On 24 June 1995, at Ellis Park in Johannesburg, South Africa beat the favourites New Zealand 15-12 after extra time in the final of the Rugby World Cup, in the first tournament hosted since the end of apartheid. President Nelson Mandela, wearing a Springbok jersey with the number 6 of the captain Francois Pienaar, a symbol of white Afrikaner pride that Black South Africans had long despised, handed the trophy to him. The crowd chanted 'Nelson!' Mandela used sport to build reconciliation, a story told in the film Invictus (2009). South Africa won the cup again in 2007, 2019 and 2023.
Before and after
- 23 May 1995Release of MySQL
- 25 May 1995Tuzla massacre
- from 25 May 1995 to 26 May 1995May 1995 Pale air strikes
- 8 June 1995Creation of PHP
- 24 June 1995Nelson Mandela presents the Rugby World Cup to South Africa's captain
- July 1995Srebrenica massacre
- 17 July 1995The Global Positioning System reaches full operational capability
- from 21 July 1995 to 23 March 1996Third Taiwan Strait Crisis
- 23 July 1995Discovery of Comet Hale-Bopp
More in Society, economy & sport
- 22 March 1945Founding of Arab League
- 8 August 1967Founding of ASEAN
- 10 December 1987Rise of Hamas
- 1994Rise of Taliban
- 1 January 1995Founding of World Trade Organization
- 11 September 2001September 11 attacks
The era
This moment belongs to the Contemporary world (1945 CE to today), the world since 1945. You can also browse everything in the 20th century.