Before this WC I had never seen England lose a game. In fact I had never even seen them draw a game. Me watching England live meant we won. Alas this logic fell apart in SA in other ways too. How to explain our abysmal performances? Well, I think Monty has chosen his vice-captain Ryder Cup picks based on what England did wrong at the WC. For my Serbian friends, bear with me as I'm talking golf here. Tournaments create different needs and challenges to qualifying matches. A long time away from one's usual environment, isolated, stuck with fellow players and a disciplinarian coach, crushed England's team-spirit. Not even printing The Daily Mirror locally helped the boys. So Monty has picked Darren Clark as the team's court jester to jolly up the chaps ahead of the Americans coming to Wales. Couped up in Rustenburg the boys had no fun. No release. And it showed on the pitch. Mr Capello, before Poland-Ukraine 2012, please have a chat with Monty.
Once my friends at the Serbian FA learn of the 100% correlation of my being at their WC games and them being defeated, they will surely ban me from watching them live at any future tournaments. In Germany 2006, under the guise of Serbia & Montenegro, I saw all three of their WC games. They lost them all, conceding 6 to Argentina and 3 to the Ivory Coast. In SA I missed one of their games, the victory v Germany. And had Zigic not missed open goals v both Ghana and Australia, my 100% record would have been broken. In fact Zigic is beginning to look Heskey-esque the way he's missing open goals.
I made it to 7 of 9 WC host cities and 8 of 10 stadia. My favourite? Most definitely Loftus in Pretoria. Why? Well, it's in the heart of town; you can park your car nearby; Pretoria is a pleasant green and safe town and most importantly you are so close to the action. Soccer City was magnificent inside, though in the middle of nowhere with poor motorway access. Ellis Park is in a seriously dodgy part of Joburg which look as shabby as Wembley's surrounds. Rustenburg I have already commented on, and thank goodness England's finishing second in the group meant we didn't have to return there. Though that would have allowed me to play the Gary Player Golf Course at Sun City, the country's second best layout. Will save that for next time. Neslpruit had the cute giraffe stanchions and great views of the pitch but again was in the middle of nowhere and they only really had the post-game park and ride fully functional by the third of four games they hosted. I enjoyed watching NZ hold Italy there too so I could be partially biased here. In Polokwane I encountered the wonderful Argentina fans, every bit as fanatical, vocal and partial to a beer as the English. Nice stadium with good sight lines and located on the edge of the small town, within walking distance of the scarey, scruffy centre. Did you know that the Argentinian national anthem has no words? Nor did I. Durban was beautiful though they had a silly security set up which meant you had to walk miles out of the way to enter the (fenced off) entrance just in front of you. Still it has a running track, which had been covered in grass, so fans were a long way from the action. It took us ages to realise Torres was on the pitch v Switzerland due to his haircut which like Samson's just seemed to sap his powers. And Bloemfontein. Classic old rugby stadium which was only half-full for Honduras-Switzerland though packed for England v Germany. Great views of the pitch for all fans. Located next to a modern shopping mall in the centre of town. I can't love Bloem though given the outcome of our game v the Germans. Too many bad memories. So that's my subjective overview of all the grounds bar Port Elizabeth and Cape Town, where I never ventured due to their distance from every other venue.
Friday, July 23, 2010
Thursday, July 22, 2010
The party's over.....
Yes, I returned alive, for those of you still worried. What I have learned about blogging while on the road is:
have your own laptop -- staying in cheapo backpackers (as they are called in SA, or Youth Hostels as I know them) is not conducive to regular blogging
set aside regular time each day to write
don't fill every WC day with a round of golf, driving 600kms, or a WC match
A month later I remain filled with fond WC memories, in spite of England's dire performances. Vuvuzela debates continue, with clubs even banning them at Premier League games. I rather liked the atmosphere they created in the stadium. Though those who watched on TV or listened on the radio seemed to be universally against them. During a dull game -- and let's face it there were too many of them -- watching the local (ie. black) SA fans dancing and blowing their vuvus was much enjoyable. It's certainly part of their modern match-going culture. Foreign fans took to them too. Each passenger on the flight home carried 3 on with their hand-luggage. We almost needed special vuvuzela storage space. My vuvu sits on my office desk, which causes much amusement in Kabul.
In fact I have just completed my WC reading, a fabulous, beautiful and poignant book "Ways of Staying" by Kevin Bloom which explores the fears of white South Africans in post-Apartheid SA. It was a pleasure to meet SAs from many backgrounds and colours. Afrikaaner farmers at Legends Golf Course who worried about the 3,000 white farmers murdered since the ANC took power. They fear one day the country will be as bad as Zimbabwe is today. White 'British' (ie. they are not Afrikaans) SAs in Bloemfontein who had recently moved up from the Cape whose (black) domestic helpers had insisted they wanted to move with them, even though they didn't speak the local language of Bloemfontein. This couple believed it largely boiled down to how one treated such help.
I wish also to apologise to the Zulu Blonde Brewery Company just outside of Durban. They kindly wrote me a note about the name of this blog, which I blatantly plagiarised from them since I loved their logo. Those little photos may have a name which Luddites like me have yet to grasp. Anyway, I promised to visit them as it had been my plan on my pre-WC itinerary though it never materialised, for the following reason. The day after the remarkable Swiss defeat of the eventual champs, Spain, in Durban, I had hoped to spend a day sampling the delights of Zulu Blonde, which my hostel told me was a 90 minute drive away. Plans on match day however went a little awry. Playing the Durban Country Club -- a top ten ranked golf course in the country -- was my priority. I tried to do this early on match day. The club's entrance however is literally 200 metres from the stadium and their car park would no doubt be handy for many fans. Not oblivious to this fact, and no doubt with a little help from our dear friends at FIFA, security arrangements meant no entry to the club on the match morning unless one had a prior tee-time, which I didn't. To cut a long story short I had to play the course the following day -- and boy was it worth it -- the SA Open will be played their in December this year, so look out for it on the telly -- even though they doubled the green fees for the duration of the tournament. A "world Cup Special" they called it. Though at R850 ($112), it was still cheaper than Dubai. So I missed my ale at Zulu Blonde. Next time, inshallah.
have your own laptop -- staying in cheapo backpackers (as they are called in SA, or Youth Hostels as I know them) is not conducive to regular blogging
set aside regular time each day to write
don't fill every WC day with a round of golf, driving 600kms, or a WC match
A month later I remain filled with fond WC memories, in spite of England's dire performances. Vuvuzela debates continue, with clubs even banning them at Premier League games. I rather liked the atmosphere they created in the stadium. Though those who watched on TV or listened on the radio seemed to be universally against them. During a dull game -- and let's face it there were too many of them -- watching the local (ie. black) SA fans dancing and blowing their vuvus was much enjoyable. It's certainly part of their modern match-going culture. Foreign fans took to them too. Each passenger on the flight home carried 3 on with their hand-luggage. We almost needed special vuvuzela storage space. My vuvu sits on my office desk, which causes much amusement in Kabul.
In fact I have just completed my WC reading, a fabulous, beautiful and poignant book "Ways of Staying" by Kevin Bloom which explores the fears of white South Africans in post-Apartheid SA. It was a pleasure to meet SAs from many backgrounds and colours. Afrikaaner farmers at Legends Golf Course who worried about the 3,000 white farmers murdered since the ANC took power. They fear one day the country will be as bad as Zimbabwe is today. White 'British' (ie. they are not Afrikaans) SAs in Bloemfontein who had recently moved up from the Cape whose (black) domestic helpers had insisted they wanted to move with them, even though they didn't speak the local language of Bloemfontein. This couple believed it largely boiled down to how one treated such help.
I wish also to apologise to the Zulu Blonde Brewery Company just outside of Durban. They kindly wrote me a note about the name of this blog, which I blatantly plagiarised from them since I loved their logo. Those little photos may have a name which Luddites like me have yet to grasp. Anyway, I promised to visit them as it had been my plan on my pre-WC itinerary though it never materialised, for the following reason. The day after the remarkable Swiss defeat of the eventual champs, Spain, in Durban, I had hoped to spend a day sampling the delights of Zulu Blonde, which my hostel told me was a 90 minute drive away. Plans on match day however went a little awry. Playing the Durban Country Club -- a top ten ranked golf course in the country -- was my priority. I tried to do this early on match day. The club's entrance however is literally 200 metres from the stadium and their car park would no doubt be handy for many fans. Not oblivious to this fact, and no doubt with a little help from our dear friends at FIFA, security arrangements meant no entry to the club on the match morning unless one had a prior tee-time, which I didn't. To cut a long story short I had to play the course the following day -- and boy was it worth it -- the SA Open will be played their in December this year, so look out for it on the telly -- even though they doubled the green fees for the duration of the tournament. A "world Cup Special" they called it. Though at R850 ($112), it was still cheaper than Dubai. So I missed my ale at Zulu Blonde. Next time, inshallah.
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