18 June 2010 World Cup soccer

This is the eighth day of the 2010 soccer World Cup tournament. England is scheduled to play Algeria in the late match tonight at the Cape Town stadium. Two games were played on day 1 of the tournament, South Africa against Mexico at Soccer City and France against Uruguay at the Cape Town stadium. Since then, three games have been played each day, at 13h30, 16h00 and 20h30, South African local time. Twenty games were completed by last night.

Supporting fans arriving in the centre of Cape Town for the matches to be played at the Cape Town stadium congregate at either the Fan fest Park on the Grand Parade or at the Victoria and Alfred Waterfront, before and after scheduled games. They congregate in smaller numbers at various other venues in Cape Town, depending I guess on the amount of yellow liquid is mandatorily consumed before a sporting event. Cape Town has a good number of drinking holes. Long Street is the other favourite area where fans have congregated in Cape Town.
The English fans are undoubtedly the yardstick for measuring ardent fan support. They are characterised by travelling in groups and marking their temporary territories prior to proceeding to the game and after the end of the game by the huge flags that each group carries. No wonder then, that when I arrived at the Waterfront on Friday 18th June, the English flags had been virtually tied to every possible railing, wall and balcony at the Waterfront. That night, they adorned the circumference of the stadium, placed on every square metre of overhang present in the stadium.

The Waterfront was awash with red and white of England. The fans themselves were in the majority sampling South African ale and filling the coffers of the Cape Town economy. It would be financially prudent for South Africa if the English team remains playing in the tournament for as long as possible. It was estimated that approximately thirty thousand English nationals had arrived in Cape Town for this game.

The Algerian supporters constituted a small number, but they were not outdone in the noise department. They sang loudly and heartily. Some German fans as well as fans of the USA had also congregated at the Waterfront to watch their teams in action on the big screen showing all the games at the Waterfront arena.
Serbia beat Germany 1 nil in the first upset of the tournament. Slovenia and the USA drew 2 nil in an exciting match. The England Algeria match ended in a goalless draw. The English fans began losing patience with their team. England’s Wayne Rooney was irate at some of the comments of the fans and responded rather unkindly to them.

For Cape Town, this day shall be remembered as the day that the English came to town with their own distinctive and unique brand of soccer supporters.           

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