THE last two occasions the Springboks hosted the All Blacks in Pretoria the visitors behaved rather rudely, trashing Loftus Versfeld to the tune of 16-52 in 2003 and three years later crushing Jake White’s Boks 45-26.
That opening statement written by my mate Mike Greenaway (16 -52 at Loftus ) inspired me to reflect on a wonderful by product that came out of that fateful day if you supported the Boks.
I was at the game -dressed in Black (All Black = think mad ! ) and I had beers thrown at me and my dear mate Rob Viviani who was with me had a smile all afternoon on his face as I coped abuse from 150kg men who drove bakkies and who thought I was fair game on the walk to the stadium . It was a glorious match.You could hear a pin drop at the final score .I remember walking back past those self same supporters who where a bit better oiled with klippies and coke and the odd beer to be greeted with the words -Julle Manne het goed gespeel -Drunk and gracious -what a combination
That evening I got phoned by my friend Samm Marshall who was on Good Hope FM at the time and asked to be on air on Sunday morning -to talk about the game …I loved this and had a good old cackle .
Good radio indeed -Good Hope loved the chirps and asked me to do a regular once a week chat on a Saturday. This went on for a number of months until Heart FM under the then direction of Selwyn Bartlett heard about the show and offered me a slot on Heart 104.9fm -To shorten the whole story On the Couch was invented or #OTC as it was called and this show ran till 2016 -We had fantastic presenters Fiona Furey ,the late great AZ Abrahams ,Peter Stemmet ,Sam Roy ,Rob Vember and then Tapfuma Makina .We first started with a 15min chat and then it went from 8-9am and then settled on 9 to 10am.
We had the good and the great on the show -The glorious time was during the 2007 World Cup in France ,We had regular crossings to Mike -The chats had color and depth and I think our French even improved.
Mike Greenway even went on to write John Smit’s book “Captain in the Cauldron” a best seller might I add and one of the sureal moments on radio was when the Cape Town book launch happened it was the night before the world cup draw 2010 -which took place on Friday night .We had arranged to speak to Mike on the Saturday as he was leaving to go back to Durban and when we called after about 2 sentences he gave the phone to John Smit and said you chat to him – Wild amazing radio totally off the cuff and unplanned – Smitty had also just done the world cup opening the night before .
I even got to be published for a few years and wrote for SA Rugby Magazine doing a Proust type questionaire .I got the names to do it: Andrew Merthens,Richie McCaw ,and all the top SA rugby players ,It was great fun ,this writing lasted for about 2 years.
I digress back to the rugby stories. Mike and I met at BMG records in 1996 at at music conference ,when the music business was the business ,I will never forget during the one talk by Dave Thompson (he of Idols fame ),Mike mentions ,”Mart cover for me ,I must do a quick phone interview with Mark Andrews ,my reply is ..uck he is a Springbok Rugby player and Mike says yes I also do rugby writing” .Well that sealed a friendship that is still going strong today .He is by far the best writer in the country ,not because he is my mate ,but because the color and opinion is so good and he is normally correct -The bugger ,but we still love him for that .
I remember one year going Durban with my girlfriend Razia (who became my wife ,this must have been 2008 or 2009 ) to see the mighty Sharks on a crest of a wave up against the Crusaders (my side ).McCaw had just come back from an injury layoff and Mike tells me your side stands no chance ,Well mighty McCaw dragged the Sharks around and single handily made mince meat of the Sharks ..I was furious with Green -telling me the Saders had no chance .
When my mom passed away in 2001 Mike and I made a pact we won’t miss All Black games -We have been to Rustenberg (Andre Pretorius saved the Boks bacon that day )
Bloemfontein and Durban for consecutive test matchs -All Blacks lost both and Boks became the number 1 side .We had great fun.even John Smit came to pick up Greenaway to continue writing the book he was doing and drove Greenaway back to Durban -I had the piss taken out of me because I had an All Black shirt on …
We have seen the AB’S in PE in 2011 -The AB’S lost and then last year at Newlands I saw a glorious win by 1 point -Who cares the Blacks won.
Stuart Rubin my great mate came to watch the Boks take it up the nought at Newlands 19 -nil ….What a weekend that was.
I have had Sipho Mabuse sing the SA national anthem at an All Black game at FNB Stadium -The Boks got smashed that day, but the anthem singing was the redeeming feature of the day .
So the motto is when I am at a game in SA the Boks sometimes win, but it wont happen this coming weekend 6 Oct 2018 -The ghost of van Riebeeck won’t appear ,but the AB’S will win by 15 points or more and Mike thank you pushing me all those years ago when my mom passed away -and saying we not missing an All Black game.
Martin Myers 
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