Ellis Park

 

Subject: Ellis Park

We are in Joburg care of the TV. The sun is shining as usual as the crowd stream in down the the streets surrounding the stadium. There was always the anticipation etched on the faces of the spectators of a contest, my guys versus yours, who would be the strongest, fittest, most durable in this game of physicality where nothing is left in the tank over 80 minutes of hard combative rugby.
Watching to day as the crowd gather one is reminded of ones many friends still left in South Africa, still making a living in a land of so many fond memories. It was a country where as an individual (and you were white) you were counted. It was not a place where power lay behind closed doors or where your sporting idols swept in to the training ground in expensive executive cars. They practised in the same nets alongside ordinary schoolboys, they had time for their fans, in fact they were like us in all but with those special skills which had made them famous world wide.
As I look at the crowd today it seems as if nothing has changed. The Apartheid is now in England and includes me. It's a financial Apartheid with the tiers of members and non members separated by astounding annual subscriptions which price the likes of me, out of the ground.  
The crowd at Ellis Park seem very cosmopolitan, drawn from all walks of life. They live in the satellite towns surrounding Johannesburg and drive in to the stadium down the roads I remember so well. Jan Smuts Avenue , Nicoll Highway, Barry Hertzog or from the South, Rosettenville Rd.  Homesteads now under the pressure of crime release these men and women for a day out to forget their troubles. It's a time warp where time unwinds to the 80s 90s and there was a semblance of law and order. These South Africans, the Rainbow Nation, people of all race and colour mix to cheer their team and for a moment or two, President Zuma is forgotten along with the exchange rate.
My memories take me after the game, along Louis Botha down through Orange Grove and into Norwood, destination Gardens. The drive into the dip, just before the veterinary clinic turn right just after George's Cafe and into Plantation Rd.   Home safe and sound, the noisy dogs barking a welcome, a cold beer and a good meal on the table what more could a person want.