SA and Irish fans delighted by Guyanese support, hospitality
Stabroek News
April 6, 2007
It has been a mixture of fun with cricket coupled with Guyanese hospitality, adventure and memorable experiences in the tropical rainforest and most of all luck in getting to Guyana to support their teams, Irish and South African cricket fans have said.
On the Grass Mound at the Providence Stadium on Tuesday, Brendan Watson of Johannesburg, Chris Main of Durban, and Johan Dippenar and his 13-year-old son Josh of Port Elizabeth were among "a gang of eight" who planned their trip to Guyana and Grenada about a year ago.
Watson, who played cricket in the corporate league in London, England, and Main, who has not played cricket since he left the British army a few years ago, said they would have liked to see all of the host venues but they would have "been left broke" and would have had to take two months leave from work. "Not possible," Main said. The men opted for two super eight matches which they had no doubt South Africa was going to be in. Their choice venues: Guyana and Grenada. "So far, so good," Watson said. The men are staying at the Regency Suites where the staff are "very friendly and the food is good and different from South Africa with a variety beyond our expectation," Watson said.
The senior Dippenar, who played competitive cricket in South Africa and is a relative of current South African test player Boeta Dippenar, said his one disappointment was that India and Pakistan were eliminated early in the tournament, taking with them some of the excitement. They have not been short on entertainment though, and recalled visiting the Windies Bar and "so many other places," names they cannot remember "but places the ICC CWC volunteers have pointed us to. Otherwise we have just been walking around."
Asked whether they were not afraid of being mugged, Main said they had been cautioned about being careful but added, "We're vigilant. We're not afraid. Come on! We're from South Africa. And anyway, we don't feel threatened in any way." He said whenever Guyanese, in particular, recognise them as South Africans, "They tell us, we got to beat Australia in the finals."
Josh Dippenar, who has travelled to places like the USA, Canada, Tanzania, Croatia and Italy had never seen tropical rainforests before and is fascinated with Guyana's. He is visiting the world-renowned Kaieteur Falls today. "I think Guyana is nice. It is cool," he declared, adding, "[but] I don't like the litter."
Over in the South West stand Angus Hancock and Nick Roach of Dublin, Ireland, were having some nervous moments watching their home team slipping to defeat at the hands of the experienced South Africans, before a crowd estimated at 5,000. This included hundreds of schoolchildren who were given complimentary tickets. Hancock, who played cricket for the North Wicklow Cricket Club in Ireland, said they were four of a number of lucky Irishmen to get seats on a plane from Jamaica to Guyana to see Ireland play in the Super Eight. "There were no seats available. There were no flights," he said, adding, "It was even more disappointing to find so many empty seats in Guyana. It is, maybe, too expensive for the local people."
Truth is, Hancock and Roach said, they never expected Ireland to go through to the Super Eight matches and beat Pakistan on St Patrick's Day, the highpoint to date in the tournament for them. They believe that win has completely changed the face of cricket in Ireland. However, Roach said the win was slightly diluted by the three-hour bus ride they endured after the match, from Sabina Park to their hotel because of the traffic jam.
They were assisted in renting a house in Republic Park through the Guyana Local Organising Committee Bed and Breakfast Programme. The men more or less look after their own needs, "Bed, breakfast and all," Hancock said.
Roach, another avid cricket fan, said that this was his first visit to Guyana, thanks to cricket. He was promised sunshine in his package to the Caribbean but instead he finds that, "The weather is appalling, like Irish weather. But we're Irish and the Irish is used to rain," he said, adding "I would have liked less rain." Roach likes the layout of Georgetown, and the spacious streets and wide avenues compared with the narrow streets of Dublin, even though it is a modern city compared to Georgetown, he said.
He was fascinated with the Kaieteur and Orinduik falls in Guyana's interior and the ride in the flat-bottomed speedboat from Baganara Resort on the Essequibo River to Parika but did not find the mosquitoes and sand flies comfortable. Along with another colleague, Roach said they hired a boat that took them on the Essequibo River. "We were like three musketeers enjoying the ride in a boat which was better than what we had experienced in Bangkok." His one disappointment, he said, was when they stopped to assist a government worker and the captain of the boat charged him even though, "We hired the boat."
Two of their best experiences were Guyanese and Caribbean people in general supporting the Irish team and finding, according to Roach, "three 'Irish impostors' in Guyana." They are Australian-born Tony Thorne of Wilderness Explorers, Gavin O'Brien, and Irish-born 'Guyanese,' Shaun McGrath, who left Ireland some 30 years ago and has made Guyana his home over many years. They all wore the Irish colours at Tuesday's match between Ireland and South Africa and were vocal in their support for the Irish team.