The Calabash is cooking

21 Aug 2010

Springbok fans are flooding into Soccer City for the stadium’s first rugby Test, writes SIMON BORCHARDT.

In May, Bulls and Stormers supporters went to Soweto’s Orlando Stadium and mingled with the locals. Blacks and whites ate together, drank together and perhaps even slept together.

Soccer City was never going to provide fans with the same ‘rainbow nation’ experience, simply because it’s situated on the outskirts of Soweto and surrounded by mine dumps (and god, are they ugly). The overwhelming majority of fans at the stadium today are white (Saru only made 1,000 cheap tickets available to Sowetans), and the music at the beer tents is mostly Afrikaans (making it feel a lot like Loftus).

However, today’s game is still a special occasion, simply because it’s taking place at Soccer City so soon after the World Cup. It really is a fantastic venue and should host a Bok Test every year (sorry Ellis Park, but you may have to be satisfied with Lions’ fixtures from now on).

The first thing that strikes you when entering the stadium (apart from all the orange seats) is how vast a bowl it is. There are five tiers of seating, including two for the private suites, and while the crowd isn’t right on top of the field as is the case at Ellis Park, it doesn’t affect the atmosphere.

John Smit couldn’t have asked for a better venue at which to play his 100th Test, and every adult in the crowd will be given a free Castle Lager so they can toast the Bok captain. The fans will also try to set a new world record by flying the most flags at the same time, at half-time.



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