Cop or drop? Official Springbok ‘BOKROK’ merch

by Nomonde Simelane

The recent exponential growth we have witnessed in SA rugby has been extremely exciting for the country. This growth has meant an increase in fans as well, pushing SA Rugby to get creative and introduce various kinds of merchandise, including the ‘BokRok’.

What head coach Rassie Erasmus has managed to achieve with his 52-man squad is nothing short of spectacular, and has earned him a claim as the greatest rugby coach in South Africa and possibly the world. The Springboks have become fan favourites across the world, filling up almost every stadium they play in, regardless of country or hemisphere.

This increased support for the Springboks has opened SA rugby up to many improvements as they embrace and appreciate all of their fans equally. When it comes to merchandise, the options have often been limited with items such as the team jersey, caps and scarves being the most prevalent items. In efforts of inclusivity, the introduction of the BOKROK came about and has received mixed reactions from the public.

BOKROK is a creative play on words as it implies it can be loosely translated to ‘Springbok dress’ as the item suggests.

X (formerly Twitter) user Karabo Makgoko took to her platform to gauge how mzansi was feeling about the BOKROK, posing the question of whether anyone would buy the item or not.

Unsurprisingly, users quickly jumped to the comments to praise SA Rugby’s efforts at inclusion and diversity, continuing, these users expressed their eagerness to get their hands on one of the BOKROKs as quickly as possible. Others had already started envisioning how they would wear and style the merchandise, while offering some pointers on how to improve, such as pinching the waist area a bit more.

Others took the opportunity to share a flick of themselves donning the green and gold dress, encouraging others o do the same.

Contrarily, others are not impressed with the quality of the material, especially considering that each unit retails at R899.00. These users are not convinced that the BOKROK is worth the purchase, based on the pictures.

Also see: Tough times are lasting for mzansi consumers as they morn the discontinuation of Bokomo’s Maltabella