Green and gold fever hits SA with week to go

GREEN and gold fever has gripped South Africans – with just a week left to the Rugby World Cup kick-off, shops are reporting that they are running out of supporters’ gear.

The Boks play their first game on Saturday, September 19, against Japan at Brighton Community Stadium.

South Africa is in Pool B along with Samoa, Scotland, Japan and the US.

Whether fans will be braaiing, watching on big screens in pubs or holed up in their homes, many will be wearing official supporters’ outfits.

The official rugby jersey is selling for just under R800, a cap will set you back R299 and you can expect to pay between R199 and R349 for a green and gold Bok T-shirt.

Yesterday, the Cape Times called a number of stores.

Some say they are battling to keep up with demand and that people started buying their supporters’ outfits weeks ago.

We found that it costs more than R1 000 for a full kit, excluding accessories such as flags (which shops say they have run out of) and scarves.

A large clothing retailer is selling supporters’ jerseys and T-shirts for anything from R199 to R349, and their caps are going for R99.

Two other sports shops are selling the green and gold jerseys for between R429 and R699.