Across the globe: Mosito Ramaili of Saffas in NYC ready for Rugby World Cup watch party

South Africans in New York are gearing up for a watch party for Saturday’s Rugby World Cup final between the Springboks and New Zealand's All Blacks.

Mosito Ramaili, founder of “Saffas in NYC”, started the group in 2015.

“It started out as a WhatsApp group of a few South Africans; now it’s grown to more than 800 in the group and more than 2,000 followers on social media,” Ramaili told TimesLIVE.

“We are expecting a huge turnout for tomorrow’s [Saturday] watch party at Fancy Free, 71 Lafayette Avenue in Brooklyn.

“Saffas in NYC serves as an emotional home away from home for our people — whether it’s questions about US visas, where to live or sending stuff home, the group is a collective place to celebrate our South African holidays and tomorrow’s rugby final watch party will be a celebration of our culture, with the hopes of watching our nation win the World Cup back-to-back.”

Born in Mahikeng in the North West, Ramaili grew up in Johannesburg where he attended St Martin’s Prep School. He later attended Kimberley Boys’ High. In 2004 he came to the US on a soccer scholarship at Alabama A&M University.

“Can you imagine, a boy from Joburg going over to Huntsville, Alabama, the home of Nasa?” laughed Ramaili.

“I had made the South African national student sports team. I used to play for Gauteng and was a top goalscorer. After making the national team, I was studying at Tshwane University of Technology in Pretoria West and got a phone call at 2am in the morning saying, ‘You’ve been offered a scholarship to study in the US.’

“I called my mom and luckily for me, my mom also studied in the US in the 1980s. I told her I’ve got this opportunity to study marketing and pursue my dream of being a soccer player. My mom had enough funds to supplement [the funding] and that’s how I came to the US on a scholarship to study.”

After his studies, Ramaili went to work in high-level marketing and advertising positions with companies such as Nike and BBDO. Now he runs his own agency called Bosabi Creative Club, named after his two children.

Through Ramaili’s work came opportunities to collaborate with global superstars from Jay-Z to Siya Kolisi. He looked after the rugby icon when he arrived in New York City four months ago for the Tribeca Film Festival world premiere of Rise: The Siya Kolisi Story, which won the festival’s audience award.

“I highly admire Siya and I feel a lot of similarities to me in his journey. Being one of the few blacks to get out there in those days — luckily for him it was the early 2000s, but for us, it was the late 1990s where you had sports which helped you find your own identity.

“With Siya, you can see rugby has been integral in shaping his identity. A lot of children in the townships of New Brighton where he’s from and other townships of South Africa — not just the Eastern Cape — can visualise themselves and aspire to be a leader and hero like Siya.

“I was 11 years old when we won the [Rugby] World Cup in 1995. I was in the south of Johannesburg and I remember that Saturday vividly when the [SAA Boeing] 747 plane flew over Ellis Park. I could hear the vuvuzelas, Madiba was wearing the No 6 Springbok jersey.

“Now I’m 40 years old, I’m a father to two children, I’m a South African living in New York City. All around the world tomorrow we will be united in excitement — and I am hoping we will relive that incredible moment of victory again.”

TimesLIVE