What a fantastic achievement. South Africa is currently the number one country in Test Cricket Ranking and the Rugby Union Rankings. What a sight! What an achievement and what a time to do it.
Coupled with Caster Semenya’s victory and the 2010 World Cup coming to SA, the Gautrain and tourism pumping, South Africa is looking good right now I’d say!
As of Monday 24 August, South Africa is top of the world Test cricket rankings (by virtue of England beating Australia). Not only that, we’re also top of the world One-Day International cricket ranking as well as being the number one ranked Rugby Union country in the world. So we are top of both the cricket and rugby rankings at the same time!
I cannot remember when any country last managed this feat. If I had to hazard a guess, I’d say that it MAY have been Australia in 1999, because they won the Rugby World Cup that year and have been top of the cricket rankings for about the last 15 years or so. England topped the rugby rankings briefly in 2003 but they’ve not been number one at cricket for many years now. New Zealand have regularly been rugby’s number one, but never in history have they enjoyed this status at cricket. Even Australia’s feat in 1999 may not match what we’ve done, because winning the Rugby World Cup does not automatically make you the number one team (although it obviously helps a lot).
All we need now is for Soccer to follow suit …
Thanks to Paul for his nudge, reminder and research! Good work.
Sadly the two aren’t related. Caster captured gold at the IAAF World Championship but it was the IAAF’s gender investigation of Caster Semenya that has captured headlines.
It’s been a few days since Caster took the gold and I’ve held off on blogging about it for various reasons. Firstly people initially thought it humorous what was happening to Semenya, but I wasn’t convinced. Secondly I was trying to suss out the situation and finally I wanted to congratulate Semenya without the hype of her gender case being prominent.
So here’s to Caster Semenya, the First Lady of Sport in South Africa – as one newspaper rightfully put it.
Manyarticles and opinions are being written about Semenya, her gold medal, her rise to the forefront of her field and, of course, her gender. But let me say that I am proud to say that Caster Semenya is South African and brought us a gold medal this year. She deserves praise for this act.
But let me also make it clear that I was once a sprinter of short and medium distances (100m, 200m, 400m and relays) and I find it very difficult to understand a 6 second shave off her previous times to take her to the leading time in the 800m race this year. All this in a very short period of time.
I do have an alternate thought to those who jumped to the gender issue; what if Semenya, for the first time in her gifted life, actually received proper training this year. Not from a school teacher or a regional coach but from a professional. I firmly believe that it is within the realm of possibility that a person can take 6 seconds of their time if their initial time was nowhere near one that proper training can entice.
Personally I will be absolutely dumbfounded if Semenya turns out to be male. In fact I am almost certainly willing to say that She, is a She. But if it happens, it happens and we can try to cross that bridge when it comes tumbling down.
One of SA’s hottest DJing talents (I mean musically hot as well as visually appealing) needs the help of the South African public.
Here it is laid out simply:
Get involved in the most important poll in dance music – DJmag’s Top 100 DJs poll. Forget poor imitations, this is THE only poll that matters to DJs and promoters worldwide because it’s voted solely by YOU – the foot soldiers on the dancefloor.
Over the following pages you will be asked to enter your details including your email address, the country you live in and your top 5 DJs of 2009. Please note that your IP address will be logged as part of the process. To complete your vote, you will need to validate it by clicking on a link in an email that will be sent to the email address you provide. Your vote will not count until you have validated it.
Rules
1. You must provide a VALID email address for your vote to count. We use your email to send you a message so that you can validate your vote.
2. To vote you must agree to our privacy policy.
3. Multiple votes are cheating and will automatically be discounted.
4. Voting closes on 23rd September.
5. One vote per person – email addresses and IP addresses will be logged.
6. ANY DJ offering incentives for votes will be disqualified.
So you simply need to go and vote, confirm your vote and tell your mates to vote. Get involved!
This is an absolutely incredible short story told by Neil Blomkamp. I can’t help but see the link between literal aliens from the skies and illegal aliens from other countries in South Africa.
Blomkamp seems to be a maverick that is making waves in his field of expertise and I for one, cannot wait to see District 9.
At least it was declared a monument according to the organisers. But let’s be honest, who could possibly argue?
Klaus Bauer over at Zoopy did an absolutely sterling job of his coverage of Oppikoppi this year. If you can believe it, I actually watched a 6 minute video online, maybe we aren’t the 30second generation after all?
I love the fact that everyone shares a common understanding of why they attend the event and it is very simple: Music, boose, music and a couple of drinks. Simple, effective and jovial fun.
Very strange that Jason Von Berg over at the times has produced a story about Mpho, the British (South African) artist. I saw her music video last week on MTV and wondered how a British sounding artist ended up with a name like Mpho. Now I know and if you watch the video below, so will you.
South African born singer songwriter Mpho is climbing her way up the UK charts with her debut single, Box n Locks. The star, who’s famous father is none other then Sipho ‘Hotstixx’ Mabuse, will follow up the single with a full length album called Pop Art in October. Jason Von Berg caught up with in London to find out more.
I am a massive fan of Rolling Stone Magazine. Even more so now that they’ve featured the BLK JKS in their latest feature entitled: Artist to Watch 2009: BLK JKS .
Here’s a little titbit from the article but let’s not give too much away:
It’s Saturday night at a Brooklyn recording studio, and BLK JKS are frustrated. The South African psych-rockers are recording a song for the 2010 World Cup, to be hosted by their home country — an update of an old Johannesburg street chant called “Zol After Zol.” (“Zol” is slang for spliff.) They’ve been tinkering with it for hours, but something still isn’t right. “This bassline,” frowns drummer Tshepang Ramoba, adjusting the pile of dreadlocks atop his head. “It’s kind of, like, very cheesy.”
Mpumi Mcata, the group’s lead guitarist, nods. “It’s not necessarily bad,” he says, taking care not to offend bassist Molefi Makananise. “It’s just, you know … traditional.”
You can head over to the article to get a sneak peak at one of their songs and a great article on the band.
I have a passion for music and love to see young South Africans doing their thing on an instrument. This particular guy (almost called him a kid) seems to have arm extension that look like drumsticks beating those things.
I can’t recall where I found this link, it would probably have been on twitter, so if it was you who tweeted it, let me know and i’ll send through some link love!
