It's 3 a.m. on a Sunday morning. Seated around a table in a bar, a group of 8 Englishmen mournfully sing "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot", in anticipation of their countrymen's defeat in what one South African onlooker refers to as the Third Anglo-Boer War! Roughly 15 South Africans, most of them dressed in Springbok rugby jerseys, with beers in hands and occasionally slugging down Springbokkies, green peppermint liqueurs with a cream topping, try to drown out the "slave song" through jeers and mocking comments. The stage is set for the 2007 Rugby World Cup Final, in Changhua, Taiwan.
There is something surreal about being half a world away from home and yet seeing the South African flag waving next to you while everyone stands to sing the national anthem, at least the Afrikaans portion of it, and to watch Supersport beamed live from South Africa via satellite TV. All the matches I had watched up to this point had been delayed transmissions on Taiwan's Star Sports with British commentators or unbearably incompetent Taiwanese commentators speaking in Chinese and sometimes substituting rugby players' names with those of American baseball players! I kid you not!
The Supersport transmission provided an inexplicable sense of linkage with home and I couldn't help picturing my family huddled at the same time around their TVs watching and hearing exactly the same thing I was. There was not only some comfort in this, but for me it added to the excitement of the experience. As the game progressed, passionate cries of "Go on, manne" and "Vat hom, boys" punctuated the increasingly tense atmosphere of the bar, which reached a climax when an England player crossed the South African try line and everyone in the bar became a video referee as the slow motion replays flashed across the screen. The South African supporters could clearly see that the player's foot had touched the touchline, while the English supporters were equally sure that the try was legitimate. For a moment it seemed that blows were about to be exchanged, but the decision in favour of the Springboks took the steam out of the table of Englishmen and they dissolved into a mumbling version of "Swing Low".
As the final whistle blew, our small group of South African representatives in the Far East erupted into ecstatic cheers and hugs and handshakes while the table of Englishmen exited almost unnoticed, silently slinking along the walls to the door. The celebration flowed outdoors where 2 members of the group, unable to contain their joy, streaked down the street and then we had a team photo while someone in a flat above threw cold water on us to shut us up after having woken her at 5 a.m.
For 2 hours we forgot where we were and got lost in the euphoria of being South African.
Dion Marc Delport
28 October 2007