I will put up with a hard pillow and a cold shower to follow the ‘new Bafana’
THE African Cup of Nations tournament is not an easy event to cover for journalists. In fact, out of all the international sports tournaments, it could be the toughest sports spectacle to report on.
You have to look at it as a bit of an adventure, otherwise the period you spend covering your nation’s team could be a bit of a nightmare.
Ahead of my rookie trip to the 2008 tournament in Ghana, I had only been as far as Windhoek and Swakopmund, which are basically like South Africa.
So when we landed in Accra, I was quite excited to be in “Africa”. But that excitement soon changed the next day when we headed to the accreditation centre to get our passes to cover the matches.
There was an almighty scrum of journalists from all over the continent trying to get their passes. Fights broke out and total chaos prevailed, and at the end of the day I was the only one of the South African contingent not to get by accreditation after I was elbowed in the face by a Ivorian journalist.
This was a problem, as we had to fly to Tamale, the northern city where Bafana were based, the next day. And I found out that Tamale is as “Africa” as you can get, with no supermarkets or malls. In fact, it was a one-horse town without the horse …
The people were unbeliev- able friendly, though, and the internet café was cheap and brilliant.
However, it didn’t quite compensate for the fact that my bed and pillow was rock hard, and I spent 10 days taking a shower in cold water.
One of my colleagues also decided early on that trip he was only going to have spaghetti bolognaise for the duration of the tour because he had that on the first night in Tamale and he didn’t get sick. I was a bit more brave in that regard, although I suspect that whiskey can cure all travelling ailments.
But what made the trip even harder was Bafana’s lack-lustre displays on the field, as they were eliminated at the group stage without a single victory.
So, now you have to deal with the drama off the field, while also berating the national team’s performances on the field.
It doesn’t seem like the experiences off the field are going to get better when I travel to Equatorial Guinea next week. For starters, it’s going to take me roughly 36 hours to get to Mon- gomo, where Bafana will be based, from my house in Paarl.
Then I still have to get a place to stay because Caf and the government have booked all the hotels in the town. We also can’t book domestic flights in the West African country from outside their borders. So it’s certainly going to be an adventure.
But it’s something I’m looking forward to. Not because I’m an adrenaline junkie, or that I love the feeling of a cold shower in the morning, but because I’m excited to watch this “new” Bafana in action on the international stage.
It’s going to be lovely to write about a Bafana team with a bit of backbone and who are up for the fight. South Africa have shown on their away trips under Shakes Mashaba that they aren’t going to be pushed around anymore.
It’s not going to be easy against Algeria, Ghana and Senegal in the group of death. But hey, if Bafana can get through that, they can certainly go on and win the whole thing. And who wouldn’t want to be a part of that history?
I just have to make sure I take some extra deodorant and enough whiskey … TWEET OF THE WEEK @MbalulaFikile: Today was a special moment for the country as we sent off Bafana Bafana to AFCON. It is important that as a nation we show our support. WHO TO FOLLOW @BafanaBafana: Follow the team’s progress during their training camp in Gabon.
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