Tag: South Africa

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White elephants?

Report in the South African newspaper, The Mercury

THE fate of some of South Africa’s oldest stadiums, including Durban’s
Absa Stadium, is already decided, despite the emotional debate expected
to rage around the continued existence of these venues.

Danny Jordaan, CEO of Fifa’s 2010 Local Organising committee, said at
the African Journalism Awards 2010 media debate in Durban on Friday,
that a decision to demolish the Boet Erasmus stadium in Port Elizabeth
had already been taken and that both Newlands and the Absa stadium in
Durban would share the same fate in time.

Responding to a question on whether the new stadiums would be white
elephants once the World Cup was over, Jordaan said the lifecycle of any
stadium was 50 to 70 years and that Newlands and the Absa stadium were
reaching their sell-by date.

“This is an emotional debate that will go on for a long time, but who,
once they have experienced the new, modern, sophisticated stadiums will
want to go back to the old ones? South Africa has made a bid to host the
Rugby World Cup in 2015 and if we win that, the games will most
certainly be hosted in the new stadiums. If that happened it would
certainly help to move this debate along,” he said.

Sharks rugby CEO Brian van Zyl said the issue hadn’t been raised with him.

“That’s the first I’ve heard of it and it’s absolute nonsense? Jordaan’s
opinion of Absa is subjective. In any case, we have made a promise to
all our stakeholders that before we make any decisions regarding this
stadium we will consult with them through a transparent process. To
date, the indication from many of them is they don’t want to move – I
guess it could be considered an emotive issue, but it’s about a culture.”

Van Zyl said according to clause six of the South African Rugby Union’s
constitution all international rugby matches, including the World Cup,
would be played at rugby venues. “And I don’t think that’s about to change.”

Western Province Rugby Union’s managing director, Rob Wagner, said it
was also the first he had heard of it.

“We own the stadium, there is no debt on it and it’s probably one of the
oldest rugby grounds in the world. It has heritage and tradition, why
would we want to demolish it? I can’t understand how Jordaan could have
said that.”

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‘South Africa is coming’



ESPN’s Outside the Lines sent its presenter, Bob Ley, to South Africa to report on the preparations for the World Cup. It is an informative, fair piece in stark contrast with the nonsense published in the UK press, including in The Guardian. You can watch the rest of the report at the program’s website (scroll down and look on the right).

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The Economist: “South Africa and football’s World Cup”

vuvuzela_2730

The weekly news and business magazine, The Economistpublished a story this week on South Africa’s preparations for next year’s World Cup. The magazine, not known for singing South Africa’s praises, not only concluded that South Africa is on track and that “… the doubters are so far being proved wrong.”

When, in 2004, South Africa was chosen to be the first African country to host football’s World Cup many fans around the world were doubtful. South Africa would mismanage it, they said. It would be a commercial flop. They mooted Australia as an alternative should South Africa’s organisers fail to get their act together. Five years on, the doubts have diminished as new stadiums rise up across the country. Indeed, next year’s tournament may turn out to be the most profitable yet, thanks to the sale of broadcasting rights …

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5 Things I learned from the 2009 Confed Cup

FIFA denied my request for tickets so I followed the Confederations Cup from home. I drew on my observations from afar as well as media coverage and conversations with friends in South Africa to learn these five things from the tournament:

1. This beautiful yet scarred country will host an eventful World Cup next year. The stadiums are nice and the climate in different cities may surprise visitors.  Also, the difficulties with transport, accommodation, communications, and moving people to the stadiums may be mitigated by next year but are not likely to disappear.

2. The Confed Cup is not a terribly interesting competition. It features too many marginal sides (New Zealand, Iraq, South Africa) and tired European giants (Spain and Italy). No wonder we had to depend on the depth and individual brilliance of Brazil and the do-or-die attitude of the improving USA for entertainment.

3. Despite what the organizers tell us, the vuvuzelas are not part of South Africa’s ‘traditional’ fan culture. The horns appeared in the mid-1990s and did not become widespread until a few years ago. And they were ‘invented’ by a white guy.

4. The trend of the past decade that saw raw speed and set pieces decide so many matches will probably continue in 2010. Given the heavy-handed emphasis on defensive tactics, the pace of players like Kaka’ offers precious opportunities to burst through defensive walls and exploit open space on counter-attacks. Corners and free kicks are key, just ask the USA and South Africa.

5. The 2010 World Cup is a huge national project aimed at enhancing ‘Brand South Africa’ — the image of the country as a modern, democratic, business-friendly, tourist destination. Football-crazy South Africans legitimize this political and economic agenda, even though they pay billions to host the event while FIFA keeps most of the financial profits.

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The Vuvuzela ‘Conspiracy’



South African defender Matthew Booth decided to film his teammates during the recent Confederations Cup competition. (Remember him? He’s the only white guy in the team who fans greet with a loud “Boooottthhh” whenever he touches the ball and who Spanish reporters, looking for black racism decided was booed by the fans.) Booth, who maintains quite an active Youtube channel, regularly films his teammates, and in the video, above, captured them (and their Brazilian coach Joel Santana) singing on camera in the dressing room before their game against Spain in the first round. Check it out. (Here‘s another example.) It also made me wonder again why South African fans don’t leave the vuvuzelas outside the stadium and do some actual singing? That would not sound only better, but would present an actual, not corporate-induced part of football culture in that country, to visiting fans.

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‘The Rainbow Nation’

South Africa Iraq Confed Cup Soccer

News agency, Reuters, is skeptical about South African unity off the field. On the field, as South African football writer, Rodney Reiners, argues the team has matured a lot.

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Brazil 1 South Africa 0

Brazil 1-0 South Africa

The commentator gets carried away a bit after the goal: “… the Samba-dancing Brazilians from South America.” Like Brazilians are always dancing. But you can’t disagree; it was a great free kick by FC Barcelona right back Daniel Alves.

In the end, South Africa and its passionate fans with their vuvuzelas will rue all the missed chances.

On the field the tournament was good for South Africa on the field: After the tentative start against Iraq, and being outclassed by Spain, they turned up. And a few players emerged as stars: goalkeeper Ithumeleng Khune, defenders Matthew Booth and Siboniso Gaxa, midfielders Siphiwe Tshabalala and Steven Pienaar, as well as striker Bernard Parker, can hold their own against the world’s best. South Africa now has a year to build a team around this nucleus of players. And they might just keep the coach.

That leaves us with a Confederations Cup final–that no one predicted–set for Sunday in Johannesburg.

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