Day 5 – Soweto, England at the Fan Fest and Ghana v Germany

Yyyeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeessssssssssssssssssssssss!!!!!!!!!!!!! England have won a game and qualified for the next round. Phew! But not totally a positive for us, as I will explain later.

After another great breakfast at the guest house, to which not all of the Mexicans arrived. They had a very late night on the road back from Rustenberg and the youngsters especially slept late. It turned out that the problem started with the transport back to the Park and Ride car park which I had already commented on from our own experience. But there were 9 of them, and to get on the buses (when they appeared) was a real issue and it took over an hour to get back to the car park. By then the traffic was ahead of them and the police were directing everyone to the same road. Hence 5.5 hours plus to get back to the guest house. In comparison our experience was positive, but we have to take care on Saturday night when we have to do the journey again.

Today we went to Soweto, a place we have all heard of for some many reasons. The connotations are mainly negative in connection with the Apartheid period. But things are now much changed, although that change is in process and will be for a long time. First stop was the tourist information centre, there are lots of tours of Soweto, but we really wanted to see it for ourselves and spend time on the bits that we wanted to rather than be part of a group. We needed to get some literature and check that we would be safe. The tourist office was really helpful and we agreed a route that fitted our interests and timescale and off when went, alone in Soweto. Well, not really alone, there were plenty of tourists around but mainly in groups.

First stop was Walter Susulu Square in the Klipstown area, the tourist office was at one end and then we walked down through the local market to the Freedom Tower which houses the wording of the Freedom Charter set out inscribed in a circular aluminium display. There was a man playing a flute which has a strangely evocative in the hollow tower structure, and I think I will always now associate the tune of Amazing Grace with those moments reading the charter. We talked to him at the end about his experiences and he told us that he had been playing there for a long time and seen many changes, but now he was thinking of moving on somewhere else – it was getting to be a noisy place to play the flute. “Life is full of opportunities” he told us “and I have to make the most of those”. Wise words. This was the first, but not the last, emotional experience of the day, as we read of the rights that the ANC sought from 1953 onwards, and which the rest of the world took for granted and which were finally achieved here.

Next stop was Orlando West and the Hector Pieterson Museum. You may not have heard of him and his claim to fame is a tragic one. On 16 June 1976 there were protests in Soweto, by student over the intention of the government to start compulsory teaching in schools in some subjects in the Afrikaans language. The black population didn’t speak the language and saw this as a further attempt to deprive them of the education they sought. The protests started peacefully but turned ugly and Hector, a quiet but mischievous 13 year old (as described in the museum) was the first of many to be killed. 700-1200 people died in the weeks of rioting that followed and it was a starting point to the anti-apartheid movement that those of us of a certain age remember. The exhibit was well explained and we learned much that w didn’t know. We went round separately and didn’t really discuss it when we came out but we both felt the same high emotional feelings about the experience. It isn’t comfortable learning of the killing of young people, and the injustice and frustration of the people, especially the young, came over very strongly and we both felt the same things. I did have one moment of annoyance myself, I took a photograph which I didn’t realise was not allowed. Actually the picture was out of the window. A guard approached me and told me that photography wasn’t allowed in quite an aggressive manner. I hadn’t seen the signs and I asked her why it wasn’t allowed and she told me it was because the information in the museum was secret and they didn’t want it to get around the world! I think she had missed the point on so many levels. But I deleted the picture subserviently, it wasn’t that important. (John took one though – he’s a rebel!)

And so to a walk around Orlando West. The one-time home of Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu (in the same street), a viewing point over the city, the place where Hector had been killed and the riots started and the sights and sounds of one of the better parts of Soweto. We could see from the viewing point that there were far more cramped areas than where we were. We chatted with local kids that approached us as we walked around. We were wearing England T-shirts which brought a reaction about football, one little girl, of not more than 6, told us she supported Bafana Bafana and when we asked who she was supporting now that they were eliminated she named Brazil. A clever girl!, but also interesting in terms of awareness of the tournament etc. It has certainly brought the world to their doorstep. Some of the kids were happy to chat and exchange football banter, others asked very directly for money. We enjoyed our walk around Soweto though, and a very interesting and emotional morning came to an end.

We headed to the Soweto Fan Fest which was located in a stadium about 20 minutes from Orlando West. It could contain up to 40,000 people but there wasn’t more than a few hundred there this afternoon, although it probably reached a thousand by the end of the game. More international fans there than locals initially, but the local people did gradually arrived, and there were quite a number of England fans but also notably Germans (before their game this evening) and Americans. The game you will have seen most likely, but our views haven’t been affected by the English media (which we haven’t seen) or the match against Algeria, and it seemed that this was another lacklustre performance of the type we all thought had gone away a long time ago pre-Capello. It was a win but it remains a mystery why none of these players have shown the ability, drive and enthusiasm that we from them every week in the Premier League. The world may come to play football in the Premier League but at what cost to our own players (we’ll probably go on and win it now!). The disappointment came at the end of the game when news filtered through of the USA win which put England into second place in the group and meant, very disappointingly for us, that we would not be seeing them in the next round match on Saturday. We were really down after that, neither of us really believed that England wouldn’t win this group which looked so easy on paper, and our journey to the stadium to watch the match to decide our opponents, was tinged with silence, what-ifs and discussion of our extreme disappointment. This was a big downer even though we qualified.

The drive to the Soccer City stadium was complicated by a road block which meant that we had to track back and use another route to the stadium, but overall it seemed that they had reduced the number of checkpoints on the roads and that made the journey easier. The previous time we must have shown Park and Walk tickets 6 times but this time it was just twice and we were in. And we parked near the exit route that we used last time to avoid the rally cross experience.

The stadium was as colourful as it had been, the black, red and yellow of Germany versus the green, yellow and red of Ghana and many other colours besides. It was a game that counted, the winners to top the group, the losers could have been eliminated. The African continent’s last hope, against the European masters. The contrast in styles and the importance of the match meant that it was probably the best game we have seen so far and we enjoyed it. We were sitting near the goal line and, very strangely, the Japanese FA men that sat next to us on day 3 were just behind us. We recognised each other and spoke a little, took photographs of each other (for some reason – it must be a Japanese thing like exchanging business cards!) and then wished them luck for their last game against Denmark. In the end the Germans won 1-0 but the contrasts and quality of end to end play made it a memorable experience. The biggest cheer of the night was after the final whistle when it became clear that Ghana had also qualified – the hopes and dreams of a continent rest on their shoulders and it is a burden they will carry into the game with the USA at Rustenberg on Saturday. We’ll be there, whether we like it or not!

In the car park after the game we blew Vuvuzelas for the first time, John was far better at it than me. It wasn’t the best tactic since we were negotiating to buy some but I think the guy felt sorry for my pathetic attempt so we managed to do a good deal (no photographic evidence). We went back to the car blowing Vuvuzelas as we went and that cheered the mood. It was also far easier to get out of the car park this time so we had learned a lot. Actually, taking account of the whole day, we did learn a lot!