Tuesday was the first day that the World Cup really started for us All White fans as we travelled to Rustenburg to watch the All Whites first game at a World Cup in 28 years.
The drinking and singing on the bus ride increased in volume as we got closer to Rustenburg and really reached a crescendo when the All Whites bus drove past us, the busload of us going nuts like drunken adoring idiots. Another highlight of the trip up was the piss stop that turned into a race to chase the bus as it took off, the boys were wheezing when they finally caught up with us, the altitude obviously taking affect.
When we got off the bus, and felt the cold wind blowing through Rustenburg I couldn’t help but feel that these Welly like conditions would make our Phoenix boys feel at home. Pre match included me doing impromptu interviews for Sky TV but they were not really award winning, basically showing off Rosco’s hair, talking to some girl about going to the toilet and interviewing Paul Brockie (Jeremy’s dad) about how great his son is, I’m sure it didn’t make the tell! Us All Whites fans comfortably won the pre match banter with a united bunch of us drowning out anything the Slovaks could chuck at us, unfortunately we were both drowned out by the vuvuzela in the ground, we all understand that this is a part of South African football but it tends to ruin the atmosphere for the foreign fans as their support is basically muted.
Well, I’m sure the dedicated amongst you who believe know what happened in the game in detail and the rest of you are aware by now…and that 93rd minute “winner” by Winston Reid is when we all started going nuts, hugging anyone in sight and we camped out in the ground for at least half an hour afterwards, suffice to say we didn’t want to leave, Rickie Herbert came out to see us and a handful of players as well, the joy on amongst all us fans didn’t really abate either, hugging continued then we descended en masse to a bar outside the ground, the weird thing was that this “bar” was a house where you walked in the front door and into the dining room and made your order, and walked out with a big bottle of Black Label for 10 rand (approx NZ$2), it really was our day. The bus ride home was long but happy, spewy and near the end, sleepy. It was a historic and special day to be at the World Cup, earn our first point at the Cup and be top equal in our group! Rustenburg is now my favourite city in South Africa.
I am now introducing a stat that we will keep track of for the duration of the tournament, that is television networks that have spoken to us on tour, it is up to 6 (TV One, TV 3, Fox Sports Australia, Sky TV, some Italian TV network and Al Jezerra).
Next stop Kruger Park.
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WOOO HOOO!!! yeah me and a mate went to Lava bar to watch the game and it ended up being just a hope really....that dam second half! but man what a way to do NZ proud iight! Winston is definitely a national hero back here oh and Shane with the awesome set up...anyway we were very tired that whole game until the 93rd minute woke us up again haha the whole bar was cheering it blocked out the noise of those silly horn thingys oh its still a buzz!
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