Rugby should not be a sport.
I have settled in quite nicely around here. I’m starting to have a routine that is essential for me to be comfortable somewhere. We have been seeing signs posted all over the place for a Junior Rugby Championship and it seemed like a big deal so we were all very interested in attending a game if it was reasonably priced. I have zero knowledge of rugby but they don’t have baseball here so this was the closest thing to an actual sport I could watch while I’m here. It took some convincing but I finally agreed to go and we hopped into the cab to drive over to the stadium. It wasn’t until about 5 minutes before we left that I realized the game was actually in the Cape Town Stadium where the Soccer World Cup was held in 2010. If you know me at all, you know that I have absolutely no interest in soccer. I can appreciate the talent it takes to play well, the gorgeousness of the players, and the over energetic fan base, but I instantly get bored while watching it and if I even see a vuvuzela I get an instant headache. Even though the sport means nothing to me, I still thought it would be amazing to attend a game at a world famous stadium. I also learned all about the World Cup events in my South African history class so I had to see it in person. We got in line for the tickets, we found out they were only 25 rand. That’s about 3 dollars. Worth it? I think so. While in line, we stood in front of a couple with 3 kids. The little girl was determined to ask us if we were from America because she heard our accents. She was very shy but then she asked about Disneyland and she lit right up as we told her about that magical place. By the time we got to the front of the line, she had her whole trip planned. She then turned to her parents and demanded “Daddy, take me to America.” Not sure if the parents were very pleased with us after that. As we approached the ticket booth, a guy asked my friend to buy 6 tickets for him and he’d give him the money. For some reason, my friend said no so I volunteered to buy the tickets for the guy and his friends who were too lazy to wait in the 10 minute long line. He handed me the money. I asked him if it was enough and he said there was plenty there and I was welcome to keep the change. Turns out, the change was enough for their 6 tickets, my ticket, plus some. See? Being nice to people pays off. As we went through security, the man in front of me was stopped because he had a camera with a detachable lens. I panicked because I had my camerea with both of my lenses in my bag. I quickly threw my wallet and makeup and anything else in the purse over my camera. The woman searched my bag but didn’t look hard enough to see the forbidden equipment. Thank God! We ran into the stadium and it turns out our tickets were for wherever we wanted to sit. Naturally, we sat in the front row. Our group grew larger and larger as more people from our program showed up. Eventually we had about 20-30 people sitting in our area. We turned to our friend Trevor who plays rugby to give us a play by play on what the heck was actually going on. I kept trying to compare the rules to football but it was not working out very well. I eventually got the gist of it and then realized I don’t like rugby. The stadium was beautiful and the experience was great, but I think it is a one and done type of activity. The game finished, South Africa beat England, and we wanted to go to a nearby pub with our whole group. If you have ever tried to go to a pub with a group larger that 15 people, you know that it is nigh impossible. After overcrowding two bars as we tried to find a suitable place, we eventually split up a little bit and got drinks closer to home.