Sport addicted

Never thought I would turn in to a real fan of any sport, but lately that is exactly what I have been doing.I ve been following the rugby competition here closely, going to every Super 14 game in Cape Town I could and even following games on television.
Because obviously I don't have any ties to any of the teams here, I chose the team of Cape Town as the side I would support. And it so happens that this team, The Stormers, had a great Super 14 season. In fact, they played the final of the Super 14 last weekend but lost against the Blue Bulls from Pretoria. So not the dreamed ending for the Stormers, but they had a fantastic season none the less. For me of course, it is even more fun to join a winning team.

As most people know, rugby is a big thing in South Africa, but mainly for the upper economic layer of society. That is a result of rugby being played at universities (they have an own competition) and because only whites were allowed to play it in the Apartheid time. In Cape Town you will see that the supporters are mainly Coloureds and Whites, the Blacks like football (soccer) as their prefered sport. In spite of this historically grown division, rugby is played more and more by people from all backgrounds.

You could say that South Africans are obsessed with sports. Next to rugby and football, they are crazy about cricket and golf, and follow a whole list of other sports. Most people played at least two or three sports when they were young. No wonder you find so many athletic types around here. Although having all these beaches, lovely nature and nice weather will probably have a hand in it too.

Any activity that requires a bit of energy can be turned into a competition and will be broadcasted on one of the 6 sports channels they have here. One example is professional sport fishing. I don't know what the appeal is in it, but you can see bulky guys fishing in rivers, ponds or oceans. They talk about the bait they use, the lines, the hooks, how to reel in the fish etc...

And they do catch the biggest fish imaginable, all shown on television. I wonder if those professional fishermen have large fan bases and if they have home grounds where they host fishing competitions and enjoy home advantage because they know what lure the fish like best...

To show all those sports, there are televisions everywhere. Every bar or restaurant, no matter how fancy or run down, has at least one television set to show sports. And sports are the one thing people seem to watch the most here. I am guessing now, but maybe they watch sports that much because they don't have that many soap operas or good entertainment on television. Surely, they have their own soap operas, like "Sevende Laan" which has the classic storylines of adultry, cancer, treason, illegitimate children and above all ever lasting love! (interestingly this show has conversations in 3, maybe 4 languages: Zulu, Xhosa, English and Afrikaans).

An other reason why maybe South Africans are so hung up on sports - and I am venturing a guess again- is because they are very good in a couple of sports. They have world class teams in cricket and rugby, they have extremely good golf players and other athletes like Oscar Pistorius aka Blade Runner (the paralympics sprinter with blades for legs who was olympic champion), Caster Semenya (the lady accused of being a man, remember that riot?). For a society that has so many great challenges in other areas, I can understand they would like to emphasize and enjoy the successes they have.

And now the sports question on everyone's lips is: will Bafana Bafana be a success? Bafana Bafana is the national football team of South Africa. Now, it would be appropriate to say that they suck. And that is a bit of an issue when you are hosting a world cup. Especially because no hosting nation was ever eliminated in the first round. So the yardstick of Bafana Bafana's success appropriately became: getting through the group phase (alive). They needed a man to turn a jumble of mediocre players in a strong team that could face the likes of Mexico, Germany, Uruguay etc... So they hired a Brazillian coach. He has been working those Bafana players for months now, in training camps in Germany and Brazil. And seems to be succeeding so far! He booked 11 victories in a row now. He'll need those success stories because Bafana is in the toughest pool of the tournament.

In 9 days, South Africa will play Mexico in the opening game. Be sure that you'll be able to cut the tension with a knife, and that the whole country will sound like a hornet's nest, because of those damn vuvuzelas.
I won't be there to see the game though. Not even on television, because at that time I will be travelling back from Matadi in the DRC. Just in time for the rugby game of France against South Africa, for which I still have to buy tickets...