Inspiring millions

Against all odds, soccer continued to thrive in the townships. Vast, peaceful crowds streamed to township venues like Orlando Stadium in Soweto, saluting heroes who were enshrined in folklore from the Cape to the Limpopo, and even further north. Men like Jomo Sono and Kaizer Motaung and others rose out of the dust, shone brightly and inspired millions.

Into the 1980s, the country's amateur soccer structures were still divided but, battling against the apartheid tide, standing brave in the vanguard of change, professional soccer did merge in 1985, under the auspices of a new National Soccer League.

The repeal of apartheid legislation in 1990 started unity talks at every level of South African soccer and, on December 8, 1991, four historically divided and entirely separate bodies finally reached across the negotiating table and founded the South African Football Association on non-racial, democratic principles.

SAFA was welcomed into the African fold by an unforgettable standing ovation at the Confederation of African Football's congress of 1992 in Dakar and then jubilantly admitted as a FIFA member at the governing body's congress in June 1992.

Within just three weeks, SAFA had arranged for Cameroon to play a series of three matches in South Africa to celebrate the unity process. So, on a wet evening in Durban, on Tuesday July 7, 1992, South Africa hosted its first fully-fledged, completely representative international soccer match at King's Park Stadium in Durban; and the home team won 1-0, thanks to a late penalty by Doctor Khumalo.

This information was provided by the South African 2010 Local Organising Committee.

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