Dave is…
At another soccer riot.
Photo Credit: Matthew Jordaan, Cape Argus
Ajax played the Kaiser Chiefs tonight in the first leg of the semi-final round of some cup called the MTN8. The Chiefs are South Africa’s premier team (and arguably the most famous club team on the continent) so a game like this is not to be missed.
Intern AJ tries to blow the horn
Maybe because of name recognition, or maybe just cause there wasn’t a whole lot going on I managed to round up a random collection of people to come with. New ICTJ intern AJ, a masters student from the US was game and I collected her and set up in a bar near Newlands for some pregame drinks while we waited for the rest of the group. Gabe, another masters student who’s in my Use of Force course met us there with three of his friends who I hadn’t met. During introductions though I asked his Welsh friend Ed what he did and the guy says I intern at the ICTJ. Turns out the guy is our new intern, slated to start on Monday and who will be saving my ass from a couple nasty new assignments that I just don’t have time for. Still, either it’s a small world or else I just move in incredibly nerdy circles.
The game was excellent. It was a fast paced back and forth in front of a packed house. Neither side’s backline seemed to have its act together which led to a host of chances in the first half. The Chiefs almost opened the score sheet in the second minute with their striker wasting a one-on-one by shooting directly at the keeper but after that the pressure more often than not was applied by Ajax. Play was starting to get a little chippy before halftime but only started getting out of control in the second half when Ajax was awarded a penalty shot in the 62nd minute which the awesomely named Dipsy Selolwane slotted home.
The play was at the far end from our seats so I can weigh in on the correctness of the call but I will say the Chiefs had decent reason to feel aggrieved after two questionable non-calls in the Ajax box earlier. Kaiser Chiefs fans felt the same way and made their displeasure felt by pelting the playing field with plastic bottles and other garbage.
While stewards rushed around the fringes clearly off detritus the Chiefs actually mounted some sustained pressure and came quite close to finding an equalizer and that crucial away goal. But they couldn’t find a way to finish and the increasingly restive crowd (the stadium was if not 70-30% Chiefs supporters at least 60-40, a ratio that just underlines the surreal lack of local team affiliations here) started getting riotous at what they perceived as some more poor officiating.
It was at this point, with about five minutes left, that things really started raining down onto the field. Bottles, bits of food, cans, I think even a couple horns started flying fast and thick. Least on our side. As the game crept into injury time with no sign of the Chiefs snatching away an equalizer the crowd in the opposite (ostensibly visitors’) stand started ripping their seats up and hurling them onto the pitch. Those things are bolted down so that’s no mean feat but they were doing it in droves.
There was so much crap on the field that the ref halted play to clear the field. Cept everyone thought he was signaling the end of injury time so they started bring out all the post game ad backdrops and cameras onto the field. It took a full five minutes to clear everyone and everything back off just to play out the final 30 seconds. That pissed the crowd off even more.
Photo Credit: Matthew Jordaan, Cape Argus
We stayed and watched the mild rioting for a little while, happy to not be down in the stands right in front of the tunnel cause shit was getting a little out of hand there. I dunno how Ajax players made it down the tunnel without getting just drilled in the face by projectiles but I do know the police down in front had their pepper spray out.
I mean there were no flares and no one was beating riot cops with sections of sections of crowd fencing so they have a ways to go to match Croatian Cup matches. Still not a bad showing by the South Africans
Misc Notes:
• Gabe was staunchly opposed to the presence of vuvuzelas at sporting events till we made him buy one at which point he was hooked. I think the six of us had three or four horns between us and we all sucked. At best we sounded like weak dying rhinos or something. Last week’s exposure helped a little but not enough to be consistent nor reach the really prolonged blasts that everyone else seems capable of. At best I can achieve the intended note only for about half a beat before my puny lips fail me. This shit is hard. It did, however, entertain the hell out of everyone within about a dozen rows of us. Eventually one guy passed Gabe a tiny little kids horn, suggesting it was more our speed. It makes a sick duck sound. Not quite as intimidating.
• Alcoholic beverages are only sold in controlled circumstances at rugby games and not at all at soccer games at Newlands. South Africans deal with this by getting shitty before the game and then just smoking a ton of pot during the game. Seriously this could have been a Phish concert there were so many people puffing in the stands. I had noticed it a little at the last game, but deep in the heart of the crowd this time it was startling in its ubiquity.
Photo Credit: Matthew Jordaan, Cape Argus
• After the game I intended to go home and do work but was convinced to have a few beers in the name of intern bonding. Ultimately though I split off when they moved drinks downtown. Bears first pre-season game was tonight and I refused to miss the opportunity to squander expensive pay-as-you bandwidth on a live audio feed of Jeff Joniak calling Jay Cutler’s first passes as a Chicago Bear.
I made it through that, though radio is no match for being able to see the game, but the late hour and the earlier beverages took their toll and I passed out sometime between Brett Basanez’s first and second interception.