| Frightening economics of the grand event - 05/05/2006 |
Whatever ire she might have incurred, Cape Town mayor Helen Zille was quite right to insist on getting hard figures for the new Cape Town stadium. And if they are wise, more government officials will soon start asking the same kind of questions about the 2010 World Cup. In a Business Day column, Virginia Tilley says that she agrees that every project essential to the 2010 World Cup is going ahead.
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Read the full Business Day column
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| Cape Town needs its own exclusive soccer venue - 05/05/2006 |
So Capetonians don’t want a football stadium. They think building one on the site that currently houses the rundown Greenpoint stadium is a waste of money. "At the same time the PSL can’t find a venue big enough to accommodate the title decider between Mamelodi Sundowns and Orlando Pirates. A game so huge that it could easily attract 100 000 fans, is that ever likely to be the case in our domestic rugby? Never!" Sports reporter, Docky Dockrat says that he accepts most of the blame should be apportioned to soccer itself because unless teams are prepared to invest in designated home grounds, instead of relying on rugby venues, this will always be the case - soccer will always have to play second fiddle.
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Read the full 702 Talk Radio column
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| Machines cannot rule soccer - 25/04/2006 |
"I have watched with growing suspicion the number of experts who suggest that soccer needs the latest technical and technological help in ensuring the game keeps up with modern progress. Rugbys use of the TV ref for difficult try scoring decisions has been largely successful but I think the nature of rugby and in particular the occasion of a try makes it easier to use the TV ref." In a column on the News24 site, George Dearnaley says that no matter what the TV refs decision, the ball would have been dead and the game would have stopped anyway.
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Read the full column on the News24 site
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| PE Airport runway extension must be made official, urges Radebe - 06/04/2006 |
Transport Minister Jeff Radebe has urged the Airports Company of SA to move quickly to get official approval to extend runway 8/26 at the PE airport if it is to be ready in time to receive additional flights during the 2010 World Cup. Replying to a written parliamentary question from Eddie Trent (DA), the minister noted that under the current capital expenditure programme that underpins the permission to levy tariffs issued by the regulating committee in 2003, provision had not been made for any runway extension at PE. In a column in The Herald, Patrick Cull writes that Radebe however, said plans to extend the runway had been drafted and these had highlighted two key issues.
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Full report in The Herald
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| World Cup changes Shells tune - 28/03/2006 |
Royal Dutch Shell has one word to offer on the subject of its musical oil barrels. What? says Alexandra Wright, Shells spokesperson, in London. In a column in Business Report, Craig Copeta says the World Cup is about to change Shells tune. Oil drum music is infectious, says Sepp Blatter, the president of Fifa, soccers global governing body and organiser of the 2006 World Cup in Germany in June. Blatter envisions the rum poured and a conga line ensuing around the 10 000 steel-drum pan men expected to follow the Trinidad and Tobago Calypso Carnival Warriors team. Over a billion people will see this on television, Blatter says.
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Read the full Business Report column
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| Public not quite so joyful about 2010 anymore - 28/03/2006 |
No one is jumping for joy yet, said the Fifa official reproachfully, when I bumped into him on a secret incognito visit to Cape Town over the weekend. In a column in the Cape Times, John Scott says: "We did lots of jumping for joy when we first heard we would be hosting the 2010 Soccer World Cup, after having recognised Max outside a Newlands hotel. But were not quite so joyful now that we know what weve got to put up with."
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Read the full Cape Times column
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| Time to go Brazilian - Dearnaley - 27/03/2006 |
There has been a lot of recent speculation about whom Safa want to appoint as the new coach of Bafana Bafana. Sven Goran Erikkson, Englands dashing Swede, has had his name bandied about and the not too inconsiderable price tag that will go with hiring him. At the last count it was in the region of R44m a year. Come on people, this is a complete waste of money. In a column on the News24 site, George Dearnaley says that no coach in the world, no matter how successful, no matter what CV they have will turn our football fortunes around until the people running the game at the highest level wake up and realise that we have major problems in the game."
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Read the full column on the News24 site
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| Things not looking too bright for Africa ahead of 2006 WC - 22/03/2006 |
"Five months after the continent celebrated what at the time was perceived to be the changing of the guard, the initial euphoria has since faded and paralysing trepidation has crept in slowly. These are difficult times, because a nervous African continent is biting its nails as the 2006 Soccer World Cup opening match between host Germany and Costa Rica on June 9 approaches." In a column in Business Day, Ntloko says this feels like a lifetime away from that dizzy week last October, when African football seemed to have been shaken to its foundation, and observers predicted a shift in the balance of power.
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Read the full Business Day column
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| New plan a load of balony |
Brazen headlines at the weekend suggest a new, positive plan is being hatched to resuscitate the national soccer team. In a column in the Financial Mail, Mark Gleeson says that this is in the wake of the recent African Cup of Nations disaster and in preparation for the 2010 World Cup finals. "In reality, it is all a load of baloney which only creates another layer around the running of the team. It will not help put Bafana Bafana back on track."
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Read the full Financial Mail column
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| SA soccer back to where it started - 10/03/2006 |
A revolutionary restructuring of football is being touted, which could see a government representative and a well-respected businessman being appointed to a new body that would run the affairs of the country’s national teams, the head of Safas technical committee, according to Sturu Pasiya. In a column in the Mail & Guardian, Lungile Madywabe says that it is understood that proposals for the overhaul of the body charged with managing the local game are contained in reports tabled at the most recent meetings of the national executive committee of Safa.
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Read the full Mail & Guardian Online column
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| Expect no changes from Safa - 28/02/2006 |
Nothing in domestic soccer shows the problems that beset the game better than the SA Football Association (Safa) national executive committee (NEC) elections held every four years. In a Mail & Guardian Online column, Lungile Madywabe says that this is an occasion when regional representatives should decide who can develop and channel the game in the right direction for another term. "It is, alas, punctuated by cronyism, cheating and blackmail," he says.
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Read the full Mail & Guardian Online column
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| Who will be the next Bafana coach? - 13/02/2006 |
The latest discussions taking place in the highest soccer offices in the land, concern the appointment of the next Bafana coach. It is up to the Safa technical team to appoint this person, but they must first wait for the technical report from the technical team that were in Egypt. In a column on the News24 site, George Dearnaley says that he hopes that the issue will not get too technical. "Basically it seems that the group of people, who have to appoint the new coach, are waiting to see their own report. So now you know."
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Read the full column on the News24 site
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| SA wants some answers for failures of Bafana - 09/02/2006 |
Speaking in the City Press last week, the Premier Soccer Leagues CE Trevor Phillips said SA soccer fraternity must accept collective blame for the failures of Bafana Bafana. In the same token, the road to recovery for the soccer national team must involve all stakeholders. In a column on the News24 site, Tumo Mokone says that "never again must the destiny of Bafana be left in the hands of the SA Football Association (Safa) as they have failed the team and the nation with their dubious and indecisive management style over the years".
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Read the full column on the News24 site
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