global game. FIFA has 205 members, and even back in 1954 they had 80 members. Rugby Union on the other hand in spite of the IRB having 95 members, it is only really big in the so-called 'Big Eight': the countries that make up the British Isles, along with France, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. And out of those countries only South Africa (among the white population only), Wales and New Zealand claim it has their national sport. And even then, the number of people that play rugby is outnumbered in all three countries by those that play football.

At the time, Hungary, was by far the best team in the world. Coming into the final, they were already the Olympic champions and more importantly they had not lost any of their previous 31 matches. Only similar runs by England/England Amateurs (1906-10), Brazil (1968-73) and Brazil again (1993-96) can compare with the great Hungarian team. West Germany had already lost to Hungary in the tournament by 8-3 (although it must be said that the Germans were accused of fielding a weakened team). The odds were stacked against the Germans. In the final itself, Hungarian captain, Ferenc Puskas was playing with an injury (picked up in the previous clash between the two nations). This didn't seem to matter, as he scored the opener and then Hungary went 2-0 ahead. For West Germany to then go onto win by 3 goals to 2 was a great achievement. Interesting to note that West Germany then lost it's next three games, to Belgium, France and England.

While already stating Rugby Union is far less the global game than it's cousin, Football. South Africa's achievement is still something to be proud of. The South Africans' opponents in the final was New Zealand (The All Blacks). New Zealand like Hungary were the firm favourites. However, in comparison their record leading up to the final was nothing like the Hungarians, but the All Blacks were impressing the fans with the style in which they were winning. All Blacks' fans believe their team are the best in the world. However in five World Cups to date, New Zealand has only once, been able to live up to this belief and that was on home soil. The match was a close contest and went into extra time, with the Springboks (South Africa) winning by 15 points to 12. As the Springboks captain, Francois Pienaar said when collecting the cup 'we had 43 million people behind us.' At last South Africa as a nation was united.

Sorry about the late addition to the topic, but I have only just come across it.

I only had in mind the unexpected of the events, didn't mean to compare anything more, in 1954 Greece was only 4 years after a civil war, it was much better in 2004 )))