Yesterday, James Small’s family members, friends, and former teammates gathered to say goodbye to the 1995 World Cup-winning winger.

Around 400 mourners gathered in a marquee on The Wanderers rugby fields in Johannesburg, although James’ sister, Kelly, was quick to let everyone know they should be celebrating a life well-lived.

Via TimesLIVE, she described James as a “great whirlwind” during a moving tribute:

“My brother would have never wanted that from anybody. You all deserve to have a smile on your face, as each and every one of you has experienced, in some way or another, the great whirlwind that was my brother.

Throughout my life I never got the saying: ‘It’s better to have lost and loved than never to have loved at all.’ I always figured, how the hell does that work? I want what I love with me forever, but then the thought of James never being a part of my life is unbearable.”

Kelly said Small would offer slivers of “the good, the bad and the ugly” himself – and would “watch and wait to see how you dealt with it”.

“My brother managed this friendship selection process by having the most finely tuned bullshit-detector barometer.

“If you were prepared to offer the same back, an unconditional friendship would be formed which would last a lifetime. What James brought to these friendships was raw, and real, and true, and authentic.

“And the incredible people that James called friends are exactly that: truly magnificent, raw, real and authentic,” said Kelly.

In the video below, James ‘Bullet’ Dalton, Siya Kolisi and Rudolf Straeuli also offered their words:

Dalton also penned a farewell to his ‘brother’ earlier in the week, where he hit out at media reporting about the night that Small suffered his heart attack.

The co-owner of The Harem, where Small collapsed, has refuted claims that he was naked, saying he collapsed whilst at the bar having a drink.

James’s nephew, Kieran Houlston, spoke about how his uncle was his hero, and read a poem titled ‘The Man in the Glass’, by Peter Dale Wimbrow:

When you get what you want in your struggle for self

And the world makes you king for a day

Just go to the mirror and look at yourself

And see what that man has to say.

For it isn’t your father, or mother, or wife

Whose judgment upon you must pass

The fellow whose verdict counts most in your life

Is the one staring back from the glass.

He’s the fellow to please – never mind all the rest

For he’s with you, clear to the end

And you’ve passed your most difficult, dangerous test

If the man in the glass is your friend.

You may fool the whole world down the pathway of years

And get pats on the back as you pass

But your final reward will be heartache and tears

If you’ve cheated the man in the glass.

Kobus Wiese, Japie Mulder and Gary Teichmann were also amongst those present.

When certain reporters tried to get interviews, says the Sowetan, things got a little awkward:

The media‚ of course‚ turned up in numbers and some were more welcome than others.

The media group who splashed salacious details of Small’s final hours were pointedly declined an interview by a former Bok captain.

Other outlets‚ especially those in television‚ struggled to conduct their interviews as the alarm of a nearby vehicle sounded intermittently.

When proceedings wrapped up, Darren Scott, the MC for the day, asked those present to please move their cars off the field immediately after the service, as there was a rugby practice scheduled.

Something tells me James would have enjoyed the fact that the game must go on.

[sources:timeslive&sowetan]