This week I managed to get my hands on a set of tickets for the opening game today of the Rugby Championship between South Africa and Australia. I have been to the Ellis Park Stadium 33 years ago and had no expectations of experiencing something different which was great fun. I was in for a shock as I did not enjoy the match day experience one bit and the result had nothing to do with it and here is why.
My son was happy as this is his first live game I have taken him too.
My son and I got there nice and early so we were not rushed and could take our time soaking in the atmosphere. The getting to the ground and getting in was rather good and have no complaints. The police presence and security was good and not in your face good, but you knew they were there.
The food and drink facilities inside were a big operation and this above is the beer garden. This is still great and even though most stadiums don't have these and have no liquor like Paris and Twickenham. You drink outside in the bars/pubs and then come in to watch the game. Here this is on another scale as I found out walking around.
There are other stalls around the ground selling brandy/rum and cokes and they offer the normal single double shot or you can buy a 5 liter pitcher jug and take it to your seat. Beer is also sold in these sizeable jugs and I am sure many did not even get to see the end of the match.
The food was what you would expect at any sporting event and was decent even though highly over priced. The stadium takes 50% of sales so the vendors charge double to not affect their profits. This R90 Chicken Prego would normally cost around R40 and you just accept you are going to be stung for food and drink.
The teams arrived roughly 2 hours before kick off and I noticed the drones in the sky which must also be for added security measures. First time I have noticed the drones being used and the only reason I looked up was we were feeling rain drops.
When we finally took to our seats roughly 30 minutes before kick off the Aussies were already warming up on the field. This is looking a bit gloomy even with the floodlights out as it was starting to rain. Our seats were not covered but thankfully the rain held off or we were in for a proper drenching.
This is when the entire experience went down hill and I hated the overall experience having experienced great atmospheres and spectacles in other world class stadiums in SA and Europe.
Firstly there were too many drunk people around me who were more concerned about dancing to the music and taking selfies instead of watching the match. The stadium sound system was blaring out old rock tunes even when the game was being played.
When the game kicked off I had no idea the game had even started as the music was till playing and hearing the whistle was impossible. I can tell you now I witnessed so little of the game as the flood lights were that bad you could see very little unless it was very close to you. Most of the people I noticed were watching the big screen and not the game so what is the point of even going?
The music did not stop and I had people continuously trying to get past me when the game was being played as they do not wait for half time like everywhere else and were more concerned about getting refills of drinks and food. At this point I kind of regretted even going yet you have to experience it I guess to find out. This has to go down as the worst rugby stadium experience I have ever had and I will not be back.
I may be getting old, but I love my sport and live sport is the best and those around me were not even aware of what was happening in the match. Maybe not being able to see anything played a part and being drunk or more worried about selfies the other part. I just do not get it as why are these people even attending the match? I noticed many buying extra cokes to put in their large jugs because it looked to have more ice than coke and no wonder people were stumbling around. This is why most stadiums do not serve any alcohol.
As to the game itself I will have to watch it tonight as I cannot tell you if it was any good or not even though I was there. The game was impossible to watch and the television monitors must have light sensors to make it brighter than what it really is because this was seriously gloomy. I have had no problems at Twickenham on a cold dark winters evening and here in SA I could see absolutely nothing.
The plus was the experience as you have to find out for yourself what it is like and experience this. The uber in was 15 minutes and painless and the taxi /uber or whatever we got home was convenient. The traffic was chaos so we walked and walked out of the traffic jam and took a chance with what looked like a taxi as he was showing us some app on his phone through the car window. If we had used an app it would take hours to get out so I said yes and jumped in. If he was dodgy we could sort him out and was more concerned about his driving than being robbed. We made it home which is what matters and even though the day may have been a disappointment we enjoyed ourselves and know better to not go next time.