My club game today was in the Paarl League between Allandale 1 and Young Gardens 1. Allandale, the home team, plays at Drakenstein (formerly Victor Verster) Correctional Institute; they are inmates.
Victor Verster might ring a bell if you are into South African political history because Nelson Mandela spent his final 14 months in prison there. There is actually a statue of Mandela outside the gates of the minimum security facility.
I, fortunately, have not been to many prisons but this one was the most interesting by far. At the entrance gate I expected tight security; what I saw was basically an entrance to any public park in that Hendrick said we were the refs and they let us right in with no questions asked. On the inside I expected a big grey building with bars over the windows surrounded by barbed wire and surly-looking guards. Not only did I not see a big grey building, I did not see any structure resembling a jail at all. What I did see was houses. There were one-story houses with driveways and garages in some cases, small backyards, homely decor inside. It was very suburban-esque. Next to the pitch there was a clubhouse with two televisions, couches, a full bar, and I think I even saw a pool table. The pitch was the same as those elsewhere in SA and there was even a small shop selling drinks and snacks.
When Hendrick said one of us would be refereeing at the prison I quickly volunteered because (1) prisons in SA have rugby clubs and (2) who wouldn't want to experience that? It didn't even bother me that I would be dropped off, while everyone else in the group went to another venue, and picked up after the others' matches ended. As I sat and watched the third and second team matches it was clear that Allandale was the better club. Each side ran through and around its Young Gardens opposition and the scores where heavily weighted toward the home side. My match was a slightly different story. Allandale scored the first points of the match: a converted try within the first two minutes. It was difficult to determine which was the fitter side but Allandale seemed to be the more fluid team as they moved from phase to phase quickly, spun the ball from here to there, broke tackles, and made timely offloads. The first half was all Allandale with the score being 29-10.
In the second half Young Gardens seemingly realized there was a match in progress and Allandale seemingly forgot. Young Gardens started maintaining possession, stringing together phases, and generally taking charge of the match. Before Allandale could score their first points of the half, Young Gardens already decreased the deficit by 10 points. The home team seemed to be wilting under the pressure put on by the visitors and the visitors fully believed victory was attainable. Personally, I thinking the Allandale downfall was their captain who would ask questions about calls I made but would not let me clarify. He just kept talking about this or that and, as a result, I started to treat him like any other player to be penalized for dissent. With about 15 minutes left in the match, a new captain was appointed. Meanwhile, Young Gardens kept scoring and kept believing they would win. I, too, believed they would pull off the comeback. The players and I kept one eye on the match and the other eye on the time and when the final whistle blew the was 36-35 Allandale.
At stoppages I wanted to ask some inmates what they did and how long they would be at Victor Verster. I didn't.
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