Rugby at Newlands Stadium

One of the coolest experiences I've had here in Cape Town was being able to attend a professional rugby game at the DHL Newlands Stadium. The professional rugby league in South Africa is called the Super League and is made up of many different teams from all around the various provinces. The most popular sports in South Africa are cricket, soccer, and rugby, so the Super League maintains a good following. This particular game was between the Cape Town based team, the DHL Stormers, and a Johannesburg based team the Sunwolves. Having attended numerous professional sporting events in the United States, I had certain expectations about what the experience was going to be like, but honestly they were all exceeded. The stadium was a lot like the football and soccer stadiums in the United States structure wise, but one end of the stadium was a general admission type "standing room only" area. I liked this concept similar to bleachers in the outfield in baseball stadiums, but these were way closer to the field which gave the fans a totally different experience. The area had railings you could lean against and was behind one end zone so we were literally able to get right behind the action. Sports is such an interesting culture in the United States as football, basketball, and baseball have such a religious following and can create an intense environment in stadiums. This was no different in South Africa. I was fascinated to see that it was staggeringly similar to the sports culture in the United States. Uniform vendors with brightly colored shirts emblazoned with various logos, loud and rambunctious fans, and lots (and lots) of beer. Rugby is a game with similarities towards football, but with much more physicality and finesse rather than strategy. Rugby looks like a brutal sport on television, but in person you literally grimace every time someone takes a hit to the chest or the head and then endures a collision with the ground because it’s you’re so close to the field. The celebrations are equally as hype as any European soccer celebration, complete with flags flying, and chants that single out specific players. In the end, the Stormers completely dominated the Sunwolves as expected since the Sunwolves had only won one game up to that point. If anyone ever has an opportunity to go to a rugby game in following years, it is a very underrated experience that everyone should take advantage of! You won’t regret it!!!!

- Arjun Mathur