Yes, Bafana Bafana is out of the Fifa 2010 World Cup. Yes we are the only host nation in the history of the World Cup to not make it through to the 2nd round of the tournament but it just isn’t that simple now is it? Bafana blew out of the tournament bit did not crash and burn as they did this, they climbed the ranks of football in a rising fireball.
Yes, let’s just run through that again shall we; Bafana did not qualify for this World Cup and competed on the basis that we were the hosts. We are ranked 83rd in the World right now. We drew with Mexico, ranked 17th. We lost to Uruguay who are ranked 16th and we beat, yes that is correct, we beat the French who are World Cup winners and currently ranked 9th in the world.
I am extremely proud of Bafana Bafana and must say that they played world class football yesterday against the French. The deserved a win and proved that they can compete with the best in the world and come out on top. I also believe that Frances internal politics cannot be an excuse for the French. They are a world class team with world class players and should be able to rise above their own rubbish and win. Their fans must be bitterly dissapointed and they owe their fans an apology.
I’ll still be pulling for the African teams along the way and hope that a few of them manage to make it through and give us Africans something to cheer for.
I am suitably impressed with a news article that I was emailed by a South African friend of mine (Thanks Courts) living in Australia. The article is fair, just and doesn’t bounce about the fact that SA has problems. But it is well-balanced and positive too.
Let me just specify however, that this article was not written by a journalist but an Australian living in SA.
Here’s a little excerpt:
Is South Africa up to hosting an event of this size? Until about a month ago, many locals would have said “no”.
Spookily reminiscent of Sydney immediately before the 2000 Olympics, the locals seem to have passed through an arc of emotions ranging from “no one is going to come” to “the transport is going to be a disaster” to their current mind-set: “This is going to be a hell of a jol [party].”
If Sydney is any guide, the South Africans will spend the latter stages of the tournament putting their case that they hosted “the best World Cup ever” and be properly morose when it is all over.
Images of Cape Town Stadium and Cape Town – produced by African Renaissance Productions and Silver Bullet Productions – to get copies of the images – go to – www.africanrenaissance.co.za
I am somewhat confused about this particular issue. There are three local acts performing at the Fifa 2010 World Cup opening ceremony. There are 4 African stars and 4 international stars performing. OK, so we have 1 less performer than everyone else, that sucks big time right? Wrong.
This is an international show hosted by an international organisation catering to an international audience and I think that out of 11 performers having 7 African is pretty damn good.
Why would local musicians go as far as to propose an event called “Fuck Fifa” (which according the MG Online has been recognised as a bit silly)? I just don’t understand it. Is it egotistical jealousy coming to the fore? I am pretty shocked that Sipho ‘Hotstix’ Mabuse is the stalwart who is driving this rebellious activity.
Let’s take this even further; Hotstix is complaining about the cost of the concert tickets at R450. Has he been to a concert recently and paid? They are not cheap at all and R450 is pretty much inline for what we as South Africans are paying to go and see international acts perform in our country.
Then there is the moaning about the use of an international company to organise and promote the event. Hmmm, how quickly we forget the terrible job done by Big Concerts (SA’s premium concert organise) at The Killers events in JHB and CT recently. If I was an international organisation such as Fifa and I had read any number of the bitching posts online about Big Concerts I’d also use an international company to ensure that the screw ups didn’t happen again.
Don’t get me wrong, I understand that as South Africans we feel that we should benefit as much as possible from something like the Fifa Football World Cup, but can we not maintain a sense of perspective here. This is not an event that is ours alone, it just happens to be hosted on our continent, in our country for the first time in history. The whole world still has to actually watch it, participate and enjoy the event and that involves cultures from around the world and a bit of calm and perspective from our side; it’s not all about us.
7 African actis out of 11 possible slots is not too bad if you ask me. Calm it down a tad and look around while trying to gain some perspective. That’s all really.
I covered the Durban stadium previously. Now it’s Green Point’s turn. Cape Town is one of the most stunning areas in the world and fortunately this stadium does a great deal in adding to that landscape I think.
Another cracking contribution by my man Pienaar – you are on fire!
Mr Jason Bagley is doing good things over at Free Kick TV along with Mike Perk. In their latest episode they go through the ways and means to buy 2010 World Cup tickets. The episode is ten minutes long so be sure to load, buffer, pause, touch play!
