The Purposed Trek

So after being in the country for 5 months I hunkered down last Sunday (10-14) and watched a full game of rugby. It was the semi-finals, South Africa versus Argentina. I still don’t fully understand the rules, but I understand that point and the basics enough to know that South Africa kicked butt in that game. I knew that the following Saturday (10-20) was going to be huge here. South Africa versus England (Reigning Champions). Huge because South Africa hasn’t gone to the finals since 1995 and they were playing England. I was getting excited for a sport that I just started to watch. However I had to learn what a scrum, tries, and match all were and then it all started to make sense. But no matter how much sense you make out of it, it is still odd seeing grown men groping each other for an oblong shaped ball and players run off the field because their eye was split during the last scrum and run back on 5 minutes later with stitches in their eye and blood still fresh on their face. I was invited to a Rugby World Cup Braai (bbq) where a bunch of South Africans were gathering to cheer on the Springboks. I had a blast – people had Springbok gear on, their faces painted, awesome food and a whole lot of spirit. As the final seconds ticked away, the Springboks were being pressed on their line, but held on and won the game. The streets were filled with cars driving around sporting Springbok and South African flags, ‘hooters hooting’ (horns honking) and people screaming out their windows. We went out on the streets and joined the fans – people were running around and we cheered at each car driving by. It was a ton of fun and people were thanking me for joining up with South Africa and cheering on the Boks. The best part of the whole thing was is that people were saying that it was one thing that unites the country – Black, White or Indian, they were all cheering for the Springboks.

This entry was posted on 22 October 2007 at 10/22/2007. You can skip to the end and leave a response.