Sports plays important role in South African culture. The people here are very passionate about the main three types of sports: football, cricket, and rugby. However, there are many other sports that had been developed in South Africa over the last few decades. In 2010 the Worldwide Football Championship took place in the country. And today South Africa is considered to be a very sport-developed country. We propose you learn more about popular sports in modern South Africa.
Football
We decided to start with the most best sport for betting that you can find in all betting services in South Africa. In this country, you may see the young guys playing football in any village. And to your surprise, many famous South African players started from such improvised football fields. The National football team called Bafana Bafana (Boys) participated in Worldwide Championships three times and ten times in African Nations Cup winning the 1996s final. The female National football team also exists and it is called Banyana Banyana (The Girls).
There are also inside football cups – MTN 8, Telkom Knockout, and Nedbank Cup. Among the international ones, CAF Champion League and CAF Confederation Cup are worth attention. The legendary teams Caizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates have many fans around the country and outside.
Among the famous South African football players are Lucas Radebe, Doctor Khumalo, Benedict McCarthy, Aaron Mokoena, Steven Pienaar, Shaun Bartlett, Jomo Sono, Neil Tovey.
Cricket
The second most played South African sports game is cricket. But that wasn’t always like this. For almost twenty years it was forbidden to play cricket in South Africa because of apartheid politics. Nowadays cricket is played around the all country. The South African cricket male and the female team is called ‘Proteas’ named by national flower.
From the moment of coming back to international cricket, Proteas contribution to game development is huge because of traineeship innovations and constant training. The country is one of the leading countries in the world for cricket playing. South Africans have been at the peak and made a stable team in test format for about 5 last years. They are considered dangerous for the teams from India and Asia.
Rugby
It is a national sport in South Africa. Rugby is a game where a team of 15 tries to run or kick the ball across the goal of their opponents. And this game is highly popular in South Africa. Rugby was structured fairly quickly with the creation of the South African Rugby Board, the XV rugby federation, in 1889.
The national rugby team is called Springboks and plays in national colors of green and yellow. The number of registered rugby players in South Africa is 651,146.
In 2016 Rugby was played in Summer Olympics. However, the teams have 7 participants instead of 15. South African professional players include Tom Van Wollenhoven (St Helens RFC), Jamie Bloom (Castleford Tigers , Huddersfield Giants и Halifax), and Jarred Saffi (Wests Tigers и St.George Illawarra Dragons).
A national rugby league of South Africa, the Currie Cup, is played annually.
Cycling
Being always associated with Western countries, cycling becomes more and more popular in South Africa, too. It grows the popularity each day because the country is famous for its picturesque cycling routes. Various routes help participants to explore different landscapes, for example, streets with growing trees or amazing vineyards.
The most famous South African cyclist is Robert Hunter who won at Tour de France in 2007.
Cycling South Africa или CyclingSA is a national organization of cycling in South Africa. Another South African cyclist Greg Minnaar is a seven-time world champion in downhill mountain biking.
In Tour de France 2013 Darril Impy became the first African cyclist who put on the yellow t-shirt as a race leader. Loui Mounties showed the best result for an African racer in Grand Tour when finished the tenth in Vuelta an España in 2015 the same as in 2016.
Athletics
There are many successful athletes who originate from South Africa. The most famous Paralympic athlete Oscar Pistorius presented to South Africa. At the 2011 championship, he and his three teammates set the national record.
Basketball
Basketball is a sport that is growing in popularity over the last few years. However, a governing body – Basketball of South Africa was founded in 1992. Nowadays, the youth is crazy about it and plays basketball very actively.
There are many other sports that are quite popular in South Africa – golf, boxing, and more. But we decided to cover the ones that South Africans are very passionate about. And which type of sport do you prefer? Which one would you choose for betting?
