An unidentified rugby fan left a recent Springboks game with autographed swim briefs — and, perhaps, a hand-shaped mark on his butt cheek — after a close encounter with South African rugby captain Siya Kolisi.
After the South Africa national rugby union team’s 30-15 victory over Scotland in Edinburgh earlier this month, Kolisi, the first Black man to captain the team, signed and then slapped a man’s butt, as The South African reports.
The fan was wearing the same South African flag swim briefs that Kolisi’s teammate Faf de Klerk wore when he met Prince Harry in the locker room following the Rugby World Cup two years ago. (Let the slash fan-fiction commence.)
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Anyway, after the match in Edinburgh, Kolisi hopped a fence, popped a squat behind the bent-over fan, signed the man’s briefs, and then gave his admirer what a Redditor described as a “perfectly satisfying” slap on the butt. Then the two men shared a quick hug, before Kolisi returned to the field and the smiling fan returned to the stands.
On Reddit, commenters raved over the interaction. “I’m South African, and I can’t tell you how much I love this video,” one woman wrote. “Within my lifetime, we’ve gone from a country where I couldn’t hug a Black person in public without risking the life of that Black person to having a Black captain of our rugby team and then slap a white dude’s ass in public and everyone loving it. There are issues in this country, sure, but moments like this show amazing growth in 30-plus years.”
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Another person, meanwhile, simply said it was “strangely the most wholesome post I’ve seen on Reddit today.”
Jaquelope
No video? Just a screenshot of before it happened?
Den
I was able to view the video by clicking on it, and it is quite cute. It is interesting that exclusive of the racial aspect it is hard to imagine a professional athlete in the US doing the same thing.
It is important to note that the constitution of South Africa is the first in the world to specifically include protection/equality for LGBT citizens as well as racial and gender equality. So despite ongoing problems, the country is trying hard to slough it’s history and cultural baggage.
masteradrian031
@Den Althogh I agree with you that it is great that the South African Constitution includes an article protecting LGBT as well as racial and gender equality, I feel it right to point out, if only for the record, that the Constitution of the Netherlands (Holland) in its First article declares that discrimination on whatever ground is forbidden, not a separate article but THE most important article of the Constitution states that ANY discrimination is forbidden!
That means that EVERYONE who even FEELS discriminated against can quote that article when suing ANYONE or ANYTHING! I feel it fitting also to mention that the Netherlands was the first country in the world were same-sex marriage was made possible and availlable!