Ex Glenwood star is Springboks’ Bozza
Ilse Schoonraad
"It's the kind of job that makes you want to leap out of bed at 04:00, do a little dance and throw your fist in the air in excitement - the perfect combination of passion and millennial relevance, a job where your life experience and work experience mean exactly the same thing - and this once-in-alifetime opportunity is yours if you're willing to answer 'The Calling'."
This is how www.947.co.za punted MTN's nationwide search for the perfect MTN Bozza to be the exclusive "social eyes and ears" of the nation by following the Springbok rugby team around the world for more than a year.
And 70 days later the dream Bozza for this dream job turned out to be none other than our very own former George Glenwood College rugby ace, Mark Nancarrow. Nancarrow matriculated in 2013 and played for the first team. Nancarrow, from slow town, Sedgefield, was hand-picked from a huge group of aspirant Bozzas for this oncein-a-lifetime chance to follow the journey of the Springboks from the Castle Lager Rugby Championship until the end of 2019.
MTN, the official team sponsor of the Springboks, will cover all costs, a cool R2-million, to make sure that Bozza Nancarrow is always in the front row seat wherever the Springboks play. Nancarrow will ensure that fans have the best view of exclusive social media content of the Boks. And Nancarrow is the perfect Bozza, as the job allows him to live out both his biggest passions: journalism and rugby. A few years ago Nancarrow did a short internship at the George Herald newsroom and went on to complete his journalist degree at Rhodes before obtaining his honours in politics at UCT in 2017. Putting his war correspondent dreams on ice to travel through South East Asia, he recorded many of his adventures on social media and started his own YouTube channel. Nancarrow was born in 1995, the year the Springboks won the Webb Ellis Cup. His mother, Glenda, says her son's fate was sealed as he sat on her lap watching the extraordinary game. Glenda says Nancarrow's passion for rugby, and for the Springboks in particular, manifested itself not only in his on-field play, but also in his obsession with all things rugby off the field. "There is not a rugby or rugby player statistic that Mark does not know. He has spent his life studying rugby statistics and player combinations, often predicting the exact team before the coach has had a chance to do so." Nancarrow heard about the MTN Bozza search in May and upon his return to South Africa, immediately submitted his application video. He made the top three and on 19 July it was announced in Sandton that Mark Nancarrow is South Africa's new Springbok Bozzo. He will travel the world with the Springboks, attending and reporting on every match from the upcoming Castle Lager Rugby Championship in August until the end of the 2019 World Cup campaign in Japan. Nancarrow told George Herald this is a life-changing job that opens many doors. "I want to stay in the creative side of the rugby world for the rest of my life. Being Bozza is a real job and I will be working
24/7. I think what clinched the job for me is my knowledge and passion for rugby and our team." Nancarrow will be appearing on the breakfast show Expresso on SABC 3 on Friday 27 July.
To get as close to the boks as Nancarrow will be for the next year and a half, follow @ Official_Bozza on all social platforms.