Cape Town – Cape Town has been South Africa’s preferred location for big sporting events for many years. Everyone knows that the populace of Western Cape is sports-obsessed. According to an old proverb, residents have traditionally flipped to the back pages before reading the front-page headlines.
Despite never having won a championship, the Stormers were the most popular Super Rugby franchise for many years.
And the transition to the United Rugby Championship has only rekindled this support, which was bolstered by the Stormers’ run to their first championship last season.
The New Year’s Test at the gorgeous Newlands is a special affair, and the Paarl Rocks have swiftly acquired their own devoted fan base.
Although Cape Town City and Stellenbosch FC would love to see more fans in their stadiums, they would certainly receive greater support if a home final was ever played in the Mother City, as opposed to Durban, for example, due to the need for a neutral venue.
Sevens World Series is the most recent addition to Cape Town’s sporting calendar. It quickly became one of the social events of the year.
The unique atmosphere created at the base of Table Mountain over the years must have convinced the World Rugby suits to bring the Rugby World Cup Sevens to the Mother City last weekend.
150 000 tickets ranging in price from R150 to R1,750 were sold throughout the weekend, achieving their goals.
Even though the Blitzboks’ quarterfinal loss was disheartening, the food and drink vendors around the stadium remained popular.
As a whole, the event was flawlessly executed, and the entertainment production was sleek as well.
This weekend, though, I believe Cape Town was taken for granted. People were anticipated to arrive as they normally do for the World Series event, and they did, as expected.
I am well aware that attending a Sevens tournament is about so much more than simply the action on the field, but that does not excuse the fact that the rugby schedule left much to be desired.
In contrast to the Cape Town Sevens tournament, in which teams are organized into pools, allowing viewers to see at least three different matches per day, the Rugby World Cup Sevens is a knockout competition.
This amounts to only one game per day on the first two days, followed by two games on the final Sunday.
Given that matches are just 14 minutes long, this makes little sense, especially considering that the host nation played its lone match on Saturday at 10.33 p.m.
Alan Gilpin, chairman of World Rugby, stated that “this event is unusual due to the amount of teams (40 in total)” and that “having the men and women play together is a unique aspect of our Sevens competitions.”
Never discourage gender equality and inclusion, but other sports codes, especially football and cricket, have failed to grasp the lessons of overkill and that less is frequently more.
Hopefully, World Rugby will respond significantly faster in this area…
@ZaahierAdams