I have recently returned to England after a relatively long trip to South Africa to see England play USA at this summers World Cup. It was yet another great away trip where the football put a slight downer on things, although I thought we played rather well. More on the game later.
Travelling with my Dad, we met up with the other 6 lads in the Heathrow bar, just in time for the opening game of the tournament. Not much of the game was seen however as we all began to get to know each other before our 2 hour flight to Madrid. Once in Madrid, we browsed the airport for a TV to watch the late game, France V Uruguay. With everywhere seemingly closed and no TV in the only café that was serving beer, we resorted to streaming the game over the internet using the internet café. Eight men crowded around a small monitor, it’s amazing what a fan will do to watch a football game. After the game we were kicked out of the café for drinking alcohol, so we returned to the bar before our long haul flight to Johannesburg.
Whilst in Madrid we met someone from Nottingham who was travelling to South Africa alone. He explained that he had bought a tent, and that his plan was to pitch it in Rustenburg for a few nights before moving on to Cape Town. We saw him again in Johannesburg at the baggage carousel. At the point of which we left the airport, his tent hadn’t arrived and he had missed his 11:30 coach to Rustenburg, not a good way to begin your trip. I took his email address so will contact him in the next few days to see how his trip went, and to see if he ever got his tent back.
Once we dumped the bags in the hotel, we set off for Rustenburg, stopping a few miles away from the stadium in a retail park. Standing outside a Nando’s, we bought a few crates of the local beer from an off license. Working out at 40p per bottle, it was a cheap build up to the game, and a good laugh as well. We weren’t too far away from the stadium, but with just one road to and from the ground, it still took us over an hour to get there. Upon reaching the turnstile, one of the blokes we were with realised he had lost his ticket. He managed to buy one outside the ground for just £20, less than the face value of his original ticket. That is unheard of at a major tournament, where most of the time you would expect to pay three or four times face value for an England game.
I was very disappointed after the game, as the England players stood in the centre circle and aimed a clap at each end of the ground. Us fans had travelled half way around the world to see them play, and had filled half of the ground as we always do when travelling away to major tournaments, so I thought they at least owed us enough to come down towards our stand and cheer us properly. In comparison, the entire US squad went over to their fans and saluted them for their support.
After the game, our South African chauffeur picked us up from the ground and took us back to our hotels in Pretoria. An absolute joke of a journey that took us until gone 2:30 to get back, a four hour journey that should have taken us around an hour and a half. A scary site welcomed us when we got off the bus, the hotel security guard was roaming the car park in a bomber jacket and balaclava, although he did greet us and wish us a good night.
The next day Ghana and Serbia were playing in Pretoria, so all the lads decided to get a ticket to the game. Me and Dad decided against going, especially seen as if we had got a ticket, we wouldn’t be sitting with any of the people we were travelling with. Instead we spent the day in the Eastwoods Tavern, a bar recommended to us by our South African driver that happened to be right down the street from where the Serbia game was being played. A little more expensive than the 40p a bottle the previous day, a pint was 350 ZAR (around £3.50). Two of the lads with us on the trip decided to stay until late into the first half and the four of us had a great laugh in the sunshine as we downed the beers, watching the game on the massive screen out the back of the bar.
We were then picked up after the game and taken to the airport where we began our long journey home. As I said, a great trip, although it is amazing when you think of what we all went through just to see our beloved country play a game of football on the greatest stage in the world.
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