Siphiwe Tshabalala scores against Mexico in 2010 (Gallo)
“It’s
Tshabalala … goal, Bafana Bafana! Goal for South Africa, goal for all
Africa!”
It’s always the pause after
‘Tshabalala’ that gets me when I revisit that beautiful – perhaps the most
beautiful – South African sporting moment.
It’s as if Peter Drury needed a
second to digest what had just happened. We all did.
Regardless of where you were or
what you were doing, the chances are good that you remember that moment
vividly.
I certainly do.
WATCH | Tshabalala’s famous goal at 2010 World Cup
The 2010 FIFA World Cup will
always represent the very beginning of my journalism career. I had joined the
Natal Witness newspaper on a three-month contract as a junior reporter to cover
every angle relating to South Africa’s hosting of sport’s greatest spectacle,
with the exception of the football itself, sadly.
I travelled to schools, bars, fan
parks, businesses, restaurants and walked the streets of Pietermaritzburg and
Durban covering the excitement that accompanied the world, and the game’s
brightest stars, arriving on our doorstep.
I remember the red and white
Coca-Cola branding draped all over the Suncoast Casino as I attended the launch
of Shakira’s ‘Waka Waka’. It was hardly a musical masterpiece, but to this very
day when that almost irksome jingle plays, probably far too late in the
evening, I am taken straight back to that crazy, unforgettable month.
Day after day, South Africa
bustled.
There are very few examples of
South African sport truly uniting this nation by breaking down barriers of race
and class. The 1995 and 2019 Rugby World Cup triumphs certainly did, but the
2010 World Cup was something special.
There was an element of shared
pride attached to staging something of this magnitude.
There were doubts surrounding
South Africa’s ability to host the tournament given the challenges of crime and
failing service delivery, but when the time came, this country stood up and
delivered one of the most memorable World Cups of all time by showing off its
finest qualities.
South Africans sold a picture of
a vibrant, friendly nation to their overseas visitors. For one month, little
else mattered and our World Cup was celebrated.
Those yellow Bafana Bafana
jerseys were on sale at every major intersection and it felt like everyone had
one.
I remember dancing with the Dutch
in Durban, attending Paraguay’s practice sessions in Pietermaritzburg and I
remember so many South Africans wondering why the brotherhood they were
experiencing had not been part of everyday life before the World Cup.
In many ways, it all feels like a
dream now.
So much has changed in 10 years.
The lustre of THAT goal, though,
remains.
I was at a fan park at
Pietermaritzburg’s Woodburn Rugby Stadium, armed with a pen, notepad and a camera
that wouldn’t hold a candle to most smart phones these days.
As I walked around snapping
familiar faces and conducting interviews before kick-off, it was clear that few
were giving Bafana Bafana a realistic chance. The party had started, and fun
would be had, but few believed their national side could win.
And then, it happened.
Many were in mid-conversation and
not even looking at the big screens when the goal went in, but it didn’t
matter. It was a moment as euphoric as any seen before or since in South
African sport and the countless replays drew ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs’. Bafana Bafana
were stunning the world.
The lead lasted just 24 minutes
before Mexico equalised, and South Africa’s tournament never recovered, but for
those 24 minutes, we were on top of the world.
It is a memory that will never
leave this great nation.
It was the day Siphiwe Tshabalala
and Bafana Bafana shook the earth.
*Share your memories with us. Let us know where YOU were and what you remember from 11 June, 2010. You can tweet us @Sport24news or mail us at [email protected] …
