Scrappy rugby at the Stadium

I took the boy along to the rugby at the stadium today. It was a friendly/exhibition match between Boland Kavaliers and the Stormers, ahead of their Super 15 season which starts next week.
The rugby was, at best, scrappy. The stadium was, as always, stunning. And perfectly suited for rugby.

imageThat said, beagle-eyed readers will note that the Kavaliers were the home side. That’s because WPRU could never play a(nother) home game away from Newlands: that would send out all the wrong messages like logic, common sense and progressiveness.

The team they sent was devoid of any big names and although they coasted home 45 points to 7 against the local version of the Tractor Boys, it was untidy and unconvincing throughout.
Still, it was a belter of a day and there was cold beer on offer, so all’s well that ends well, right?

Footy tonight and footy past

I’m off to watch South Africa take on African Champions and second-tier Ebola carriers Nigeria at the Cape Town Stadium this evening. It’ll be my fourth time watching the national team and I have yet to see them win.
Or… er… draw, actually.

The first Bafana Bafana game I saw was seven years ago yesterday, as it happens: Zambia in an Afcon qualifier at Newlands. South Africa weren’t very good that day and Chris Katongo scored a hattrick in 11 minutes for Chipolopolo ruining the return of Benni McCarthy from international exile. It finished 1-3. It wasn’t great.

And then, because of the World Cup and the politics of SAFA, we didn’t see another Bafana game in Cape Town until after the World Cup. Then, we got to see them play the USA at the Cape Town Stadium in the Nelson Mandela Challenge in November 2010. South Africa weren’t very good that day, and lost to a second half goal from Juan Agudelo goal.

We shouldn’t forget the last time I saw them, either. 8th January last year, against a decidedly under-strength (read: “B-team”) Norway. South Africa weren’t very good that day and eventually lost a really, really boring game to Tarik Elyounoussi’s goal just before half time.

South Africa have won one first-class game at the Cape Town Stadium: a 2-0 win against the Central African Republic in March last year. I wasn’t there, but I was reliably informed that the Central African Republic weren’t very good that day. And yes, there were the CHAN games too, but those don’t really count.

So Bafana’s record is fairly unspectacular in Cape Town, and even more so when I’m watching them. New coach Shakes Mashaba has requested everyone to come out and support the team this evening, but if he knew my history with watching his side, he’d probably be less keen to see me there.

The stadium in Sudan was fully packed to capacity. I hope it will also be the case in Cape Town.

Well, no it won’t. I’m not sure what sort of crowd they’re expecting, but I am told that the lower tier has sold out and they’ve opened up the second tier for bookings. That would probably mean somewhere between about 25,000 and 30,000 tops.

I’ll try and snap a few photos this evening and put them on twitter (tonight) and Flickr (maybe tomorrow).

1-0

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:

image

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

That other departmental concert warning

The Western Cape Education Department’s warning that children must not miss school simply because they are going to see (or have seen) the Justin Bieber concert in Cape Town on Wednesday evening has been widely circulated.

Paddy Attwell, WCED spokesman, said that the Education Department had no problem with kids attending the concerts but if any students chose to miss school, they would be dealt with internally based on the individual school’s code of conduct.

A crowd of around 50,000 is expected and many of them will be children, so it could be that Paddy et al will have their work cut out for them.

However, less well publicised was the similar warning from another Western Cape Department regarding the Bon Jovi concert on Tuesday evening at the Cape Town Stadium. We’re here to put that right.

The Western Cape Department of Geriatric Affairs has become aware of many requests to Old Age, Frail Care and Retirement facilities across the province regarding the temporary removal of patients and residents from facilities ahead of the upcoming Bon Jovi concert at Cape Town Stadium, Tuesday 7th May 2013.

We are aware that due to the nature of this concert and the artists playing, the uptake from our patients and residents will be high.

While the Department appreciates the efforts of the families and friends of patients taking them to cultural experiences, it should be noted that guardians should remember that due to their advanced age, patients and residents may experience confusion, bewilderment and/or death as a result of the excitement of seeing one of the great rock bands of 30 years ago.
However, those persons responsible for the elderly should please remind their charges that this is no longer the 1980s and that their cardiovascular systems, joints and energy levels will have diminished significantly since that decade.

Extra paramedics,resuscitation  equipment, defibrillators and frail care facilities are being laid on at the Stadium to cater for the those of advanced age who are expected to make up the majority of the audience for this concert.

In addition, we are aware of plans to take many Zimmer frames from our facilities for a promised special version of the song “Wanted, Dead or Alive” featuring the line “I’m a cowboy, on a steel frame I walk”. Residents and patients are reminded that removal of Departmental equipment from our premises is not permitted and will not be tolerated even in these exceptional circumstances.

The Department wishes everyone a safe and enjoyable experience on Tuesday evening and looks forward to seeing all their patients and residents back for a nice cup of tea and some biscuits on Wednesday morning. Shall we say 10ish?

Lovely.

Rock on…

Local dating site warns you to “be alert” if wind picks up ahead of concert

This just in ahead of the Lady Gaga concert that no-one everyone is talking about:

I can only guess that this is in reference to the incident at the Linkin Park concert in Cape Town last month in which a scaffolding tower blew over and killed a woman. And forewarned is forearmed, right?
But are people really more at risk of injury and/or death from objects being blown over at events occurring at the Cape Town Stadium?

If they are then how comes there was no warning on the Dating Buzz SA twitter stream for patrons heading to the recent Cape derby on November 23rd? True, almost half a million football fans survived the World Cup 2010 completely unscathed, but that was before the Linkin Park incident, which showed just how dangerous events at the Cape Town Stadium can be.

Look, maybe it’s not a Cape Town Stadium thing. Maybe it’s a wind thing, but in that case, the apocalyptic Friday 30th should have been a bit mental for tweets from Dating Buzz SA. But it wasn’t. There were a couple of Lady Gaga tweets and a retweet of someone asking how Matt was.
I’m not sure who Matt is or what happened to him – perhaps some sort of wind/scaffolding related injury?
Tenuous at best.

All in all, I think that the tweeted warning is pretty much needless. Like me saying, “Don’t get run over tomorrow”.
(Although, don’t.)

I’m not saying that people shouldn’t always be on the look out for large tubular metal structures crashing down on them, but it seems to be a bit of a stretch to suggest that they should be specifically more alert at tonight’s concert. Common sense should prevail.

Oh, and it certainly doesn’t deserve three exclamation marks. Nothing deserves three exclamation marks.