Stronger Together
Iconic moments from one sporting maverick to another.
"Oh no, I'm in the wrong place!" thought David Cannon on a crisp Sunday afternoon back in 1984.
He'd been waiting patiently in the long grass behind the 18th green at St Andrews for the moment - as if in slow motion, perhaps impelled by my powers of mental suggestion, so strong was my desire that it should drop in - as it started happening it initially seemed his perfect vantage point was going to be a flop. The talent was facing the wrong way.
Severiano Ballesteros turned. His mental powers, fully engaged, must have been telling him to angle his fist-pumping celebration towards where Cannon was waiting with his 400mm f/2.8L lens. Seve had just drained a putt that he knew would win him The Open Championship at the Old Course. "This was the happiest moment of my sporting life. My most fantastic shot." the Spaniard would say for years afterwards.
"I just kept shooting." said Cannon. He knew he was getting the good stuff. Abandoning the plan to return to London the following day, he marked the roll of film to identify it from the fifty he had shot during the final round and jumped into a car and drove through the night to his office. He was waiting, roll of film in hand, outside the dark room door for the developers when they got to work on Monday morning.
Later that week, those images were spearheading a major campaign for Slazenger and were plastered all over the London Underground. They went on to become arguably the most famous images in golf. Seve adopted the silhouette it as his personal logo and even got it tattooed on his left forearm.
I'd been reminded of the significance of that moment during the recent Ryder Cup by European captain Luke Donald. His behind-the-scenes footage of the European team room set up explained why that larger-than-life image featured prominently. How the late Seve is the talisman for Team Europe. An iconic, swashbuckling maverick. The best kind of talisman.
On Sunday night I wasn't thinking of Seve Ballesteros or iconic moments in sport when Springbok fullback Damian Willemse fielded a kick in his 22m area and called for a mark without being under any real pressure. As he placed the ball on the ground and signalled to the referee, by placing his two fists together in front of his chest, that the Springboks would take the scrum I was as bemused as everybody else.
Like Seve Ballesteros before him, Damian Willemse has a touch of the maverick about him. Incredibly talented, he plays with a freedom that seems to fly in the face of any fear of failure. And while Tom Cruise also recently reprised his role as Maverick from the 1980s, we had a kindred spirit at Stade de France on Sunday night. Tom Cruise might do all his own stunts, he rarely does anything as risky as calling a scrum inside his own 22m area.
”But that is what Willemse did, placing the ball down on the turf and holding his fists together in an unmistakable gesture towards Ben O’Keeffe, the referee. He did not even need to glance up towards any traffic lights. What a statement, doubtlessly devised beforehand by South Africa’s wily coaches. Erasmus and Nienaber evidently woke up and chose violence, though there were multiple layers to an innovative – and typically mischievous – tactic.”
Charlie Morgan's article on the incident in the Telegraph called it the 'ultimate alpha flex'. It's a great read that focusses on the importance of the decision in the context of the match and the impact on England ahead of the semi-final.
I don't know who took the grainy image of the moment that has been doing the rounds post match. It doesn't have Cannon's clarity, but it captured it perfectly. The unerring confidence of Willemse as he made the biggest of calls. A moment that could slot straight into the Springboks’ marketing campaign. It epitomises Stronger Together.
Previously the most famous fist in our World Cup history was that of Pieter Hendricks whose up yours celebration as he rounded David Campese in the opening match of 1995. It was a defiant, triumphant release in a moment of passion.
Willemse's was far more subtle, nuanced. The Springboks aren't just running on passion these days. We're now a team that will out think you before smashing you up. Physically.
When South Africa won the World Cup in France in 2007 there wasn't really an iconic image. At a push it's probably the freeze frame of Danie Rossouw tackling Mark Cueto into touch in the final, conveying the pure grit of the big man to get across and save the day. It's just not quite as striking an image. I was fortunate enough to be in the media box in Paris that night and so my memory will always be the look on Jeremy Guscott's face as he stood in front of the media Pom Squad and squealed, “how is that not a try?”.
If the Boks go on to repeat the heroics of 2007 in Paris, I know which moment I'll cherish from this tournament. Thank you to our very own Maverick!
My brother wrote about Damian Willemse a while back, ‘A True Champion’