I live in Cape Town and it is without a doubt the best city in the world!
Although my favourite holiday destination has to be Las Palmas (part of the Canary Islands off the African coast of Morocco) — the setting is amazing, and the hotel prices are very decent and cheap.
The only problem is that one has to contend with the euro, but on a unit-for-unit basis, it compares very favourably.
What I eat depends on my mood. I try to have meat and I squeeze in fish. Just because I am from Cape Town, it doesn’t mean I am a fish lover — but I try to have fish as often as I can, seeing that the coast is on my doorstep. My favourite restaurant is Chai-Yo just down the road from me. It specialises in Thai cuisine.
As far as music goes, I listen to oldschool R&B. I prefer the slow, quiet stuff and I also listen to gospel music. I don’t like rock music. My favourite musicians are Whitney Houston, Roberta Flack, Luther Vandross, Michael Jackson and the like.
I love rugby and cricket. I support the Stormers, but when our national teams (the Proteas and the Springboks) play, I support them. I don’t support any local football team, ironically.
In England I enjoy the way Chelsea Football Club plays, simply because of the African players that play there.
I try to go to the theatre when I can; the last show I went to watch was Mamma Mia! I thoroughly enjoyed that. My favourite movie is The Bourne Supremacy. I am busy reading The Bourne Objective (the eighth novel in the Bourne series, by Eric van Lustbader).
Yes, I am a big fan of the series. I prefer reading the novels to watching their adaptation on the big screen because I don’t have time to go to the movies. So reading is the next best option, but I guess if I had a choice I would probably go and watch it.
When I go to the stadium my wife doesn’t come along — I don’t need extra pressure. Besides, it’s a security risk because someone could make a connection and use them [my family] as leverage to influence the match.
We all know we don’t need that in our sport. I never played football but I used to go and watch my friends play. One day, the referee didn’t come and I handled the match on condition that they didn’t give me a rough time. That was my best match; the players didn’t moan at all!
Officiating at the World Cup was a high-pressure job, I didn’t want to let my family or my country down.
Then there was the added pressure of being at the World Cup. To wind down and release the pressure I read three books, all by Mark Gimenez, and I would listen to music on my iPod, sit in the sauna and do exercises in the gym.
One had to be inventive as boredom could strike at any time, and that is fatal for a match official. Being away from home for a month was a challenge indeed.
Jerome Damon was the referee in last weekend’s Orlando Pirates vs Kaizer Chiefs match and also officiated at the World Cup