Lions insider Richard Anderson sees the hosts are finally to take note of the tour.
Lions insider Richard Anderson sees the hosts are finally to take note of the tour
It's three out of three for the touring Lions, something we ought to remember in critical appraisals of their performances.
But whatever the Lions fans think, the hosts are finally beginning to get interested. We went from barely anybody in Rustenburg to a third-full in Johannesburg, and on Saturday we got a half-full Vodacom Park in Bloemfontein.
How and why the increase? Well, purists might say that the locals are finally cottoning on to the fact that the Lions are in town and posing a serious threat to their precious cotton-wool wrapped world champion side. They might also say how good it is to have the last true touring party coming to the towns. Cynics on the other hand, might point to the ever-more creative ways of getting tickets into the mitts of the paying punters.
Paying? Well after a fashion. One of Bloemfontein's many ticketing offers included 'spend 80 rand a head at the Kalamari grill (a particularly plastic fast-food joint in some mall) and get a match ticket for free! That's the match ticket that was initially priced at 270 rand a head when they first went on sale...
Not only are the crowds growing, but also the numbers of touring fans. We heard for the first time at a game today the traditional and highly imaginative touring call of 'Lions, lions, lions'.
Meanwhile the pockets of red dotted around stadia have developed from a sort of pock-mark spotting to a full on rash of red in parts of Vodacom Park today - it seems finally the tour is getting into full swing!
Also among the fans numbered a good 200-odd Bloemfontein Celtic fans. That's the local soccer team, who decorated the stadium with a bright moss-green and white striped zone far removed from the more traditional Free State orange, and who kept the singing and dancing going for pretty much the entire 80 minutes.
Lovely
If only that were true of the local fans, whose general apathy during a game is quite impressive (or depressing, dependant on your point of view). The loudest noise of the day - and of the press conference after - was from the succession of Harley Davidson motorbikes that brought on the dancing girls before the game. As pre-match rituals go, running onto a pitch through an alley of revving Harleys is an odd one.
Other fans in the stadium included a pocket of turquoise and white-clad Wildeklawer employees. Wildeklawer is, according to their website, 'a South African leader in onion and potato production and proud sponsor of Griquas rugby'. The Griquas are, of course, the Currie Cup side based out of Kimberley, from which the Cheetahs call up Super 14 replacements if they are falling short.
So good for them, and a lovely company day out that must have been. However, punctuating the half-time break with a pair of fairly provocative pro-Jacob Zuma songs raised a few eyebrows to say the least.
Still, it was a wonder we could hear them, or the Harleys, or the Celtic fans, or anything else after our ears had been blasted deep into our skulls by the volume of the tannoy system. Does it really need to be that loud? Really?
Lions shirt nicknames of the day are the two standing below us in the main stand, one numbered three and with the epithet 'Rooster' upon its back, the other with the number six and the moniker 'shag'.
Now... we reckon that numbers one, two, four, five, and maybe even a couple after could line up and put those words into context. Any ideas?
Last but not least, you may remember from previous episodes that finding one's way in South Africa as a novice on the signpost-less labyrinth that is the road system here can be a trifle tricky.
But it was most gratifying to learn that the locals also have problems; our bus driver completed two full laps of the stadium before finally managing to locate the gate at which media representatives should be deposited. I can approach Sunday's drive to Durban with renewed confidence!
