| Bangladesh ready for wild WC – 02/06/2010Bangladesh |
Bangladesh sit a lowly 157th in football’s national rankings but the 2010 World Cup excites wild rivalry as the country splits down the middle - are you batty about Brazil, or ardent about Argentina? For the South Asian nation’s tailors, such passion is good for business with fans proving their die-hard allegiance with counterfeit team shirts and large, colourful flags draped from houses, offices and street lamps, notes a report on the IoL site. ’For the past seven days I’ve been selling 2000 flags a day,’ said Foyez Ahmed Titu, a tailor who sews flags and shirts at a small shop in Dhaka, the capital of a country normally focused on cricket.
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Full report on the IoL sitereport
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| Twitter goes Benni crazy - 01/06/2010goes |
The subject of Benni McCarthy’s omission from the Bafana Bafana 2010 World Cup squad became a trending topic on popular social network Twitter, notes a Sport24 report. Many tweets were making reference to McCarthy’s weight more than anything else. Some of the tweets seen on the popular social networking site: @dancalders Benni should have taken Cele’s advice; stomach in, chest out! @khayadlanga But in honest truth he did seem unfit. It is an honest decision, really.
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Full Sport 24 reportSport
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| SA snaps up car flags - 01/06/2010 |
BMWs, delivery vehicles, cash-in-transit vans and even minibus taxis have them. No, we’re not talking about bad road manners, we’re referring to the South African flags which are proudly being displayed on vehicles on the country’s roads. Sport24 reports that with the 2010 World Cup beginning in less than 10 days, soccer fever is running high, and it is impossible to drive 100m on certain roads without seeing cars with flags.
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Full Sport 24 report
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| ’Rhythm for success’ song to inspire WC players - 29/05/2010 |
A song promoting a ’rhythm for success’, to inspire footballers to score more goals during 2010 World Cup, has been composed by a researcher using a new ’language’ for African drums. The track, titled, ’Vuma! Unity, harmony, goal!’, is based on a traditional South African rhythm and is designed to help football players and fans get into the spirit of the first World Cup to be held in the African continent. Soccer fans worldwide will get a chance to sing along with ’Vuma’ as the song will be played on the terraces during the 2010 World Cup.
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Full Africa Leader report
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| Why Cape Town does have 2010 ’gees’ - 28/05/2010 |
Who said Cape Town doesn’t have the World Cup gees? The Mother City was recently accused by a Gauteng newspaper of not having the spirit that has overtaken the country, notes a Cape Argus report. We beg to differ. And we have a bigger vuvuzela. Fruit and veggie vendors along Vanguard Drive in Mitchells Plain have pinned their colours to the mast, and shopping centres have been transformed by rows of the national flag, vuvuzelas and other soccer trimmings. Another popular novelty is the latest in headgear - the rainbow nation Mohawk, most in evidence at traffic lights where traders sport the spiky headpiece in the colours of the South African flag.
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Full report Cape Argus report
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| SA falls in love with Bafana - 28/05/2010 |
South Africa has fallen in love with Bafana Bafana again and that could spell trouble for 2010 World Cup rivals Mexico, Uruguay and France next month. A couple of years ago, national football association officials never even considered Johannesburg when it came to allocating venues for competitive or friendly fixtures. But are South African followers getting ahead of themselves? Is the euphoria based on hope or reality? Will it all end in tears when the real action begins with South Africa and much more experienced Mexico raising the curtain?
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Full Sport24 report
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| WAGS on the march – 28/05/2010 |
The Times reports on one of this century’s WC phenomenon: During the last World Cup held in Germany the wives and girlfriends of football stars became staples of the print and online media. An entire soccer sub-culture and a lucrative media sideline formed around the players’ partners. With the 2010 World Cup in South Africa just around the corner, the likes of Sarah Brandner, girlfriend of German midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger, and Abbi Clancy, partner of England striker Peter Crouch, have led the rush to the photo shoots. It’s a long way from 1966, the year of England’s only World Cup triumph when wives and girlfriends were not even invited to the team’s celebration dinner.
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Full report in The Times
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| World Cup rules - How does it all work? – 27/05/2010 |
In its latest 2010 World Cup feature the Times focuses on the rules of the ’beautiful’ game: The format and rules for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa will remain as they were for Germany four years ago after FIFA president Joseph Blatter ruled out the possibility of the introduction of a fifth referee or any kind of video technology. Blatter made clear ahead of last December’s draw in Cape Town that there will be no change in refereeing this summer. The 32-team format initially introduced in 1998 remains unchanged, with the teams drawn into eight groups of four from which the top two from the round robin play advance.
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Full report in The Times
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| Heading for a winter of discontent? – 26/05/2010 |
Leadership Online puts the recent labour strikes into focus and questions what short and long term impacts could result from the industrial action taken by several of South Africa’s most significant unions: Barely two weeks before South Africa’s 2010 Soccer World Cup tournament kicks off, the country is facing another bleak winter of discontent on the labour front, with ongoing and looming labour actions that could cripple the country. It is turning out to be the greatest potential threat to the successful hosting of the WC. It could also threaten the country’s post-recession recovery and increase the strain on relationships in the ANC-led governing Alliance.
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Full Leadership Online column
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| The most hi-tech WC yet - 22/05/2010 |
The entire world may not be coming to the 2010 World Cup, but the event will definitely be going to them on televisions, computers, cellphones and big screens in fan parks. The Sunday Times reports that Africa’s first World Cup will see a number of unprecedented technological advances in the broadcast of games - all matches will be covered in high definition, while 25 out of the 64 matches will be produced in 3D and shown at selected venues.
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Full Sunday Times report
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| The official 2010 WC poster - 21/05/2010 |
Lovers of contemporary fine art will be soon able to plug into 2010 World Cup fever in Cape Town, when DKA opens its outlet at Shop 116, Clock Tower Shopping Centre, V&A Waterfront, Cape Town on 3 June, notes a Media Update report. David Krut Publishing and Bookstore will be running a store at the V&A Waterfront for a six-week period, from 3 June to 15 July to make the posters accessible to locals and visitors alike. The 17 artists selected include eight South African artists, including some living abroad like Marlene Dumas.
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Full Media Update reoprt
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| Where to escape the WC - 21/05/2010 |
You may be aware that the World Cup is all but upon us. It’s on everybody’s lips, it’s in the air… you can hear it, feel it, yes, even taste it! Yet I have heard tell that there is a small, disparate group of apostates out there who couldn’t care less about football. I know, I know… please, I’m with you. Don’t shoot the messenger. But nonetheless these people do exist. For these non-believers, Greenwood Guides have come up with a happy solution by suggesting a selection of great places to stay. According to a report on the IoL site, these places are kilometres from anywhere and, as such, pretty much off the soccer radar. Furthermore they all offer a variety of activities to keep you busy and away from unwanted radio commentary.
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Full report on the IoL site
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| FIFA should embrace coverage, not curb it – 21/05/2010 |
Guy Burger, Mail & Guardian: Sometimes it’s better to hope for forgiveness, rather than to ask for permission. This is what the South African National Editors’ Forum (Sanef) must be thinking after the group asked FIFA to loosen its limits on journalists delivering coverage to cellphones. What they got instead was a tightening of coverage conditions. The story begins in January with Sanef writing to FIFA, pointing out newspapers’ unhappiness with the restrictions. No reply was forthcoming, so the organisation tried again in March.
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Full Mail & Guardian column
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| Power of the dark side – 21/05/2010 |
Andrew Jennings talks to Sally Evans about his damning exposé of Sepp Blatter and FIFA. In the past year, there have been hundreds of reports of people falling foul of the rules and regulations governing the soccer World Cup - a brand fiercely and brutally protected by FIFA, which, since it was founded exactly 106 years ago today, has become one of the world’s most secretive and perhaps most powerful organisations. FIFA’s glory is on the field, under the bright lights of our amazing new stadiums, but its shame lurks in the shadows, and there’s no one who knows the darker side of FIFA better than British investigative sports reporter Andrew Jennings.
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Full interview in the Times
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| Sex workers fear missing WC party – 20/05/2010 |
Like other Johannesburg prostitutes, Zandile dreamed of getting rich from World Cup fans, notes a report on the IoL site. Now she complains that foreigners will be scared off by fear of Aids and crime and there will be no World Cup bonanza. South Africa has the world’s biggest HIV caseload, with 5.7 million cases, and foreign fans have been repeatedly warned in their home countries about the dangers of casual sex.
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Full report on the IoL site
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| Makarapa maker eyes global success - 18/05/2010 |
The king of South Africa’s makarapa fan helmet has moved from his township workshop to a factory to meet 2010 World Cup demand, and expects the elaborate headgear to become a global craze after the tournament. Dancing fans wearing the brightly painted hats, made from converted plastic construction helmets, often paired with giant mock glasses, are a trademark of the South African game. According to a Mail & Guardian reports that they are sure to be a major feature of Africa’s first World Cup when it starts on June 11.
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Full Mail & Guardian report
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| Navigating SA streets - 18/05/2010 |
Football fans face an array of transport worries when they navigate South Africa for the World Cup, crossing a country three times the size of Germany and travelling notoriously complex city streets. According to a report on the IoL site, the country has spent $2.6-billion ahead of the June 11 kick-off to fix roads, expand airports, build a high-speed train and launch new bus networks. But the expected 373 000 foreign visitors still won’t find it easy to get between and around the nine host cities, some analysts say.
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Full report on the IoL site
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| After years of doubt, SA is ready - 18/05/2010 |
After years of doubt, soul-searching and criticism, South Africa stands on the threshold of a unique World Cup that looks likely to confound the pessimists. This country has had to endure acres of negative foreign news reports and plenty of self-doubt in the six years since it won the right to host Africa’s first World Cup, notes a Mail & Guardian report. With less than a month to kick-off, most of those reports are discredited, and although there are still plenty of areas of concern to test the nerves of organisers, ranging from violent crime to transport, the omens look good.
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Full Mail & Guardian report
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| ’SA jobs hurt by illegal WC products’ – 14/05/2010 |
Illegally imported World Cup merchandise is jeopardising the jobs of South African workers, the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) said.
’Since November 2009 alone, the South African Revenue Service has seized more than R88-million-worth of fake goods at airports and harbours, with weekly reports of more seizures,’ Cosatu said in a statement. ’These fake imports threaten the jobs of people in factories in Durban, Cape Town and many other cities and towns.’
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Full Mail & Guardian report
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| Fahrenheit 2010 will not be broadcasted in SA – 14/05/2010 |
South African filmmaker Craig Turner and Levitation Films present Fahrenheit 2010, a hard-hitting examination of what the 2010 Fifa World Cup really means for South Africa and the millions living below the poverty line. M-Net has joined e.tv and the SABC in refusing to give airtime to the critical Fahrenheit 2010. Craig Turner is based in Australia, and co-produced and edited by Michael Cross, who lives in Durban.
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Full Mail and Guardian
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| Is the World Cup worth it? 14/05/2010 |
Christopher Merrett, The Witness: Andrew Jennings is crystal clear about FIFA: it is an unaccountable organisation based on institutionalised corruption that performs as the ’battering ram of global capitalism’. Indeed, he goes further, arguing that it behaves like a mafia with a dominant leader, a code of conduct based on the concept of family, the ruthless pursuit of profit and influence, and protection from people in high places. Its basic purpose is to maintain the power of a close-knit elite.
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Full column in The Witness
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| The Vuvuzela Call – 13/05/2010 |
Football Nights Accommodation (FNA) has launched The Vuvuzela Call, an initiative that aims to help change the international perception of South Africa and the African continent as a whole. Since South Africa won the bid for the 2010 World Cup, various negative stories about our country have been doing their rounds overseas. While some are true, the majority are hugely exaggerated, notes a Publicity Update report. Tourists are nervous about visiting our country, with many sadly choosing to watch the games from the safety of their sofas instead of booking their flights to sunny South Africa and being a part of the action.
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Full Publicity Update report
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| Football’s just a game ... isn’t it? - 12/05/2010 |
Richard Ingham, Mail & Guardian: The World Cup’s official message is this: football is a vehicle of harmony, uniting all nations in peace under the banner of sport. What if the truth were not so pretty? What if, instead of healing national wounds and bringing people together, the World Cup did the reverse? In a 1945 essay, written after a bruising tour of Britain by Moscow Dynamo, George Orwell argued that a dangerous orgy of patriotism develops when flags are waved, anthems sung and a country elevates its team to the status of national champion.
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Full Mail and Guardian column
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| A striking World Cup – 11/05/2010 |
There are less than 30 days to the 2010 World Cup and instead of making a noise with our customary vuvuzelas we are pouring rubbish and litter onto our streets and setting trains alight. Somehow I doubt that millions of potential foreign World Cup fans will interpret this as our enthusiasm for the world’s biggest sporting spectacle. And, if Cosatu’s threats are anything to go by, the strike action won’t end here.
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Full iafrica.com report
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| Countdown highlights snag list - 11/05/2010 |
Thirty days to go until the World Cup kick-off at Johannesburg’s Soccer City, and the handle had fallen off. Quite literally. Off the door of the Soccer City stadium auditorium in the basement, that is. Not encouraging for the various members of South Africa’s local organising committee who had gathered to assure the press that everything remained on track for the country to host football’s mega-event in a month’s time. Especially as, under layers of dust, construction workers scurried around adding seats to the magnificent calabash’s upper tier, while the finishing in the stadium innards appeared as lacklustre as that of Bafana Bafana’s strikers.
The Mail & Guardian reports that despite proclamations of completion, it is apparent that Soccer City still has a rather long snag list.
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Full Mail & Guardian Online report
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| England’s national treasure eyes 2010 role – 11/05/2010 |
An odd transformation has undergone David James over the past couple of years. The Telegraph notes that once he was renowned as the Spice Boy, the goalkeeper whose ability to hold a cross was compromised by his interest in video games, a man largely defined by a comedy succession of haircuts. But slowly, as his interest in the environment, his charity work, and his excellent newspaper column have became better known, all that has changed. This season, as his club Portsmouth has imploded around him, he has emerged with a reputation enhanced. Forgoing his bonus, making public his displeasure at how the fans had been let down, staying to fight on while virtually the entire dressing room departed for more secure pastures, James has shown such character, it has fundamentally altered the way he is perceived.
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Full report in The Telegraph
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| WC fills Africa with pride - 06/05/2010 |
A dozen young boys stood at the edge of a football field, one that looks typically African - patchy grass at the edges, dark red dirt in the middle. Asked who they thought would win the World Cup, the boys shouted the familiar names: Brazil. England. Spain. Last to go was Dennis Njoroge. ’Nigeria,’ the shy 15-year-old boy said. The other dozen boys burst out in applause. Why Nigeria? ’Because the World Cup is in Africa,’ he said. According to a report on the IoL site, the first World Cup in Africa starts in a little over a month, and football fans from Algeria to Zimbabwe are turning their gaze toward host South Africa with a swell of continental pride.
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Full report on the IoL site
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| ’A blow on the vuvuzela with every amen’– 04/05/2010 |
The 2010 World Cup fever has pitched with such a crescendo as to reverberate even in houses of worship. The Sowetan reports that the Grace Bible Church in Pimville, Soweto, launched its 2010 World Cup campaign themed The Ultimate Goal. Pastors, deacons, elders and congregants came to the service dressed in Bafana Bafana jerseys and wearing the famous makaraba. As senior Pastor Musa Sono preached his sermon, congregants accompanied every amen with a blow of the vuvuzela, in ululation of the soccer spectacle.
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Full report in The Sowetan
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| Kulula warns UK tourists of tokoloshes and sunburn - 04/05/2010 |
Low-cost airline kulula.com, whose mock-serious advertisements have poked fun at critics, including FIFA - has responded to an article in British tabloid the Daily Star by taking an advertisement warning readers to beware of tokoloshes - the nightmare creatures some South Africans believe may grab them from under the bed unless deterred by standing it on bricks - if they come here for the 2010 World Cup.
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Full story in Business Report
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| Zakumi’s 2010 World Cup rivals - 02/05/2010 |
Street puppeteer Jabulani Simelane makes people smile for a living and, in anticipation of the 2010 World Cup, he has taught his dolls to do the diski dance.
The Times reports that he is busy negotiating deals to entertain crowds at stadiums and fan parks before and after matches but ’nothing has been confirmed yet’, he says, with a hopeful smile. Simelane is determined to boost his career as a puppeteer during the World Cup: ’I’m not doing this puppet thing because I’m starving but because of my talent’ he said.
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Full report in The Times
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