World Cup South Africa 2010 July 24, 2008
Posted by Ralph Pina in : Tourism , trackback
As a fine Euro 2008 tournament, at which technical and attacking football was vindicated, recedes into history, my thoughts turn to the World Cup to be played here on home soil. It will be the first World Cup in Africa. Ever since I watched the 1966 tournament’s official film as a kid, football (or soccer) has consumed me and the World Cup has been established in my mind as the pinnacle of the sport. Forget the English Premiership and other examples of corporate leagues dominated by listed companies and billionaire owners, international tournaments where nationalistic passions inflame the contests and national styles clash, are where it’s at.
I was fortunate to be in Holland at the time of the 1974 tournament that was hosted by the then West Germany and to watch in awe as Johan Cruyff’s total-footballing, orange whirlwind took the world by storm - “the best team never to win the world cup”. That team and its style is still the benchmark against which I measure football quality - a team seldom emulated and never bettered. All subsequent Oranje teams live with that legacy.
South Africa’s pride, the unfortunately nicknamed Bafana Bafana (”the boys, the boys”), don’t have much of a hope in 2010. They will do well not to be embarrassing the way things are at the moment. Our age-group teams have failed to qualify for most world championships and the Olympics in recent years, so the pipeline of talent is empty. The national game is at its nadir, riddled with corruption and endemic maladministration, lacking a development vision and stuctures. But at least if the Netherlands qualify, I will have a half-decent team to support, being of Dutch extraction. Of course, any other African team will also be enthusiastically supported - it is time for an African outfit to go close if not all the way. African teams play with a rhythmic and robust swagger that is still unique in an increasingly homogeneous footballing world.
It has always been my dream to attend a World Cup match and perhaps I will be lucky enough to watch a game or two in the new stadium taking shape below the Table Mountain massif, Cape Town’s icon.
It is estimated that some 400,000 foreign visitors will be attracted to the tournament. What many may find interesting is the diversity of playing conditions that the various venues will provide. It will be winter here (which is when football should be played to my mind), but what many don’t realise is that winter conditions differ markedly across the country. At the Cape blustery cold fronts bring rain and sometimes snow on the mountains, but are interspersed with pristine, azure days. It can rain for days on end though. The Europeans will feel right at home. Further up the east coast, Port Elizabeth will also be windy and wet at times, but less so. Durban is balmy and sub-tropical and it might even be possible to spend time on the beaches.
It is in the inland cities that foreigners may find that their preconceptions about winter are inverted. Johannesburg, Pretoria and Bloemfontein are located on the “highveld” where winters are sunny, dry and windless with frigid nights and warm days. When I played there as a student the fields were always rock hard and frost brown, but the playing surfaces will doubtless be lush, courtesy of modern technology. Altitude will be a factor especially in Johannesburg and Pretoria. Joburg lies at 2000m (6000ft) above sea level and the air is thin and none too clean. Inversion layers tend to trap layers of smog for most of the day.
Polokwane and Rustenburg are more rural, smaller cities located in what is known as the “bushveld”. The days will be warm and dry. One of the best venues may well be Nelspruit which lies in the “lowveld” where the days are warm and sometimes thirty degrees (Celsius), but never humid - great for spectators but maybe a bit tough for the players. Nelspruit is also the gateway to the Kruger National Park, giving the active fan the opportunity to combine soccer with a wildlife safari. For me that would be the best of all worlds.
Teams that finish second in their pools and have to move to other venues to play in the knock-out rounds may well find themselves having to adapt to wildly different conditions, “foreign” conditions almost.
World Cup 2010 will be characterised by diversity - a great diversity of teams and nationalities, a mix of cultures and playing and climatic conditions. Only the playing styles will be less diverse, because all the top players ply their trade at the top European clubs. It remains “the greatest show on earth”.
Ralph Pina is ecoAfrica’s chairman and a lifelong football fanatic.
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