This post is the first in a series from Athletes for Africa called World Cup Watch. Every week, our resident bloggers will take a critical look at the upcoming 2010 FIFA World Cup, exploring the social ramifications of one of the largest and most-watched sports events on the planet. Stay tuned for more…

Rugby has yet again served as a unifying force across racial lines in South Africa.

This past weekend, tens of thousands of white Afrikaners poured into a stadium in Soweto, South Africa’s most populous black township, to watch Pretoria’s rugby team play. The Pretoria Blue Bulls, who usually play in the Loftus Versfeld stadium in Pretoria, were asked to relocate their match in order to preserve Loftus’ pitch for the FIFA World Cup in June.

“The fact that the Bulls’ leadership picked Soweto’s iconic Orlando Stadium as a replacement carries a symbolism that wasn’t lost on anyone,” wrote Nicholas Brulliard in an article forGlobalPost.

More than two decades after the fall of the apartheid regime, racial separation is still prevalent in South Africa. But the social and economic divide between whites and blacks was momentarily bridged during this rugby game, as Soweto residents welcomed the Bulls fans into town.

Those familiar with South African history—or Hollywood’s depiction of it in the film “Invictus”—know that this is not the first time rugby has served as a tool for social cohesion. In 1995, newly elected president Nelson Mandela urged the entire nation to support South Africa’s rugby team, the Springboks, even though at the time rugby was primarily played and followed by the minority white population—many of whom sanctioned the oppression of black South Africans during the apartheid era.

With the World Cup only a few weeks away, sport has another chance to expose and shape the social fabric of South Africa. While the expanding black middle class may have the means to attend matches, millions at the bottom of the economic ladder will be left out as funding that could otherwise be used to improve access to basic resources and service is poured into the games. Sports commentator Dave Zirin cautions that the World Cup could place “a magnifying glass on every blemish of this post-apartheid nation.”

While the Rugby World Cup in 1995 helped pave the road towards racial integration, the soccer World Cup in 2010 could be a reminder of the distance that has yet to be covered.