Today’s braai was at Ellis Park in Johannesburg. After some seriously impressive organisational effort from Jan and Frans, permission was eventually granted for us to set up the braai on the exact spot where Joel Stransky kicked that famous winning drop goal in the 1995 Rugby World Cup final.
24 June 1995 was a memorable day in South Africa. As far as the Braai4Heritage tour is concerned, this was probably the first time in a united South Africa where everyone in the country, regardless of their background or political beliefs, felt proud to be South African, all together, all at the same time, and all for the same incontestable reason.
And this is exactly what the dream of National Braai Day is all about. Perhaps no other day on the tour embodies Jan’s aspirations for Braai4Heritage than this one. On Saint Patrick’s Day, it doesn’t matter where you are in the world, if you’re Irish you know what it means (usually drinking too much of the good black stuff and running around like a lunatic as far as I can gather). The Americans have the 4th of July. The Aussies and Kiwis have Anzac Day. The French, Bastille Day. In South Africa we have our sporting finals and the occasional national fervour generated by events like the recent FIFA World Cup. Jan’s goal is to make National Braai Day on 24 September that one day when all South Africans know what to do and how to celebrate.
Braaing here at Ellis Park epitomises that goal. We were granted a mere one hour in the early morning to achieve it (it’s match day at the stadium today!) and it was a frantic, near military-style operation to get in, braai, shoot loads of cut-aways for the TV show and get out without burning great chunks out of the field.
Of course, after 20 days practice (ha! A lifetime of practice!) we pulled it off flawlessly – even with Jan needing perhaps 10 takes to get his kick anywhere even remotely near the poles. It was great to be out there on the field, lining up the angle of that famous drop goal (much last minute 3G YouTube searching required), and soaking in the view from the centre of the ground. By the way, is it just me or do sports stadiums always feel a lot smaller from down in the middle of the field? Must be the shorter distances to the surrounding stands?
Anyway, it was a great moment for the tour and even better to be finished so early in the day. Time to write and sort photos and watch the Cricket World Cup final from Mumbai.
Tomorrow Vereeniging. More from the Braai4Heritage tour then.
