To paraphrase a gentle wise old English Granny of my acquaintance; “Moenie met die Northern Areas Fok nie – hulle sal jou erg byt!”
It seems that a tight and almost impossible schedule, along with a late start and probably too much politicking at City Hall forced the Springbok World Cup Victory Parade through the streets of Port Elizabeth to be cut, missing out a few stops on the way.
The cry from our mates in the Northern Areas started way before the Springbok Tour Bus hit the streets, though – with many ‘erg die moering’ with the planned route missing the Northern Areas and Kleurling Park. At the time I thought that it would be a magnanimous gesture by the Springboks to take the Webb Ellis Trophy to the Northern Areas and show the All Black Fans just what they had missed out on… I jest fellow learner antipodean Rugby fans – what I actually thought was that touring the Northern Areas would maybe swing a couple All Black Fans to the Green and Gold camp.
Many fans were left disappointed by last minute unscheduled changes.
Share a thought for rabid Springbok Fans in other areas who accepted their fate of having to actually travel to venues guaranteeing a Springbok sighting such as City Hall, Garden Court and Port Elizabeth Airport.
Why did we not have civil riots, crying, gnashing of teeth, tearing of hair and pulling of horse hair shirts over heads from ‘lesser entitled areas’ such as Mill Park, Parsons Hill, Linkside, Sherwwod, Newton Park, Seaview, Chelsea, Lovemore Heights, Summerstrand, Kwadesi, Kwanobuhle, Soweto on Sea, Redhouse and the like? After all they also supported the Springboks with a lower concentration of All Black fans BUT probably a higher concentration of supporters of old colonial regime home countries?
The first complaint from the heart came in this missive to MyPE: Let us for once call a spade a spade – which engendered the following comment; “Good old Port Elizabeth…the race card played at every opportunity.They didn’t make it to Greenacres either as a matter of interest. Tyres and furniture burned in the streets, way to go people. That’ll show them we have style and dignity.”
Over on Twitter – Eileen had some strong opinions on WHY the Springboks were forced to shorten their tour:
People – you need to learn a lesson from this: “Good things DO NOT happen to good people all the time, sometimes we just have to Be Kind and live our joy vicariously through others!”
By the Way – SOME of us were writing exams in the same hotel as Siya and his mates and got to be photographed with him. See: Learning, training and contributing to our Nation DID have some rewards for Alan, John, Sigi and Mike!
Alan Straton
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