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| |  South Africans are fanatical about sports | |
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Ever seen Sharks, Cheetahs, Lions, Cats and Pumas on a rugby field? Well, in South Africa people turn up in their thousands every weekend to watch contests amongst these teams. Thousands others turn up to watch the Swallows take on the Chiefs or the Black Leopards take on the Pirates. Strange isn’t it?
Well, not in South Africa. Except these are just the names of rugby and football clubs that entertain the hordes of sport crazy South Africans. A rugby, football or cricket match isn’t just a sporting event here, it’s a carnival, a festival of blaring horns and non-stop singing.
The Vuvuzela
And if you find yourself at a football match someday, don’t run for dear life when you hear something that sounds like a hippopotamus blaring non-stop- it’s just a harmless horn that South Africans call the Vuvuzela.
Hosts to the World
You see South Africans don’t only like their sport, they love it! And now that the country will be hosting the 2010 Soccer World Cup and has just lost the bid to host the 2011 Rugby World Cup, even couch potatoes are beginning to drag themselves to the rugby and football matches as a form of ‘warm-up’ to the Soccer World Cup.
Fabulous Football
When in the country sometime, do make an effort to watch one of the top football teams take on one another on the weekend. But the biggest prize for any football lover is the Soweto derby, featuring arguably South Africa’s biggest soccer giants Orlando Pirates and Kaizer Chiefs both with roots in the country’s most populous and famous township—Soweto.
Just being there on derby day leaves one with a buzz that lasts for days, sometimes weeks, and a nagging anticipation for the next derby.
Radical Rugby Fans
And then of course there’s that sport where only tough guys triumph-rugby! Now if you thought football fans love their sport, then you will notice that the average rugby fans doesn’tonly love the sport, but worships it too.
The players are the demi-gods, the stadia, from Newlands in Cape Town, Absa Park in Durban and Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria are treated with the same respect the ancient Romans revered the Colosseum.
Crackers for Cricket
And in the summer, you can enjoy a braai-vleis(barbecue) while watching The Proteas, South Africa’s national cricket team take on the best the world has to offer in the brilliant weather.
These are just some of the highlights from a South Africa that just loves its sport so much every weekend seems like a carnival.
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