We weren't haggled on the way to the ground and finding our seats was simple thanks to all the officials guiding us to our part of the ground. Once seated, the game kicks off and yes, I like this old Transvaal-style kit. Intense pressure from our loose forwards... we turn it over... Vermaak moves the ball to Pretorius who makes one of his trademark insteps toward the try-line... tackled well but supported by the entire tight five- the ball comes out quickly... moves through the backline and Ludik finishes it off in the corner. 23 000 spectators scream in ferocious unity. 78 minutes of this and im exhausted, we win a well contested match 23 - 17. Even Craig Joubert had a decent match.
I wake up on my keyboard, it 16:53pm and i have drooled on the tickets, up and off to the ground. No JMPD around, traffic jams aplenty and only a third of the tickets have been sold- what will happen in 10 days time when they expect three times this amount of people for the opening of the Confed cup? Aggresive car gaurds corner us into a side road and demand R50, i give them R20. Constantly aware of potential muggers and shouting mandrax mentalists, we pace towards the turnstyles. Cant find our seats but at only a third capacity we grab some vacant ones and sit. Starving, we opt for the semi-cooked prego rolls. no sauce. R50. Fanta and Sprite. R20. 30 grams sliced biltong R30. So many vendors i can barely see the field. "They dont put up with this shit at Loftus", my girlfriend reminds me.
Kick Off :D YES PLEASE!!! We win a scrum in their 22. "FUCK YEAH", the schoolboys behind me are getting into it a little more vocally than im prepared to. Sephaka drops his shoulder, turn over, major counter deep into our half. Scurried defense. Ludik clears. He isn't getting up. Wait, things are going poorly, i can see the holes, and why are they so lacklustre? There goes O'Driscall, wow he runs beautifully, under the posts. 60 - 10. WHAT? 6 minutes to go, we leave, my heart, Im shattered. The years of depressive Lions support summed up, im losing it.
Once outside the ground we hear the crowd, more points! The only bit of luck is that our car is the only one not triple-parked-in. We drive out of Johannesburg CBD. The radio tells us of a final try after the one we heard. 74 - 10. Sometimes i wish i was born in Pretoria, but Blue is not my colour.
haha when i read your first part i was like WHAT were we even at the same game!!!
ReplyDeletei agree there is no way they will be ready for the confed cup let alone WORLD CUP!!!
luckily we have a sister company who stay right by the stadium so parking wasn't a problem, but to get to the parking was pure mayhem!!!
like you said the car gaurds are aggressive and scatter along and IN the road, we even had one run infront of our car to get us to park in his area!! so we taught him a lesson by speeding up haha!!! they annoying and very aggressive God help you if you park there and you forgot your wallet!!
i must say to find your seat in a half empty stadium was mind boggling but so i asked a security gaurd who was very helpful to be honest.
as for the game i will tell you what this guy from durbs who was up for work infront of me said and it sums up the whole evening!!
"i dont know why im here, im cold, i could be in my hotel room warm and could be watching something more entertaining then this like play boy mansion or something"
My response was "EXACTLY" then we left 5min later!
and as a lions supporter...FUCK them they look like a bunch of school kids!!
by:Matthew Wentzel