I play football weekly with Fives Futbol – or rather I did. This year was a bit of a wash out thanks to my ankle problem. Maybe I’ll be back in 2014.
But here’s an incoming email from fellow Sheffielder, football journalist and Snort Beast Joe Crann about a tournament Fives Futbol have on at their Century City venue next weekend:
The Stimorol Fives Futbol Festival will take place all day on 7th December 2013 at Fives Futbol’s Century City venue in Cape Town.
The first festival of its kind will boast six all-weather floodlit synthetic fields as well as two beer gardens, brought to you by Savanna. With Stimorol as headline sponsor, football fans and families alike can expect a day full of fun and entertainment while watching celebrated soccer legends from Ajax Cape Town.There will be three leagues which teams can enter: The Elite (for experienced players), Corporate (companies can enter teams of employees to take part), and the Stimorol Fun League for the more sociable male and female players who just want to have fun. The Stimorol Fun League will bring all the wild fun that Stimorol is known for and encourages players to dress up in crazy outfits and compete for amazing prizes on the day.
Teams only have until 1st December to register – why not get some mates together, have some fun and maybe win some prizes?
Tickets, meanwhile are available from Computicket or on the day, priced from R32.
It looks like a good fun day out for players and fans alike. Visit the Fives Futbol or Stimorol Facebook pages for daily details and updates.
Ooh. Cyclists. My favourite people.
The new cycling laws come into force in the Western Cape today, and the biggie is that, as a driver, you must allow at least 1 metre between the side of your vehicle and any cyclist or you will be a criminal. I’m not sure that this will make cyclists feel any safer, given that people generally completely disregard any other traffic laws with impunity anyway.
I’ve done a handy PDF version of the new regulations for you.
Quite what happened to the mantra of “Cyclists stay alive at 1.5”, I’m not sure. Presumably, around 33% more cyclists will not be making it safely back from their ride now. Obviously, this is sad.
Also, drivers are now allowed to cross a solid white line to pass a cyclist as long “it is safe to do so”, which is a bit weird, because if it was safe to cross the solid white line, then there wouldn’t be a solid white line there, would there?
What is quite interesting is that there are some rules for cyclists included in the new regulations as well. Obviously, the cyclists are up in arms about this (the discussion on the new laws is taking place in the “Rant & Rave” section of the local cyclists forum), because they’ve been reminded of all the rules that they should have been obeying anyway.
Have you got a front and rear reflector on your bike? Didn’t think so.
In addition, predictably, the laws for motorists apparently don’t go far enough and the laws for cyclists are too strict, ill-thought out or just annoying. Sample quote:
I will no [sic] be complying with the provisions of this law which I feel do nothing to improve my safety.
Of course you won’t, because we can all pick and choose which laws we want to comply with, can’t we? Idiot.
No. Don’t be so silly, because what these new regulations do is reiterate the rules which both drivers and cyclists must abide by, reminding road users that everyone needs to be responsible for their own safety and the safety of others, and that can only be a good thing in the efforts to prevent unnecessary road deaths.
With that in mind, obviously, if a driver breaks the law, by, say, going withing 95cm of a cyclist, then you can report them by taking down their car registration number and informing the authorities.
Equally, when you see the lycra-clad peloton of cylists going through the red traffic lights at Kalk Bay six abreast on Sunday, you can… erm… you can… right. You can’t.
Hmm.
We did a lastminute.com and headed down to the Cape Town Stadium for Ajax’s biggest fixture of the season, against Kaizer Chiefs. It was 0-0 until the 88th minute, but at least it was an entertaining 0-0.
And then, up popped Tasreeq Morris:
I think Ajax would have been happy with a draw, so the three points are very welcome indeed.
The crowd was loud, cosmopolitan and generally well behaved. The atmosphere was superb, reminding me that I must go to more Ajax games this season.
And so should you.
EDIT: Here’s a great report by @ItsStillAyoba
Yes, I was at the rugby:
No, Province weren’t very good (and neither were the Sharks).
Yes, I was glad that I had Sheffield United’s victory (and a nice draught Milk Stout) to make me happy.