Pre and post World Cup musings
One of my favorite precursors to the 2010 Soccer World Cup was when the Blue Bulls and the Crusaders played at the Orlando Stadium in Soweto. It gave people a good idea of what was to come. Yes the event has given South Africa a good financial boost and great exposure but it has also brought us as South Africans together. At first we all joined together to support our boys in yellow, when that didn’t work out we all united behind Ghana and now we are simply standing together to show our support to the event in general. We are uniting to show how amazing South Africa is and to prove to all the pessimists in the world that South Africa is in fact capable of hosting such a global event.
During the France vs South Africa match I had an experience that is somewhat an extension of the Blue Bulls visiting Soweto. I went to watch our boys play the French in Waschbank, a rural village in Limpopo.
I went with family, friends and a group of English tourists. We hired out rooms in local people’s homes for the English visitors and the rest of us stayed in one large room in the village’s community centre. To say that the people of Waschbank were welcoming is an understatement. They made us feel like we were part of their community. Before Bafana played we arranged for the English tourists to play a soccer match against two local teams. Hundreds of people from the village gathered to watch the event. After the friendly soccer game we were invited to eat tripe and bean stew with the rest of the village. I must admit, it was quite hard to stomach – but I did my best at being a good guest. Next on the agenda was time to watch South Africa dominate France on the football field. We gathered in a local shabeen, each with a quart of beer in hand. After South Africa’s second goal I took time to look around the room. The people in the room were all there for the same reason, to show our support to our team. Everyone had a smile on their face and hope in their hearts for Bafana Bafana. It made me proud to be in a room where everyone was an equal; everyone was just simply a South African. Let’s hope that once the world cup is over people will continue to be united and show our solidarity as South Africans.
Georgia Groome, Marie Claire JHB intern
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I feel positively jealous when I read your experience! I thought no one could top actually being at the game, but I was wrong! Watching the soccer with other South Africans in a village sounds awesome! You are very lucky!
Alot of focus was and has been on the World Cup happenings in urban areas especially the host cities. Its great to know that something positive was also happening in the villages, we were ALL feeling it.
It was definitely a great experience! Just shows how each South African, of all walks of life are feeling the same feelings about this great event.
I concur with the comments made by Lorraine – sharing in the excitement of the game in a rural shabeen must surely have topped watching a live game. It sounded like great fun.