Monday, October 22, 2007

Kampioene vir die volgende 4 jaar - vatso!

What a day, what a weekend - was in Paris for 24 hours, got a last minute corporate invite – not nearly as good as going with mates, but a privilege to be there nonetheless. Hated most of it actually - woke up on Saturday morning with stomach bug, couldn't
eat or drink anything on Eurostar from London - or was it just nerves? One thing that gave me hope was the old saying: May the best team win - because if that were to happen, the Poms would get a huge drubbing, wouldn't they?

Arrived in Paris to a sea of white English jerseys, probably outnumbering the Bokbefok brigade in green by a factor of 5:1. It was evident in the stadium as well - when they started singing Swing Low Sweet Chariot, it sounded like a home game at Twickenham.
And when the video ref gave That Decision, and they booed, I caught myself jumping up, turning back at them, and shouting that they should learn the rules! This is rugby, not football, the line belongs to the referee, not to the player, for goodness sake! – the moment he touched it (i.e. BEFORE he got it down), that’s that, decision taken, what happens after that (foot in the air when he does get it down etc) is totally irrelevant - like dead ball in cricket!

A minute later the Englishman behind me gets a text from his brother watching at home: wrong call, it was clearly a try. To which I responded that he should read in tomorrow's newspaper whether it was a try or not. As I said, didn't enjoy much of it, too tense.

Only in the 76th minute did I start believing – and what a long minute that was! I remember looking up to see 75:09 on the scoreboard, looking down again, following play for a while, only to look up again "a while later" in order to check up on time elapsed, and it was 75:36! Who the hell was slowing down time? Was Albert Bloody Einstein at the match? And was he on England's side??

Afterwards, I was in tears for the first time since the birth of my little baby girl. For the first time at a sports event since That Wonderful Day in 1995 when the Boks did it the previous time (by the way, my daughter Amelie was born on 24 June this year, exactly
12 years after our RWC win in 1995 - I should have known that was an omen... And just to think, at the age of just 17 weeks, she can now boast about the fact that HER country has won the RWC - there are students in New Zealand who are old enough to vote who cannot
even say that!

My (English) host was in a hurry to leave, I politely told him that I would wait until I see my captain lift the trophy (that's the problem with these corporate invites - I suddenly thought about all those mates that I had around me in 1995, having started with a braai at my place before the match, and returning afterwards to celebrate with Springbokkies - do people still drink this beautiful but vile concoction?)

Glad to report though that my host ended up staying with me, reluctantly - although I also have to say, all the other Englishmen on the stands stayed behind right up until the end of the final award ceremony, appreciating (and adding to) the sense of occasion. When John Smit ultimately got the trophy in his hands, and the whole stadium lit up from the fireworks, I was shaking from emotion... Did you see the shiny confetti they blew into the sky? When it started coming down to earth, I was desperate to catch one - and guess what: I saw a piece heading in my general direction, but about 5 meters above my head, it changed course, only to dive back straight onto my seat! Coincidence? Never! Childish of me to get so excited about this that I want to report it? Absolutely! - but that just underlines how much this crazy sport made me care over these last 6 weeks, and how much it ended up meaning to the child in me who will never grow up...

And you know what was the best feeling of all? Standing there in the afterglow, listening to Shosholoza and Myriam Makeba's Pata Pata blearing over the stadium speakers, over and over... thank goodness
it wasn't Jerusalem or Swing Low!

VIVA AMABOKOBOKO, VIVA!
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