Eben Engelbrecht
Saturday’s rugby, to say the least, overwhelmed the senses.
Once inside that stadium, Polokwane turned cosmopolitan. Gone was the usual mediocre lull of the bushveld town and from the field and the pavilions of the magnificent stadium rose a tangible atmosphere which made the skin crawl with unprecedented excitement. There was electricity in the air and a sense of expectation difficult to comprehend.
One wondered whether Polokwane could really feel like this – like Twickenham, like Cardiff Arms Park, like Lords, like Murrayfield? And yet it did. For a few hours Polokwane and the Peter Mokaba Sports Complex became symbols of the world of international sport. The crowd was awestruck and could not help but feel that they were surrounded by big time, that great things had come their way and that they were part of something uncommonly spectacular.
For those few hours, Polokwane had assumed the soul of a place like London or Paris or Sydney and most people were wowed out of their skins.
The international rugby world unfortunately didn’t see it, but if they had, they too would have said: "Wow!"
Everything was in the wow class.
The stadium is a feast for the eye, no matter how many times one looks. The roars of the crowd made the stadium shudder, made the heart flutter and brought a lump to the throat. Just think, one had to remind oneself constantly, you’ve never seen anything like this on your home soil.
In short, it was an experience which left most people breathless and just a trifle confused. The world of big rugby had jumped them with a jolt, and most of them weren’t ready for the impact of the shockwave.
This day will stay with them for a long time, as the starting point of something great to come. They’ll soon forget that their team won by 42 points to 12, but the fix they got will become an addiction. Massive responsibility now resides with the rugby powers. One cannot feast the rugby public like this and expect a burp of satisfaction. They are going to want more. And the union and the sponsors are going to have to give more. One cannot invent a culture and then just stop.
Congratulations to Mr Jacques Nell of Xerox Datamaster and Blue Bulls Rugby Union Limpopo Deputy President, Mr Charles van Wyk, on your gloriously successful Xerox Limpopo Cup 2010.
You’ve set a strong trend and high standards and the people of Limpopo are going to expect nothing less from here on.