What a great start to July 2003!
Dynasty showing his class in the July, Kaiser Chiefs emulating that by beating T P Mazembe in the Vodacom Challenge and Bafana Bafana winning in Burundi.
Watching S. A. play Burundi on TV reminded me of the trip I made to Burundi in 1995.The S. A. under 23's, coached by Mitch D'Avray, were drawn to play away against Burundi at the height of the conflict between Burundi and Rwanda. The atrocities of that war are well documented.
There was much controversy over whether it was safe to travel to that country at the time.As a boost to morale I offered to accompany the team, little knowing what an experience it would prove to be.
We departed from the Rand Airport in a Dakota plane that bore testament to the many skirmishes it had survived in the Angolan war in the 1980's and 90's.When I remarked on the condition of the aircraft the crusty old, veteran pilot informed me that it was older than my 52 years but would certainly, in his opinion, survive a lot longer than me.
After we had taken off, with much noise and vibration, I looked out of the window and was convinced that the people I could see riding bicycles seemed to be traveling at the same speed, if not faster, than we were. We refueled in Malawi and flew into the most horrific storm I have ever experienced. The fact that the plane was not pressurized now became more apparent, I turned around to see Brian Baloyi being sick in the toilet area and Delron Buckley collapsed in the aisle.The team doctor and a 'Florence Nightingale' flight attendant came to their aid. The doctor turned down the offer of an oxygen mask that looked as if it had been used in the 2nd World War and persevered with ice and cold towels.
Eventually we arrived at Nairobi Airport to be met by Mitch D'Avray who had elected to fly S.A.Airways from Johannesburg. Talk about comfort zones!We flew to Burundi the following day, thankfully with no further 'incidents'. After settling into the local, adequate, hotel the team prepared for the match.
The game was a disaster. After taking an early goal via the trusted left foot of Delron Buckley the team fell apart. Certainly this was courtesy of some strange decisions by the referee. Burundi were awarded a penalty and amid strong protests from the South African players the decision was allowed to stand - maybe the presence of fully armed soldiers with bayonets at the ready charging onto the field had something to do with this decision.It was not surprising, all things considered, that we lost 4-1.
Getting out of the country was a tedious and nightmarish experience. At the airport the captain was summoned twice to the control tower to pay extra money for the runway lights to be turned on. As I stated earlier there was a war in progress!After refueling in Harare we finally made it home. South African soil never looked better. This young team certainly had a baptism of fire into playing football in Africa.
Considering the circumstances of this trip I had to wonder how the big guns of football throughout the world would struggle to qualify in these conditions.