Rugby World Cup: Gwijo Squad confronts legacy of apartheid

CNN — The final whistle rings out around Ellis Park stadium in Johannesburg. The Gwijo Squad is changing the atmosphere in South African rugby stadiums PHILL MAGAKOE/AFP/AFP/Getty Images “He came straight to us,” Chulumanco Macingwane, 35, told CNN Sport. READ: ‘There’s no way I would’ve dreamed of being South Africa captain,’ says Siya Kolisi ‘Celebration and struggle’ Macingwane was surrounded by 77 other people who had arrived at one of world rugby’s great stadiums with a single purpose — to sing traditional and spiritually significant African songs known as igwijo – as part of the newly formed Gwijo Squad. READ: How Wales created a home-away-from-home ahead of the Rugby World Cup “I have friends who have been told to ‘go watch soccer,’” said Macingwane, alluding to the widely held perception that rugby is a sport for white people and soccer is the pastime of the black majority. “What if the English or the Australians felt every kilometre they’d traveled from home and knew that they had arrived somewhere intimidating?” Nelson Mandela hands Francois Pienaar the Webb Ellis Cup after the Springboks beat the New Zealand All Blacks in the 1995 Rugby World Cup JEAN-PIERRE MULLER/AFP/AFP/Getty Images They started small.