Munier invited his Egyptian buddy, Farid, out on Saturday night to watch the footy at Cape Town Stadium.
It was the home team, the exciting new Cape Town City, against Soweto giants, Orlando Pirates, in a PSL match.
It was a lekker night for football — chilly and a stiff southeaster wind blowing, conditions that have been the downfall of many a club visiting the Cape.
As we walked to the magnificent, brightly lit stadium, Munier gave Farid some background to the mouthwatering clash and CT City.
How the club was born last year out of a rift between the families that run Ajax Cape Town and then the takeover of Mpumalanga Black Aces.
That in the space of just six months, the new re-branded club had announced themselves as Cape Town’s PSL title contenders.
That City coach Eric Tinkler had been sacked by Pirates just before the start of the season and would have a score to settle with his old employers.
And beleaguered caretaker coach Augusto Palacios was on his last legs at the struggling Buccaneers, whose fans have become gatvol of losing.
For Farid, who was just thrilled at the opportunity to see the tourist attraction for the first time, the politics and drama surrounding the game added extra spice.
A visit to the city’s “crown jewel” is always a treat, even though local soccer matches rarely pull crowds larger than 5000.
Farid asked why this was the case, and Munier explained that it’s because the sport is not really well-supported in the Cape.
The plus side to this is that Munier was able to buy two tickets in prime seats on the halfway line (for just R60 each), overlooking the player’s tunnel and team dugouts.
This would turn out to be a bad idea.
The game started out well enough, exciting high-pace football, not the dull 0-0 draws we’ve become accustomed to.
There was a good crowd in, easily over 5000, from both camps.
Late in the second half, though, the mood changed when City scored to take a 2-1 lead.
Suddenly the Pirates fans’ frustration, fuelled by pints of beer, started spilling over.
Supporters started hurling abuse at the coach below, shouting at him to make substitutions.
Security officials were called into action as scuffles broke out in the stands.
A guy two seats away from Munier then tossed a large glass of beer at the security at pitch side.
Everyone turned around and pointed to the culprit – who, of course, was to the right of Munier — and scolded him.
Too close for comfort.
The verbal abuse and missiles continued to fly as full-time approached.
Mercifully, Pirates super sub Riyaad Norodien took a fierce low shot deep into injury time to level the scores.
Had that goal not come, we would have been in for a riot, to be sure.
It’s just not cool. Drunk and disorderly thugs spoiling a cracking game of footy.
Cape Town is desperately trying to grow the game here.
There is a new gees at the stadiums now that we have two teams in the PSL again.
The last thing we need is ugly incidents like those that play out in Gauteng.
Either the hooligans should be arrested and banned, or games should be played in empty stadiums to punish fans and clubs alike.