It is here. I was there

I have the most incredible luck sometimes. The last soccer match I watched live was when Bafana Bafana won the African Cup of Nations in 1996 when we beat Tunisia 2-0. I saw Zambia beat Ghana that day too. Both my teams won, 80,000 fans packed Soccer City and by the time we left I had lost my voice. That was a powerful thing to experience, I remember it well.

Yesterday I was once again reminded of this luck - I went to the opening match of the World Cup at the new Soccer City stadium with colleagues, and today I am almost voiceless from roaring along with 85,000 other people who shared this incredible experience.

My category 1 ticket. Thanks boss. I clutched this tightly all the way from the park and ride at Wits, terrified of losing it somewhere along the way.

All along the route we were greeted by people hooting, waving flags, blowing their vuvuzelas, climbing up robots cheering us on. We almost felt as if we were the team heading off to play in the opening match.

The calabash stadium, Soccer City
 
For anyone heading there for the final - take a train from Park station or the Rea Vaya bus service. The park and ride buses drop you off in a dry patch of veld miles away so there's a considerable walk to the stadium. Our bus driver was so excited she did donuts around the veld before letting us out, so we emerged a little dusty but very hyped for the match.
Getting in was a breeze; check ticket, search bag, go through metal detector, follow the crowd to the turnstiles, check ticket is genuine and voila! You're in.

No long waits anywhere. This in itself was an eye-opener for me, so it can be done. And there are enough ladies toilets. I cannot over-emphasise this, not once did I queue for a loo! 

 The stadium inside, excited people arriving

All around us were people with painted faces, flags, vuvuzelas, jackets (it was cold) and signs

Multi-lingual signs

The opening ceremony got underway - a riot of noise and colour and suddenly 3 jets screamed over the stadium. The aerial display! The praise singer! (I'm not sure the foreign visitors got that, but all the South Africans roared) Big screens linked to praise singers standing on the other stadia roofs jumping and chanting. We jumped and chanted too!

The symbolism of the click song "Igqira lendlela nguqo ngqothwane" (the dung beetle is the doctor of the road)

Dung beetle picture from Idahostatesman.com

And the national anthems...
 

When we belted out every word. God bless Africa, Nkosi sikel'iAfrika

And when they ended....a wall of noise - cheering, vuvuzela-blowing, those football rattle-things going; awesome. 
How good to feel proud to be a South African again. How incredibly proud we are of this. And when the team was showing nerves at the beginning we stood as one and sang "Shosholoza!" and they drew themselves up and played. They heard us, they responded. 
Itumeleng Khune was our hero, saving all that came his way. And that goal! Laduuuuuma! The roar, the physical force of the sound, the fact that we scored first!
To draw against Mexico? Mexico is ranked 17th, South Africa 83rd. Well done boys, you did us proud. 
We headed back to our bit of veld to catch our bus, happy believers. The stadium glowed pink with pride,  beautiful against the night sky.

Hambani kahle. Sala kahle.


I am a lucky person indeed.