Sihle, the main soccer guy here, has managed to get tickets for all the Kaizer Chiefs games at Durban Absa Stadium. He's the man!
So last night I headed off to Durban with a couple of soccer-mad Zulu guys, the local Councillor and his men. The Councillor has the most easily recognisable car in the valley – a big black shiny Mercedes. Sihle had the honour of driving it last night and I’m sure he made sure he drove carefully as I followed him down the N3, he was certainly not breaking any laws… I wondered why the Councillor himself wasn’t driving his car, but as we drew close to the stadium, the reason became obvious. It’s hard to drive and blow a big yellow plastic horn to alert people of your arrival and allegiance in the forthcoming soccer match!!!
We scrambled right up to the back of the stadium, as it looked like it might rain and there we would be under cover. Then the waiting game began. We’d arrived about 1 hour early and the stadium was less than a quarter full. It filled up to over half full by the time the match began. I abandoned all hope of finding a toilet, or a source of dinner and contented myself with an apple. I was kind of stuck between 2 large Zulu guys and was fearful for a while that if they suddenly leapt up in enthusiasm that I would be swept up along with them, but thankfully I managed to extricate myself from that by breathing in at the appropriate moment!
The match began at 7.30pm. Kaizer Chiefs vs Moroko Swallows. We were on the K Chiefs side, but they were fairly weak for the majority of the game. There were some nice moves but the team didn’t seem to work well together. Thankfully they had a brilliant goal-keeper who successfully managed to field maybe 8 goals in the first half. Half time score was 0-0.
The second half picked up when Swallows scored twice in fairly quick succession. The fans for the ‘Birds’ were getting more and more excited and rowdy, but it was still quite contained. My last live soccer match had been 7 years ago in Italy when I had feared for my life as fireworks sped past my ears onto the pitch. The Africans are so well behaved in comparison. There was no funny business here, I didn’t even hear any expletives, but then there might have been some comments in Zulu that I missed!
The Chiefs finally got it together enough to score a goal. The crowd went wild. Finally some hope but only 15 minutes left. In that last 15 minutes however there were 2 red and 1 yellow cards for the Swallows and several minutes of stoppage time as I think no less than 3 Swallows went down and had to be stretchered off the pitch. In the last few minutes of extra time the Chiefs managed to mess up 2 attempts at goals. It was frustrating for the fans. Full time score: Swallows:2 – Chiefs: 1.
But all the same, it was a great night. Good to see some life soccer action in a country that is so soccer mad. And when 2010 comes around I can say I was in a stadium in S.Africa once. Although matches might not be played there, there is a bigger one being built next to the Absa Stadium. However, the workers down-tooled on that again this week so it’s anyone’s guess as to whether the place will be finished in time…
