SOCCER WORLD CUP - 4 JUNE 2026

The Soccer World Cup begins next Thursday. I look forward to watching South Africa play Mexico. On paper, Mexico far outranks Bafana Bafana. But the patriot in me hopes for an upset, which I think would be good for neutral viewers too. This month and next month, I'll also have one eye on the Springboks' Nations Championship matches. As well as the Tour de France, which I've enjoyed watching since I was tiny. Incidentally, an American teenager once asked me on a forum website what South Africans generally call soccer. I'd answered that I had always called it soccer, while my father had always called it football. I am a white English-speaking Durbanite (general European-South-African descent). My wife, who is of mixed descent, also calls it soccer. In short, across the board. Nobody of any aspect of the Rainbow Nation cares whether you say soccer or football. One of the very few times I had a conversation with someone who did, every time I said 'soccer' he would reply with a sentence that stressed the word 'football'. I took it from 'whence it comes' as the old saying goes. He was a pig-headed twit, so I enjoyed irking him by pretending I didn't catch on to what he was doing. Anyway, a bit of trivia and humour. I'll be glued to my TV screen next Thursday night.

THE BOKS IN BALTIMORE - 4 AUGUST 2026

The Springboks will be playing New Zealand at the home of the Ravens in the second week of September. This will be the final match of the Rugby's Greatest Rivalry series. The first three games will be played here in South Africa; the last one in Maryland. Nice for South Africans who now live or work in that state. As well as for anyone from Baltimore interested in the Springboks, perhaps in general or after watching the movie Invictus a few years ago. Baltimore does have both rugby players and fans who also love the NFL. So, the Boks and the All Blacks in an NFL stadium – can't go wrong. And on the subject of the NFL, it's cool that Netflix now shows Christmas Day games. I missed the two they showed last year, but did watch the games they initially aired back in 2024. I would never go watch sport in person on a Christmas Day, but with the difference in time zones, the first of the two games only started here at nine at night. That enabled my wife and I to have a normal Christmas Day with our mothers, and then loaf on our couches, eating sweets and chocolates while the games took us into Boxing Day.