The muscled and 23 year old from George- was chosen as the winner that will travel with the Boks for the next 18-months, as part of the Castle Lager rugby championship in August 2018 to 2019 World Cup in Japan, to the value of a cool R2million.
This year MTN and SA Rugby, launched a mission in May to find the perfect person to follow the Springbok rugby team around the world to give fans an exclusive insight into the behind-the-scenes world of Boks.
After the whittling down of numbers from an overwhelming entrants countrywide, Mark was left with Quinton Janse van Rensburg and Ndabenhle “Bench” Zondi, to fight it off for the first position, that was revealed by Bok players and coach Rassie Erasmus through video transmission.
The excited but poignant Mark says although he believed he could make it to the last three, winning the competition was unbelievable and surreal.
“This is what I want to do for the rest of my life and being a part of this completely confirmed just how much I love this team, this job and just how excited and happy I would be to continue doing it until the end of 2019,” he said.
The MTN Call-Up produced three finalists who showcased their social media skills during the Springbok’s incoming tour last month, were each allowed the same opportunities and access, to showcase their Bozza skills in the days leading up to each test match and match day.
This included access to the team during pre-game activities, such as signing sessions and jersey giveaways, breakfast with Coach Rassie Erasmus, team announcements, training sessions as well as exclusive locker room experiences led by legends: John Smit, Os Du Randt and Corné Krige before each test match.
Public voting helped guide MTN and SA Rugby to settle on the final winner who is most worthy of the Official Bozza title.
Mapula Bodibe; Executive for Consumer Business at MTN SA says: “We are delighted for Mark, who showed great passion and commitment throughout the challenge. Our campaign with the Springboks is an opportunity for us to connect our customers with their passion and we think that Mark is the ‘Bozza’ to do just that.
The Springbok team remains an important national asset that many of us can identify with and we are pleased to give our customers a platform that brings them closer to our national team.”
‘Bozza’ as Mark will be known for the next 18 months, is a graduate from Rhodes University with a degree in Politics and Journalism.
