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Sport in Jo'burg
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Sport is big anywhere you go in South Africa, but in Johannesburg it's an obsession. Here you'll find the biggest stadiums and the biggest teams, and watching a match can be a great experience. The major
cricket
games, including five-day test matches, are played at the Wanderers Stadium, off Corlett Drive, Illovo (tel 011 788 1008), though if you look carefully at the touring programme for any visiting international teams you may find fixtures scheduled to be played in Soweto or Alexandra.
The towering Ellis Park in downtown Jo'burg (tel 011 402 8644) is a South African rugby shrine, particularly since the triumph there of the Springboks in the 1995 World Cup. As well as hosting international fixtures it's also home ground to the provincial Gauteng Lions team. The best way to get there is to make use of the park and ride system which operates for big games, with buses shuttling in from car parks outside the centre.
Despite what you'll hear from white Jo'burgers, however, the big sport is
soccer
, and like any self-respecting football-mad city there's an intense local rivalry fuelled by scandal, intrigue and mutual loathing which keeps squads of sports reporters in work. In Jo'burg (and, more particularly, Soweto), you're either a fan of Kaiser Chiefs or Orlando Pirates, and a local derby draws crowds of 50,000 either to FNB Stadium, on the NASREC road on the outskirts of Soweto, or Ellis Park, scene of a tragic crush at a Chiefs-Pirates game in 2001 in which over fifty fans died. It's perfectly possible to go to a home game of either team: tickets are cheap, the atmosphere is festive but normally trouble-free, and there is safe parking. FNB is quite easy to reach off either the M2 motorway from the eastern suburbs or the Soweto Highway from the centre of the city. Orlando Stadium, in Orlando, Soweto, also hosts major games, though it's more run-down and less safe than the FNB. Tickets for big games can be obtained from Ticket Web (tel 083 1400 500). Other useful information
for tourists (each section contains more specific sub-sections): |
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South Africa,
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