Growing up in India, my first memories of South Africa was in the form of the Indian cricket team playing the Proteas at Wanderers. I remember taking in the stadium – the greenery, the makeshift swimming pools next to the stands and the diversity in population.
So when I first landed in O.R. Tambo International airport in Johannesburg with three huge suitcases and a backpack, it was a dream come true. To be in the country, to take in the air and to be a part of the sporting culture here, it was everything I ever wanted. And to validate my feeling, I looked up to notice a giant poster of the South African cricket team, AB De Villiers and JP Duminy smiling down at me.
I knew I was in the right place. I could almost smell cricket in the air.
South Africa, for the longest time, was an out-of-reach country with a great cricket team and an even better scenery that every cricket fan in India wanted to visit, myself included.
I remember making plans with my friends: We have to go for a South Africa cricket series and visit all the stadiums. So when I got the opportunity to be a sports reporter for The Star for three months, I was beyond thrilled.
I realised what I was missing during the last year I spent in the US.
When I found De Villiers’ autobiography in a small store in Melville’s Campus square, I said to myself – I am coming back here and I am buying this book, just because there is no way I could do that in the US.
I needed constant conversations with my friends back in India to stay in touch with cricket. But now, that was going to change. Cricket was everywhere and it felt like home.
In my first week here, I realised something quickly: If cricket is a major sport in South Africa, rugby is religion. Kids pursue rugby starting in middle school, I was told during one of my attempts to socialise in the city. Having spent the last year in the states, I’ve rather gotten used to watching American football with my friends there. Trying and failing to watch NFL games in the city, I instead switched to watching rugby, fascinated by the striking similarities in the sport. If Americans are gung-ho about the Washington Redskins, South Africans are obsessed with the Springbok. Just like how you will find fans wearing Denver Broncos’ Quarterback Peyton Manning’s jersey on a game day in the U.S., you will find people wearing Du Preez’s jersey here.
There is an almost giddy smile on most people’s faces here when they are asked about soccer, cricket or rugby. The best part about their enthusiasm: it’s contagious.
I’ve seen cricket fans standing in a long queue to buy their game-day tickets in Chennai, I’ve seen American baseball fans arriving at the stadium to drink and enjoy their team play in Chicago, and I have seen NFL fans scream in anguish as their team falters in Washington D.C. But there is something different about the South African sports fans: There is a constant religious smile on their faces with a laidback and confident approach in rooting for their teams.
This is what I love about sports. The sport might be the same in every country, but the fans – they make it what it is. They bring the novelty to the sport, a factor nobody else can bring.
It’s infectious and I can’t wait to be sucked into the sub-culture.
*Aishwarya is a on a three-month internship at The Star
The Star