WORLD Cup fever has
turned a Swiss adventurer who does not even like soccer into the
ultimate fan.
After clocking 180 000km motorcycling across four
continents, 40-year-old Mathias Schmid is now following the Swiss team
around South Africa – and even buying tickets from scalps for inflated
prices just to see the games.
“I am not even a soccer fan, but when I landed in
Joburg with my bike and saw the mood of the people, I got total
soccer fever,” he said.
Schmid said he resolved to follow Switzerland all
over South Africa after he decided on the spur of the moment to watch
their opening game.
“Football fever took over so much. I am now
travelling the country, following Switzerland – until they get knocked
out the tournament.”
Now en route to Bloemfontein after watching games in
Durban and Port Elizabeth, Schmid said even though he was tempted to
spend a few more days at the National Arts Festival, he had to finish
his soccer great trek.
“I was not interested in soccer, now I am a
fanatic,” he said.
“ It is a pity I cannot stay longer at the
festival, but I have committed to the soccer. It is like unfinished
business.”
A biker to the bone, the travelling motorcycle
mechanic has attended rallies all over the planet, including the world
famous Sturgis Rally in the US, and even chased the Dakar in Chile
and Argentina.
Schmid, who made time to attend the Chicken Rally
on the Natal South Coast after the Durban game, said he was bowled
over by the enthusiasm of ordinary South Africans despite being
constantly warned about crime and viol ence – especially during his
Australian epic .
After traversing every continent except Africa,
Schmid’s trusty Honda Transalp is not just a bike – it is home.
Weighing in at 250kg fully loaded, the bike now has
a second passenger – an unnamed rubber chicken attached to the
handlebars next to a green plastic alien.
Schmid said the travel bug bit after he bought his
first bike when he was 14 and shortly afterwards drove across
Switzerland.
In the last 10 years, Schmid has been through the
middle and far East, south east Asia, Japan, Alaska, north and south
America, New Zealand, Australia – and now Africa
