KAIZER Chiefs supporters celebrating the Nedbank Cup final victory at the fan park on the Durban beachfront in May 2025. The atmosphere is always electric in Durban beachfront fan parks.
Image: Doctor Ngcobo
If I had to remember the 2010 world cup here in South Africa, the first thing that comes to mind is how packed the Durban fan parks were. During every game I went to, which weren't necessarily Bafana Bafana games. I wasn't lucky enough to go to any of their games.
My favourite one being the one situated at North beach along the promenade. It felt like an old beach festival called Aquafest but everyone was there for a soccer match instead.
I was in my early teen years at the time and wondered why everyone stood in line so long just for one of those beers in a clear plastic cup. I understand fully now as an adult. My older brother Jeremy and father kept these two Budweiser cups as remembrance every time we watched a game at the fan park. The thrill of it all.
Maybe I was too young to fully absorb the moment and grasp what a huge moment it was for my country to have the best football players in the world in the City call home, Durban.
The first match of the world cup with South Africa against Mexico was nothing short of a dream. Here I am, a skinny teenager standing in the middle of thousands of fans at the beach.
Siphiwe Tshabalala decides to hang the ball into the top corner but the thing I remember most about that goal was the crowd around me. How quickly everyone got up to their feet and let out this joint roar of celebration.
The only other moment I have that I can compare to that was when Matrix Garrix came on to the stage at Ultra South Africa to play his set. This as when he just dropped his hit single Animals. Electricity in that concert and the fan park.
We've also seen the crowd attendance during the Soweto Derby when a fan park was constructed along the promenade. There's just this thirst to watch football outdoors here in Durban
Do we you blame the people? It's winter while I'm writing this and it's around 24 degrees Celsius. Shorts and tee weather all year round with a sprinkle of actual winter.
I hope to attend some fan park, if any will be erected, to watch Bafana Bafana play in the first world cup they qualified for since 2002 in South Korea and Japan.
Jomo Sono's 11 didn't quite hit the mark there however, even though they had the great Benny McCarthy in the team.
This time around, things are different for the team and myself. I've actually seen the team play in person. It's more real this time around. I'm a part of the action to some extent.
I don't imagine the odds of welcoming the boys home and doing a bus tour with the Silvio Gazzaniga's 6kg solid gold trophy are too high.
But the team's spirit is high, and they have a coach in Hugo Broos who has World Cup experience, albeit not as a coach. I'd be happy if we pass the group stages, anything after that is a bonus considering the quality of football Bafana will be up against.
Jehran Naidoo is sports reporter for Independent Media and social media coordinator of the our YouTube channel The Clutch.