Surf up, beer on ice: Aussie fans enjoy home from home

The surf’s up, the beers are in the fridge and their tents are on the cricket pitch — Australia’s World Cup fans are making themselves feel at home in the Indian Ocean city of Durban.

Around 1,200 travelling Socceroo supporters, who have dubbed themselves the Fanatics, have descended on Durban for Sunday night’s match against three-time champions Germany at the imposing Moses Mabidha stadium.

It may be the South African winter but temperatures rarely drop below 20 degrees Celsius in Durban, and fans of both sides were soaking up the rays or lapping up the waves in the hours before the game.

“I have been swimming and surfing all morning, the waves here are awesome and the water is incredibly warm,” said Nick Johnson, a 26-year-old store manager from Australia’s Queensland province.

Johnson and three of his mates had to share a surf board as so many of their compatriots wanted to sample the waves.

“The boards are all rented out, so we were lucky that one of us got a board, I even have a little tan,” he boasted.

Most of the Fanatics arrived in South Africa on Thursday in an operation which the organisers say took almost two years to put together.

They have pitched their military-style canvas tents on a cricket pitch in the centre of the city which has a large ethnic Indian population.

Inside the camp, which is guarded by a private security firm and protected by a high barbed wire fence, fans have been watching the other matches in a large hall which is stocked with fridges full of drinks.

Biometric fingerprint scanners are used to gain access to the camp, with no outsiders allowed.

Fans say they forked out up to 10,000 Australian dollars (8,500 US dollars) for the trip which was promoted as a “football safari tour”.

“We chose Durban because it has the same kind of climate as Australia. Of course there were safety concerns, but nothing can stop the Fanatics,” said supporters’ spokesman Rob Brooks.

The itinery also includes trips to Rustenburg for the Socceroos’ second match with Ghana and to Nelspruit for a clash with Serbia on June 23.

“We hope the team will do better than the 2006 World Cup, we want to stay in South Africa for longer,” said Tracey King, a nurse from Sydney, referring to Australia’s second round exit last time round at the hands of the Italians.

The Germans, who were the hosts of the 2006 tournament, were meanwhile limbering up for the match by blasting away on the ubiquitous vuvuzela horns.

“I have been bowled over by the passion of the local fans and their creative ways of showing support for their team,” said Martin Zimmerman, one of the fans.

“Now the Vuvuzela is going to be heard in the matches of Germany,” added Zimmerman who planned to watch the game in a fan park where giant TV screens have been erected.

More than 50,000 people are expected to stream into the fan park to watch the Germany-Australia match and two proceeding games.

Police said they were hopeful that the good-natured atmosphere that has so far prevailed at the tournament would again be in evidence.

“We want to maintain the good security track record that has been displayed by the country since the start of the tournament,” said Steve Middleton head of the Durban metropolitan police.