It’s tough being a sports fan in SA

It’s tough being an ordinary South African.

If it’s not the tanking economy battering our shrinking wallets, it’s government corruption or even drought adding to our woes. But spare a thought for that sometimes crazy subset of humanity at the southern tip of Africa – sports fans.

These days, whether their preference is soccer or rugby, they’re like the battered spouse who keeps convincing herself that things are going to get better if only they hang on a little longer.

This weekend’s dismal showing by Bafana Bafana and the Springboks might have been the final straw for some, when they turn their backs on sport.

And who can blame them? A country with this many talented people and this much money – at least in comparison with other countries in Africa, which are handing out thumpings to us –should be able to do better.

Bafana’s 2-0 loss to Senegal was the bigger catastrophe, because it booted us out of the 2018 World Cup.

But the Boks’ 38-3 hammering by Ireland was no less shameful, if only because the boys from the Emerald Isle were considered no-hopers themselves not long ago.

But for the Grace of Branden – the first South African to win the Nedbank Golf Challenge in recent years – the weekend would have been a total write-off.