Gap Year Experiences

Word Cup Matchday!

Tuesday 15 June 2010

With the fan fest experience on Friday giving us a taste of the South African World Cup, we were up early and hungry for more. The short drive from Jo’burg to Rustenburg was initially filled with excited talk about the England squad and all the predictions for the game.

This was soon replaced with Chris’ ipod, where we were treated to a mixture of musical styles from the techno Euro 2000 album to the more traditional English football songs of “Three Lions” and “God Save the Queen”. Needless to say we arrived at our campsite in Rustenburg feeling rather patriotic, a feeling that was further instilled as we walked around the campsite filled with flying St Georges crosses. After setting up tents we went into Rustenburg to try and find a way kill the 8 or so hours before kick-off (of the England game). After driving around we stumbled onto the quite appropriately named “Lucky’s”, where within ten minutes of being there we made it onto Sky News. We then realized the extent of our luck when found out the place had been reserved for English fans. We spent the next few hours enjoying the 70p a pint beer and getting the whole Pepper group interviewed live on Sky News. Needless to say after the interview everyone was phoning friends and family to tell them of our new found stardom, with Pippa getting a few angry phone calls as she had appeared on international TV wearing an England shirt.

We left the pub having sung (and in Chris’ case, started) every possible England chant. The atmosphere there and on the way to the stadium was something I had never experienced before. It was unbelievable. The fact that everyone had lost their voices before we reached the stadium really said something about the build up. We then entered the stadium with Nick telling the English police that were there what he thought of their hats. Inside the stadium the feeling and anticipation was electric with English flags and voices dominating the US counterparts. I enjoyed the match until the 38^th minute. We won’t talk about the rest.

England -1 (Gerrard, 4’) – USA -1 (Greene being useless, 38’)

-Mark

The FIFA fan park in Joburg!

Outside the stadium in Rustenburg

Our live interview on Sky News