There’s no place like home.
That’s a famous line from an old old movie called the Wizard of Oz.
In it, the young heroine Dorothy is swept away from her family by a tornado and thrown into a magical land filled with Munchkins, lions and tigers and bears, flying monkeys and wicked witches.
All she wants to do is get back home where things are better and easier.
TRAVELLING CIRCUS: Struggling Stormers. Photo: JOE ALLISON/PHOTOSPORT LTD
And it sort of reminds me of some Cape sports teams, especially Ajax Cape Town and the Stormers.
The two sides have been bad travellers this season - they have won none of their games on the road.
For coach Robbie Fleck and his Stormers, it’s been a season to forget.
FRUSTRATION: Stormers mentor Robbie Fleck
They look all over the place, neither here nor there as they struggle to make the playoffs this campaign.
Their form away from home is so bad, that even if they were to make the knockouts, those results will probably not give them the home advantage at the sharp end of the season.
And once they hit Cape Town International Airport, I bet these manne will have a case of homesickness that will make a horny All Blacks player think twice about his next trip to the public toilets.
It’s almost even too late for them to save their season at this point.
A couple of more wins at Newlands will probably lift the spirits, while the return of experienced key players like Frans Malherbe and Jean-Luc du Plessis will boost them a bietjie.
But a win away from home is what’s really needed at some point if they are to advance further in this competition.
Unlike Dorothy in the movie, they can’t just click their magical ruby slippers three times and wish they were back at home. So they’ll have to pull a “rat out of the hat” soon.
For coach Muhsin Ertugral’s Ajax too, it’s been one of those seasons.
UNWANTED RECORD: Ajax's Muhsin Ertugral. Photo: RYAN WILKISKY/BACKPAGEPIX
They have always been bad travellers.
But this time around things are worse, having gone the entire league campaign without a win on the road.
That form goes a long way to explaining their position in the PSL standings - 15th and in the relegation playoff spot.
And they will have to stiek uit wild against Kaizer Chiefs in next weekend’s final game to get the win that would ensure their top-flight status.
If they don’t get those three points, they will find themselves in the playoffs.
There they will seker have to do a job away from home at some stage in those games to escape the drop.
Relegation for Ajax would be a nightmare scenario - something I wish away every day.
But just like them failing to win on the road is now almost an inevitability, so is the possibility of the drop.
If only these manne didn’t have that homesickness.