You know that feeling. That feeling when the hairs on your body stand up all the way to the back of your neck and face because something just sounds and feels so good?
Beyong the amazing 29–24 Springboks victory over the All Blacks on Saturday, which caused such goosebumps, there was another moment that equally did just that.
The third Test of "Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry" tour had everything you would expect from a Boks-All Blacks clash. It had pressure, drama, a packed stadium and a win that put the Springboks 2–1 ahead in the four-Test series.
But let’s talk about the goosebumps.
Not just a rugby match
That was the national anthem on Saturday.
As Belinda Davids took to the stage to sing "Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika", thousands of supporters joined her. Her voice carried through the stadium, but it was the crowd that made the moment feel so much bigger.
The goosebumps were there. The tears were there. The joy was there.
And Tarryn Lamb deserves credit too for her beautiful rendition of New Zealand’s "God Defend New Zealand".
Watching Siya Kolisi and his teammates take in the anthem made the moment more emotional. There was something about seeing the players, the crowd and the music all coming together that made it difficult to not feel overcome with emotion.
This feeling is not just about rugby.
According to a 2024 study published in the Community Development Journal, communal singing can do more than bring people together for a shared musical experience.
Researchers who studied two choirs in the Cape Town metropole found that singing together could strengthen group identity, social bonds and a sense of belonging, with the activity creating spaces where people felt accepted and connected to a wider community.
The study also found that, in the more racially and socially diverse choir, singing together acted as a unifier and social equaliser, helping people from different backgrounds build relationships and a shared sense of South African identity.
Power of singing together
So when thousands of South Africans sing the same song at the same time, such as the anthem, there is more happening than simply remembering the words.
Think back to high school: the sports day, the rivalry between schools, the banners, face paint, flags, cheering from the sidelines, and the songs that somehow everyone knew.
The latter two, which, of course contributed towards attaining the spirit cup.
That cup could become almost as important as the sporting event itself.
You sang until your voice was finished, learnt every chant and supported your school as though your life depended on it. The sport mattered, but so did the feeling of being a part of something.
That feeling has followed us into adulthood.
At a Springboks game, it lives in the green and gold, the flags, the chants and the thousands of people who have arrived with one shared purpose.
It is in the stranger next to you who suddenly feels like a friend because you are both screaming at the referee. It is in the auntie dressed in green and gold as if she has personally been selected for the starting XV.
And it lives in the singing.
A 2018 study published in Frontiers in Psychology, which examined South Africans’ collective emotions during the 2010 FIFA World Cup, found that singing the national anthem was recalled as an emotional peak for participants.
One participant described people singing “from their hearts, from the bottom of their hearts” and said it had “just brought us together, black and white like you’ve never seen before”. When asked what that feeling meant, the participant answered: “unity that you’ve never seen before”.
There is a spiritual feeling that comes with singing in one chorus. Your voice becomes part of something larger than itself. You stop worrying about whether you can sing and simply join in.
You sing with your whole heart.
History of the national anthem
There is a reason "Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika" can carry that kind of weight.
According to the national government, the words of the first stanza were originally written in Xhosa as a hymn. Seven additional stanzas in Xhoza were later added by the poet, Samuel Mqhayi.
"A Sesotho version was published by Moses Mphahlele in 1942. 'Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika' was popularised at concerts held in Johannesburg by Reverend JL Dube's Ohlange Zulu Choir. It became a popular church hymn that was later adopted as an anthem at political meetings. It was sung as an act of defiance during the apartheid years.
"The first stanza is generally sung in Xhosa or Zulu followed by the Sesotho version. Apparently there is no standard version or translations of Nkosi and the words vary from place to place and from occasion to occasion," government explains.
Therefore, when we sing it at rugby games and national occasions, we are not simply singing a song we learned at school. We are singing something that has travelled through generations, churches, political gatherings and the struggle against apartheid, eventually becoming part of how South Africans come together in stadiums today.
Research published in "Scientific Reports" in 2025, in a study titled "The emotional geography of National Anthems", describes national anthems as powerful symbols of national identity that can evoke strong emotional responses.
The researchers explain that anthems can express a nation’s internal unity by establishing bonds and collective goals, while music can also communicate a sense of belonging and membership.
Their study analysed the emotional characteristics of 176 national anthems, examining how musical features contribute to the emotions people associate with these national symbols.
And that sense of belonging feels particularly significant in a country as diverse as South Africa. We have different languages, cultures, histories, beliefs and experiences of the country. But we still know the same words. We still know the same song.
South African spirit
That is what makes the spirit, or colloquially termed "gees", so difficult to explain to someone who has never experienced it.
You can describe the singing, the green and gold, the shouting and the nerves, but you cannot quite describe what happens when all of those things collide and you find yourself sharing the same feeling with thousands of people you have never met.
Our anthem exemplifies this in its lyrics: "Sounds the call to come together, and united we shall stand..."
For a few minutes, FNB Stadium held something beyond the rugby itself. Memories, pride and belonging met in the stands, the same feeling many of us first learnt on school sports fields, only now the school was a country.
That is the beauty of the "gees". You arrive as yourself, but somewhere between the first note and the final whistle, you become part of something bigger.
bernelee.vollmer@nationalmg.co.za