Winning over supporters with 2010 Fan Fests - 23/02/2007
The three-way agency pitch, which has become an interesting feature of Design Indaba in recent years, this year focused on concepts for the 2010 Fan Fests – the officially sanctioned areas in our cities where fans will gather in their hundreds of thousands to watch the World Cup Soccer matches. The agencies were Enterprise IG, RSVP King James and Grid. Bizcommunity.com reports that all three agencies agreed: that the events would also be packaged for other cities in the world; that the SA experience would be focused on as they believe that if they do a good job for SA, Africa will be the winner as well; and that they were creating an experience, not just a logo.
Ajax set to face League’s Disciplinary Committee - 19/02/2007
While CE Trevor Phillips was heaping praise on Wits University and Kaizer Chiefs for a trouble-free game at the compact Bidvest Stadium, the flames of anger and acrimony at Athlone Stadium after Ajax Cape Town’s defeat against Black Leopards were still burning brightly and scorching the image of the PSL. The SABC reports that Ajax are set to face the League’s Disciplinary Committee after their fans ran amok. Phillips, meanwhile, said everything had ’gone like clockwork’ during Chiefs’ 1-0 win over Wits. ’There was not a single incident reported by our security staff, and SA soccer has taken a big step forward with the 2010 World Cup in mind -- showing that with disciplined organisation and behaviour all round, problems at stadiums can be handled effectively,’ said Phillips
A new way of watching and hearing information online is set to revolutionise the worldwide Web. The Lowvelder reports that a virtual Web site domain called dot.seeit is about to be launched and it will change the face of the way people gather and view information in the future. The global ’surfing’ community will be focusing on a format development by a small Barberton company. The first step for domain developer, James Munro, and his team is tourism. They are kicking off by projecting the cities and tourist attractions of SA to the world and especially concentrating on venues and the needs of the visitors for the Fifa World Cup in 2010.
FIFA and host cities win Sports Marketing Award - 06/02/2007
FIFA and the twelve World Cup Host Cities have won the German Sports Marketing Award for 2007 for their organisation of the Fan Fests and their innovative, overall marketing concept for the official public viewing events. The award, which was launched by Sponsors magazine and the European Sponsoring Exchange (ESB), was presented at the ISPO sports sponsorship trade fair in Munich on Monday, 5 February. Gerhard Mayer-Vorfelder, a member of the FIFA Executive Committee, and Gerd Kolbe, the head of the Dortmund World Cup office and deputy spokesman for the Host Cities, received the award on behalf of world football’s governing body and the 12 FIFA World Cup Host Cities.
Africa will in May launch a continental diplomatic passport to be issued to heads of state and government, ministers, ambassadors and leaders of African institutions. The symbolic launch of the African diplomatic passport by the AU Commission will be the highlight of Africa Day celebrations in Ethiopia on 25 May. According to a report on the allafrica.com site, visa exemptions for SADC citizens and the introduction of the UNIVISA system are being pursued vigorously ahead of South Africa’s hosting of the 2010 FIFA World Cup. It is hoped that the UNIVISA will be in place by 2008 to facilitate smooth movement of soccer teams from outside the region and their supporters.
Former England international George Eastham has assured fans that they will be safe at the 2010 World Cup in SA. The BBC reports that a Web site was set up last year urging fans to stay away from the country during the tournament because of the crime risk. However, Eastham, who has lived in Cape Town for the last 30 years, says supporters will have nothing to fear when they travel to SA in three years’ time.
Fifa officials are warning that tickets could be a premium during the 2010 World Cup finals even though there have been predictions SA will find it hard to fill the stadiums.Cosafa.com reports that poor attendances at the majority of PSL fixtures has led to a consensus that it will be hard to fill the 10 stadiums to be used for the World Cup but Fifa are insisting they expect full house signs to go up long before kick off. There will be 3m tickets available for the 2010 finals and both Fifa’s office in SA and the 2010 LOC are predicting a scramble for seats.
The government told soccer fans across the world that their safety in SA during the 2010 World Cup was guaranteed. ’We guarantee the safety and security of all the fans and teams that will be participating in the 2010 event,’ said Deputy Finance Minister Jabu Moleketi. The Star reports that Moleketi said there would be 192 000 police officers in the country by 2009 and that of these 30 000 would be attached to the soccer event. Some of the security plans unveiled include ensuring a 24-hour presence at all hotels, places and routes to be used by soccer fans.
Supporters urged to get to games on time - 11/12/2006
As part of the ongoing preparations for the 2010 World Cup, the LOC has urged supporters to get out of the habit of going to the match venues late. The Sowetan reports that Irvin Khoza, chairman of the LOC, warned that the games will not be delayed due to the late arrival of supporters. Khoza urged clubs to be part of the community , sharing their problems, which will also help in recruiting more supporters. He said it was important for South Africans to rally behind Bafana Bafana even when the chips are down, at the same time urging players to respect the national jersey.
2010 fan park for Gaansbaai - 28/11/2006
A new sports facility in Gansbaai has been identified as a fan park for the 2010 World Cup. The Cape Argus reports that Western Cape sports and culture MEC Whitey Jacobs announced decision at a sod-turning ceremony held in Gansbaai.Construction of the sports facility, funded under Absa-Barclays Bank Spaces for Sports programme, is expected to start soon. The facility is tied to environmental and tourism projects. Fan parks in the last two World Cups proved to be popular features, especially in Germany, where millions of fans without tickets flocked to the venues to watch the games on big screens in a carnival atmosphere.
The Telkom Knockout sponsors expressed disappointment at the low turnout at soccer matches despite the millions of rands they have poured into the inaugural competition. The Mercury reports that Telkom will fork out more than R14m as reward to Premiership teams for participating in the competition, but the telecommunications giants have urged clubs to get more fans to the matches, after many first round fixtures saw below-par attendances.
Kaizer Chiefs supporters’ behaviour that led to the club’s hefty R250 000 fine and one game behind closed doors has drawn the ire of Orlando Pirates and PSL chairman Irvin Khoza. The Sowetan reports that Amakhosi were fined R250 000, suspended for 12 months, and will have to play Moroka Swallows behind closed doors following their supporters’ misbehaviour resulting from incidents of missile throwing and vandalism. ’They must understand that everything becomes newsworthy because we are hosting the 2010 World Cup. Football is about image. We have just signed a record sponsorship with Telkom because the PSL’s image has been very good. And now this,’ fumed 2010 LOC chairman, Irvin Khoza
Chiefs face R1m fine - 27/09/2006
Kaizer Chiefs face a maximum fine of up to R1m. That’s the bad news for the glamour club after their fans rioted again at the weekend, hurling bottles and other missiles on to the field at Absa Stadium in Durban. According to a report on the News24 site, last week, Chiefs fans ripped up seats at the FNB Stadium near Soweto after a losing match against Wits. Amakhosi were summoned to appear before a PSL disciplinary hearing but it was postponed at the last minute to October 10. Last year, Chiefs were slapped with a heavy fine and were forced to play one match behind closed doors after similar riots by their fans at the FNB stadium.
Kaizer Chiefs Chiefs were recently beaten by newly promoted Wits University and their legion of fans showed their anger and disgust by tearing off the seats at Soccer City and hurling them on to the pitch. In a column on the News24 site, George Dearnaley says everyone is clamouring on the ’punish Chiefs’ bandwagon and demanding that they be made an example of for the rest of the country. ‘Making Chiefs play behind closed doors, or deducting points from them for the events of last week will not solve the problem. Chiefs have thousands of fans, and in South Africa there is a culture of mob rule, so the club gets punished but the culture continues. Better organisation at matches, better policing, better education of fans by the organisers - this will go a long way to improving the situation.’
Kaizer Chiefs hooligans have again put local football under the spotlight for all the wrong reasons. A group of irate fans went on the rampage after their team’s 2-1 Premier League defeat against Bidvest Wits University at FNB Stadium on Wednesday night. The Star reports that they tore seats from the stands and hurled them onto the pitch moments after they fifth disappointing result of the season. Last season, the Soweto giants were heavily fined and ordered to play two games behind locked doors after similar behaviour during a match against Bloemfontein Celtic. The penalty was later reduced to just one game. Over the past six years, more than 250 people have lost their lives in football stadiums around the continent. And Fifa has indicated that stadium security will be its biggest priority for the 2010 World Cup
Thirty eight percent of South Africans are prepared to call in sick to watch the World Cup, according to a recent global survey - conducted by international research company Synovate. Synovate surveyed 8 075 respondents in SA, Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Brazil, Argentina, Sweden, the Czech Republic, Poland, Serbia & Montenegro, Ukraine, Japan, Korea and Australia. The majority of respondents said they did not normally follow football, but made an exception for the World Cup. Far from merely making an exception, 71% of South Africans say that they rearrange their day in order to watch the World Cup games.
European soccer hooligans biggest threat to 2010 - 10/06/2006
The biggest threat to the 2010 WC in SA will come not from terrorists - but from European soccer hooligans, many of them neo-Nazis. And, the security services in this country have no experience in dealing with these thugs, who often rampage through city centres, trashing shops and restaurants and setting cars on fire.
SAs wealthy soccer supporters and corporate companies are going to the World Cup in Germany in style. Some are chartering private jets, booking five-star hotel suites and even securing them the best seats to see Brazilians Ronaldinho. Before flying to Germany, Danny Jordaan, CE of the 2010 WC LOC, said the 50-strong South Africans delegation on an observer mission would include representatives from the 10 host cities, stadium managers, government officials representing transport, security and communications, and other football people.
Fans of countries playing at the World Cup will get more tickets at future tournaments after Fifa vowed to scrap its controversial practice of giving teams just 8% of the seats at their matches. Blatter wants to make a better distribution of tickets for the public at large for the 2010 World Cup in SA onwards, including raising the 8% allocation to teams supporters, said a source close to the Fifa boss.
