While some of you were lucky enough
to be at Peter Mokaba stadium last Saturday to watch Chiefs beat Tottenham
Hotspur 1-0 and many watched it on TV, I had the less exciting experience of
watching the game in a pub in Edinburgh ,
Scotland
It hadn’t occurred to me that Spurs’ tour of South Africa might be televised in the UK
Found
one just in time but they were playing the sound to some cricket match going on
in the background. No-one else seemed interested in watching what was just
another insignificant pre-season warm-up game to them.
So there I was, on my own with my
Chiefs jersey on and my membership card in my wallet, although sadly missing my
Chiefs makarapa and vuvuzela, in storage at my parents’ house. I tried in vain
to stay calm but ended up excited and frustrated in equal measure as Lehlohonolo
Majoro
should have scored (again and again).
The locals looked at me in confusion and
I tried explaining who Chiefs were but they didn’t seem interested. Probably
best that I didn’t have my vuvuzela with me then.
Without the sound, I had to imagine what the post-match analysts were
saying. I could just imagine the usual excuses: “it didn’t mean as much to
Spurs as it did to Chiefs”, “Spurs were tired after travelling”, “it was a
meaningless friendly” and so on.
I didn’t care. After all, it’s not everyday
that your team gets to play against a UEFA Champions League quarter-finalist
and beat them. Of course the result means very little in the context of the
season, but still, things look promising for Chiefs.
I’ve since found a friend of mine who has ESPN at home so I will be
watching the final on Saturday with the sound on (the derby match isn’t being
shown over here) with my Chiefs jersey and hoodie on, but still sadly without my
makarapa and vuvuzela. Amakhosi, please don’t let me down. Beat Pirates on
Thursday so I can watch you beat Spurs again!
It’s not often that I wish that I was in Polokwane but last Saturday, I
really wished that I was.
By Marc Fletcher
