The rugby match was AWEOMSE - well, the match itself wasn’t so great The Stormers lost 29-10 - which is a blowout – but we had a lot of fun! There ended up being 6 people that went in our group. Moving left to right it was Kevin (from Howard), Chris and his girlfriend Kelisen (Mizzu), Tommy (my MU Buddy) and Jon (Mizzu). We took the train about 20min out of town to Nawlands Stadium. Right when you get off the train you could immediately feel the vibe of the crowd, which was intense but fun-loving – kinda like a Brewers game!
We did see a big grassy area on the other side of the train tracks where people appeared to be tailgating out of their cars, but we opted for the “fan walk area”. The fan walk was a street, which they had shut down for the game which was lined with vendors selling clothing (they pretty much only had XXL and XL shirts which was rather sad, but they did have some funky hats which I *DUH* took advantage of!) and food vendors. There was also a pub called Springbok’s where we spent most of our morning. As you got closer to the stadium there was a “beer Garden” sponsored by Castle Beer, but it had rained so the muddy grass was not that appealing to me!
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| They were giving out posters (Full pages of Stormers support from the newspaper, glued to a piece of cardboard). Kelisen and I took to this poster - who knew rugby players would look like this! |
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| Everyone at the pub was SOOO Friendly, and really excited that Americans were wanting to learn about rugby and support their team. This is the first round of headgear, borrowed from some very friendly Stormer Fans. |
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| The stormers marching band - They were so lively it was such a fun vibe! I took a video of it, I will post the link soon! |
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| Champions of the patio aka "Best new rugby fans!" The Castle Beer girls loved us! This is was also the best shot of my newley purchased headgear - best 6USD spent the whole day! |
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| Tommy got headgear too - I think mine is much more fun! |
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I was clearly very excited to be doing something that reminded me of tailgating. This sausage was AMAZING, whatever spices they put in it were fabulous. I went with the grilled onions, sweet relish, spicy mustard and lil bit of ketchup.
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| Rugby time! I found it intresting how they wore very small clothing, but covered every inch possible with sponsorships - I think CAT got a better deal than DHL! |
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| Our seats were great, 4th row on the 22meter line along the Stormers sideline |
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| I made a great trade of hats with a nice man in the beer pen! |
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| You were not allowed to drink in your seats at the game, the only place the beer was sod was the "beer pen" which we visited at half-time. You could only drink in the beer pen, which was about 200ft by 30ft and crammed as many people in as possible. The beer "glasses" were like mini-pitchers with hollow handels so you could stack the beers for easy carrying (which made no sense since you couldnt leave the room!). We finsished out beers and got to stack them on the 6ft tower. |
We all clearly had a lot of fun at the game, and really enjoyed the ambiance and overall expierence of the game - it was something I will never forget., even thought the stormers lost! I took a few video shots (just click on the following links) of the group/stadium/seats which put the place into perspective, the stadium seats 50,000 and it was a total sellout (when they sell out games everyone actually goes!).
Staduim video
Stormers Try (rugby's version of a touchdown) - right in front of us!
I am heading off on my mini-adventure to Victoria Falls - Flying into Zambia, Staying in Zimbabwe, White Water Rafting in Zimbabwe, Safari in Botswana - tomorrow morning and willnot be back until Sunday night. I am not sure if we will have internet access but I will post pictures as soon as we get back!
