Hannes Strydomrugby legend who on June 24, 1994 He won the legendary 1995 Rugby World Cup with South Africa (an epic story that inspired the film Invictus), died at age 58 in a traffic accident.
The vehicle in which Strydom, capped 115 times by South Africa, was traveling, collided with a minibus near the mining town of Malahleni, in the province of Mpumalanga.
Strydom made his debut for the Springboks in 1993 and helped defeat New Zealand 15-12 in the 1995 World Cup final in Johannesburg, South Africa’s biggest sporting event since the end of apartheid.
Fifth death of a South African player, world champion in 1994, before the age of 60
Hannes Strydom is the fifth player from the 1995 South Africa World Cup-winning team to die: Ruben Kruger in 2010 with 39 patients suffering from a brain tumor, Joost van der Westhuizen in 2017, at the age of 49, due to a neuronal disease, Chester Williams in 2019 at age 49 after a heart attack and James Small in 2019, aged 50, after passing out naked and drunk in a strip bar.
The Coach Kitch Christie Muri was 58 years old in 1998 due to cancer.
The Springbok curse
In the Anglo-Saxon press there is already talk of the Springbok curse world champions at Ellis Park in Johannesburg before Nelson Mandela.
“Strydom’s untimely death sparked dark rumors surrounding the legendary team, after four other players and their coach died without any of them reaching the age of 60. South Africa, like the entire continent, is a tremendously superstitious country with premature death. of every 1995 Springbok, the word curse grows stronger with the death of each player”, they explain. Jamie Pyatt Yes Juliana Cruz Lima In the diary ‘The sun’.
A former Springbok player wanted to refute the curse theory: “The curse is still talked about, but it’s complete nonsense, but it’s always around. They were all a group of fit men at the time, but like” any group in any lifestyle, this kind of thing has affected a percentage of them.”
