Confessions of a rugby podcast addict

Okay. Confession time. I am a rugby podcast addict.

It started in World Cup a la Francais. First, it was the Boks Office with Shimmy and Jean de Villiers and Schalk. And then Big Jim. Love that guy. And then Keo & Zels (my favourite). And then my dad told me about Tim from EggChasers (that was more recent)…and now also The Verdict. Even the flippen Money Man. Oh, and pre- and post- match press conferences.

I have five kids and a job but I make a plan.

 When my husband and I catch up at the end of our respective days, his favourite question is whether I read or heard anything interesting…

…nah. Well, actually, Zels thinks the Springboks shouldn’t play “tonyball” and Rassie said Siya might end up looking like Kwagga and he also had to go to the ladies toilet at the game on Saturday.

When, yesterday, I reached into the recesses of Youtube and started watching Eggchasers’ post-match rugby World Cup hot takes, and also managed to fit Siya’s rugby World Cup final post-match interview into a team talk this week at work, I started to worry. About myself.

Is there such a thing as too much Springboks?

Maybe I am actually crazy. Or am I?

Obsessed – undeniably.

But crazy?

In a glorious (back at you Zels) colab between Keo & Zels and EggChasers, the guys asked Tim, “Why South Africa?” Some context. Tim lives in Manchester and loves rugby. Not just the game itself but the cultures that define teams, and fans too. But of all the places to visit…why South Africa? Tim’s reply:

“[Springbok fans are] wild…they’re passionate on another level – and that’s what I really noticed in France and what made me so excited to come [to South Africa]. What the hell is it about this country that breeds this type of person that will just chew your ear off about rugby all night?”

Right!?

What the hell is it?

Tim came to find out.

And he found out that rugby runs deep.

The other day, my daughter was digging around in my old photos (my kids like to laugh at my nineties bad hair) and came across some grainy pictures of some okes on a field. With a magnifying glass and a keen eye, you can spot the colossal weight of Kobus Wiese and Joost’s yellow 9 waiting on the side of the lineout to gooi daai bal stukkend. A blurred crowd waits to cheer (or jeer!) in the background.

SA v Wales, September ’95. At Ellis Park.

The 13-year-old girl who pushed the big red button of her 110-film camera when the Springboks stood ready to catch that ball is same the 42-year-old tannie who is a self-confessed podcast addict. Now, instead of Hennie le Roux on her wall and James Small in a frame on her shelf, it’s Siya Kolisi grinning next to her own 13-year-old daughter and Makazole Mapimpi popping a selfie with the fam at a Sharks game, and Pieter Steph’s signature next to James Dalton on her ’95 World Cup Rugby ball.  

The Loftus Anthem in that first game against Ireland was something special but it was Ellis Park that brought tears. As the camera panned out of the stadium, in the corner of the screen I spotted the swimming pool that I walked to in Standard 6 for an inter-house gala. Kitted in our black and white Jeppe blazers in the middle of summer because our school reputation was more important than heat stroke, we shouted begrudging war cries for team and school to the backdrop of what was to become one of the greatest stadiums in rugby history. Alcatraz. I didn’t know then but I know now.

I could go on.

But…

…to simplify.

I am South African.

Not crazy.

Well, perhaps crazy is part of our DNA.

So yes, South African.

Sure, it’s the rugby chat but it’s home. South Africa. The stories. About school and life and times gone and the Springboks. What was, is, and still could be. We won 40-11 in that game against Wales in 1995 at Ellis Park. I didn’t remember that, but I remember sitting in that crowd and being high on life. High on Joburg. High on the Springboks. Hope was in the air.

Hope is still in the air.

If you have a story you’d like to share about South Africa please send it to Andrea via admin@sapeople.com; and visit Andrea’s OurFiresideStories.com