Thando Manana: being a black springbok

Former Springbok rugby player Thando Manana, joined us in the studio to discuss his debut novel, an autobiographical tale about what it truly entailed being a black Springbok.

The book covers his childhood to his success and struggles of being a Springbok player. He was a gifted child playing rugby, cricket and doing drama, but ultimately he dropped the others in pursuit of a rugby career, stating it as his first love. The book was edited by Sibusiso Mjikelo, who is also the editor of Kick Off Magazine, after he approached Pan Macmillan Publishers about it.

Thando had to face many difficulties during the early times of his career, due to the fact that he was only the third black African player to go on to become a Springbok, during this time he caught a lot of attention when he refused to undergo initiation, saying that he already had his Xhosa cultural initiation. When he made his Springbok debut back in 2000 against Argentina, Thando said he had to work even harder to prove that he was not just a quota player.

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