The Humble Networking Naartjie

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Ever booed and shouted at a referee for awarding a penalty to the other side? No? Yes?

Ever thrown a naartjie at the referee or the opposing players? No? Jislaaik kerel, you are missing out on life ou pel!

You need to experience the utterly thrilling adrenaline rush of throwing a humble naartjie at the referee on the field who is committing a sporting crime or at an opposition supporter for spoiling your view. I somehow managed to experience the thrill of being the sole WP supporter in the stand at Ellis Park years ago when the boys came up from Cape Town to play rugby against TVL as they were then known.

To say I was petrified is putting it mildly. Wearing the blue and white hooped rugby jersey of WP among a stand comprised of thousands of huge red and white clad TVL supporters was not the best idea I had that Saturday. I stood out like a dog’s bollocks. Unmissable.

And that is the key word. Unmissable! Yes, you guessed it - I was the boerseuns’ target that afternoon. Hell those naartjies hurt when they smack into the back of your head! Even more so when WP scored and I had to stand up and celebrate the score……! Jeepers, then the Vaalies let loose with bagloads of naartjies aimed at me. Some guy, laughing his head off, called it Naartjie Soene (Naartjie Kisses) indicating it was all in the spirit and fun of the occassion. And it was.

Think about it.

Like anything thrown, a naartjie projectile gains speed when hurled with full throttle from up top of the stand. Aimed at my torso it invariably hit my head. But a load of naartjies missed me and whizzed past to smack the TVL supporters sat down below me.

These guys could have caused me an unimaginable amount of grief for causing them to get in the way of a projectile meant for me, but they took it in their stride as being part of the price to pay for being there and seeing their great side beat the krapolla out of WP. That an insane WP supporter was idiotic enough to be seated a few rows up behind them was just one of thos things. Excellent comraderie all round. They even fed me slivers of biltong and provided me with cupfulls of precious Klippies and Coke, (brandy & coke). There was a lot of chaffing and laughter. I was the butt of their jokes but they did respect my unflinching support of WP. Much later that day at the pub,the bruises on my back were my medals of honour.

And that day was all due to the humble naartjie bringing me together with thousands of Vallie fans and rugby at Ellis Park for a stinging, sticky and damp but totally enjoyable Saturday afternoon. I know, I know the grape in its fermented liquid state does this type of social-networking matchmaking too. But never ever in such an outrageuosly glorious way as the humble naartjie can at a rugby match.

Naartjies bring sportsmen and spectators together at a stadium for a couple of hours of ruthless gladiatorial combat to get an odd stumpy shaped torpedo-like ball over a thick chalk line in the grass at the end of the oppositions half of the battlefield.

This is what I call fantastic social networking abilities by the humble naartjie!

The Humble Networking Naartjie