South Africa flag during the 2016 Castle Lager Rugby Championship game between South Africa and Australia at Loftus Versveld, Pretoria on 1 October 2016 © Samuel Shivambu/BackpagePix.
Johannesburg - Last Saturday, Eddie Jones took a pasting for having the temerity to suggest that his Wallabies were coming up against a Springbok B team.
Well, as the great Boy Louw once said: “Look at the scoreboard.” But what no one is taking up is Eddie’s other truism about South Africa and Loftus Versfeld in particular. Asked about his flyhalf Quade Cooper’s zen calmness ahead of the game; Jones answered: “I don’t think zen applies to Loftus, it’s more brandy and coke up there.”
And lo, it came to pass. No sooner had the final whistle blown on the 42-12 win, then some of the spectators started moering each other in true Pretoria fashion – and they were all Bok supporters. No security stepped in; it was left to at least one unidentified blonde to do what she could and a couple of beefy, more sober fans to step in.
As for the stadium management, they expressed “regret” at one or two reports of fan violence. It’s a little like Cyril the Meek being shocked at the state of South Africa. And if we won’t tolerate that from the president, we certainly shouldn’t let the stadium management off the hook; certainly not at the price of rugby tickets.
Anyone who has ever been to a live sports event, where the stakes are high and the stadium is brim-full of testosterone, know that they are bystanders to a time bomb. Adding liquor to the mix is like adding a booster to the gelignite that’s sweating and seething in the stands.
We don’t need international examples of what can go wrong; we have our own tragedies, like the 2001 Ellis Park stampede. One fan, Brett Williams, was even beaten to death after a game at King’s Park in Durban in 2013.
There shouldn’t be any violence whatsoever. Not with the amount of security on duty. Indeed, if the stadium management allows alcohol to be sold (you’re just not allowed to take your own in), then it has a legal obligation to police how people consume it – the same way publicans have to.
It’s not rocket science. If someone has too much to drink, they shouldn’t be served any more. If they misbehave, they get removed by bouncers before they endanger those around them. At its most extreme, if people can’t behave, then make the stadiums dry – but that’s exactly what got everyone up in arms about during the lockdown, fighting for the right to be able to drink responsibly. But, of course, that will cut straight into the management’s profits, so that won’t happen.
As for the Jerry Springer-esque okes in their shorts in midwinter laying into each other last Saturday, it’s even easier. Use the footage that is in the public realm to find them and punish them the way it will hurt the most – not through the courts but by banning them from the stadium for years.
In two weeks, the Boks return to Ellis Park, a perennial District 9 experience that makes Loftus look like a kindergarten Christmas party every time.
Let’s not have a repeat.
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