WHEN I met up with my friend, Dave, last week for our regular midweek conference in the pub, I knew straight away this was serious.
Dave was staring at his cellphone and explained he didn’t know if he must celebrate, or try to drown his sorrows with the next round of drinks he orders.
He just received notification that a few thousand rand has been paid into his bank account, but when he realised why he was not happy.
It was SA Rugby refunding him for the tickets he bought for him and his family to go and watch the British & Irish Lions play against a South African invitation side in July in the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium.
Sadly, this match is no longer part of the much anticipated Lions tour and the matches that did survive the COVID-19 restrictions, will be played behind closed doors anyway. Dave felt good about the unexpected cash boost but very sad about missing out on international rugby at his doorstep.
When I tried to cheer him up by mentioning that we must plan a huge party when watching the matches on television, Dave was surprisingly not very excited. His explanations for his lack of enthusiasm made sense. This is the one tour that isn’t made for television.
An Eastern Province match is perfect for television because there are usually only a handful of supporters at the stadium. With such a match, the atmosphere is the same at the ground as sitting before a television set.
This is not the case when the Lions go on tour. Dave was looking forward to taking on those loud touring supporters in what would have been a wonderful occasion at all the stadiums around the country.
I thought to throw in some rand and cents figures seeing as Dave’s account got boosted and mentioned that SA Tourism will lose out on an economic boost of more than R6 billion with the British supporters unable to travel.
Dave ignored my input and went on about how his favourite television channel is going overboard in trying to create a full stadium atmosphere at matches being played at an empty ground.
I must agree – it is irritating when it is obvious the rugby broadcaster is trying too hard. Those fake crowd sounds just don’t work.
I would rather settle for the EP match criteria when you can hear how the players and the referee communicate in an empty stadium. The broadcaster is apparently speaking to SA Rugby about bringing in some innovations to make the experience an unforgettable one for the viewers. This could mean going overboard, so let’s hope they get it right.
When the next round of drinks arrived, Dave was getting in a more positive frame of mind.
He felt that at least the Lions will be touring South Africa and the clashes with the Springboks will not be in Australia or the United Kingdom, as was suggested at one stage.
The best thing about my meeting with Dave was yet to come though. For a change, he paid for the midweek session after I made a point of reminding him about that refund – I focused on the refund and not the reason for the refund.
