The fans still matter at the Wanderers

A few days ago I wrote about the novelty of spectators wandering on the field during the lunch break in Potchefstroom. I assumed that was because it was a low-key tour game. What I wasn’t expecting was for fans to have the same freedom during the Test match at the Wanderers.

Coming from Melbourne, where if you so much as place a toe on the field you’ll be heavily tackled by security guards who resemble frustrated rugby players, it has been fascinating to watch the fans stream over the Wanderers on the opening two days. The centre-wicket square is fenced off but the public can walk right up to each end of the pitch and inspect it at their leisure.

The fourth umpire Marais Erasmus is stationed next to the pitch to ensure there’s no funny business. A Cape Town lad, he remembers strolling over the outfield at Newlands when he first went to a match there and he thinks it’s a good tradition to give fans a first-hand insight into the game.

“Yesterday I was asked [by a fan] about the two other strips that they [the teams] have the bowling practices [on],” Erasmus said. “The guy said he always thought, because he’d only watched it on TV, that it [the centre pitch] was only one place where they kept playing on every time.”

Chris Scott, the Wanderers curator, is the man who makes the call on whether the fans are allowed on the field but bad weather is likely to be the only reason he’ll deny them access. As he and Erasmus chatted during the lunch interval, hundreds of people set up mini-cricket matches and took photos of themselves next to the pitch, soaking up the Test match atmosphere at the Bullring.

“I believe it should happen,” Scott said. “It’s part of growing up with cricket. People love and remember playing on the Wanderers at lunchtime. From time to time people will leave a bit of junk on the field but I’ve got staff here and we all walk off and we pick it up and take it away.”

In a game that has become so heavily regulated that it sometimes appears only an afterthought to attract crowds, Scott’s approach is refreshing. It’s good to know there’s at least one place in the world where the fans still matter.