SA Rocks

I was mailed about a fantastically funny site that launched recently called Magic Moments FC.

The premis is simple: Recreate the greatest football goals the world has ever seen with a tongue firmly planted in cheek. The results are hilarious.

When viewing the videos you get a little preview of the goal being remade and then the fun begins. Pseudo-animations appear, the grass emerges from the pitch and assists the players in the recreation of the incredibly skilled moves of the greats like Beckham, Pele and Maradona.

To check out the videos click here.

One of the goals being recreated on the site is Pele’s 1958 goal against Sweden.

Here it is:

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Not only did the 2010 FIFA World Cup rock my world, it rocked South Africa, Africa and the entire world. That might seem like a sweeping statement however last nights match was apparently viewed by close to 3bn people the world over. Massive, massive, massive.

The opening ceremony was incredible as was the closing ceremony last night. But before I climb in to the praise and ask for some public apologies let me run through my World Cup experience.

I went to 4 live games. I attend 4 different stadiums. I partook in 2 different fanparks and visited many, many pubs over the World Cup Month.

The matches I saw

My first game was Denmark vs Cameroon at Loftus. The tickets to that game were provided to me by Brand South Africa and they kicked off my World Cup in serious style. I parked at Hatfield square in Pretoria, devoured a MASSIVE pizza at Cheeky’s pub and then walked up to the stadium. This was also the first time I’d been to Loftus so I was really getting the full experience.

On arrival I kept asking where exactly I should be going until eventually i was pointed towards the closed of section that encased gate 5. Gate 5 provides the entrance and exit for the box seats at Loftus. Yes, you are correct. My first experience of the world cup was in the warmth, comfort and style of box Loftus seats.

Here are some photos:

The second game I went to was the match between Greece and Argentine in Polokwane. The stadium is fantastic, there is very, very little to do around the stadium and that was the day that South Africa beat France. We watched that game at the Fanpark in Polokwane which was jam-packed with supporters.

Alas Greece did not win but I was able to see the great Argentinian team play:

The third game was an incredible experience that I will never forget and it’s all with thanks to a fantastic friend of mine!

Soccer City – the most incredible stadium I went to with the most amazing crowd and vibe. I was fortunate enough to be given VIP tickets to the Argentina vs Mexico Round 16 game. What an experience; the food, the seats and the experience were second to none. On top of that I was able to see incredible football played by both Mexico and Argentina but ultimately Argentina went through.

The Soccer City experience:

And then there was trusty Ellis Park and the Brazil vs Chile Round 16 game. It’s always a pleasure watching the greatest football nation in the world kick around the leather (or Jabulani as it’s known these days).

Here’s a couple pics:

The Apologies

I want to know if the good Editors over in that lovely Island commonly known as England are forcing their staff (read: Naysayers) to throw together some quick apologies? I doubt it. The best revenge is to live well, I was told once. Let’s be honest as South Africans we need nothing more than to let the world see – as they have – how well we have done in hosting the 2010 FIFA World Cup. We ROCKED it, we were given the opportunity to show the world how fantastic our nation is and we grasped it with both hands and ran with it one foot in front of the next.

Personally I would like to see more people thanking Danny Jordaan and his incredible team for their hard work over a period of more than 6 years. They deserve as much credit as they can take in and they now deserve a break; A long and well-deserved vacation.

The Glory

Finally South Africa is not being seen the world over as the nation that overcame Apartheid. That is a great achievement to be known for and I am proud of my history but in the past 30 days (read: 6 years) we’ve been building towards changing the perception of the world. Hosting the 2010 FIFA World Cup I truly feel that our nation can finally feel like we can bask in the glory of a job well done. We were great hosts as individuals, as towns, cities, provinces and as a nation. We partied hard, we played hard, we worked hard and we definitely supported this world cup like no event before it!

I am incredibly excited to see the nation finally jumping on the SA Rocks bandwagon, it’s taken about 3 years and over 1000 blog posts to get to where we are (Oh yes, and the World Cup!) but here we are. A proud nation. I am a proud South African yet again.

The Reality

The truth of this country is a simple one; We like to bitch, moan and look at the dark lining of silver clouds. And that’s where we’re headed. We’re headed in to the hangover period after one helluva party. It’s going to be tough and let me preempt the naysayers before they have the chance to chime in: There are many, many, many problems in this country that the world cup did not solve. There was a lot of money spent on the World Cup that could have been spent on building houses or hiring more police. That is all true. But nothing would have unified a nation like a World Cup. Nothing.

One foot in front of the next, that is how you walk down the road, one foot in front of the next. We start building a nation and the nation will help build itself.

Here are most of the photos from my World Cup experience. A big thanks to Brand South Africa and you-know-who for the tickets I was very fortunate to be given!

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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.

My friend Prudence sums it up perfectly:

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.

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Bafana Bafana might have lost last night to Uruguay in a 3 – 0 thrashing (let’s be realistic about it).

Here are some of my thoughts on the game:

Bafana never really turned up on the night. They were slow, they never moved forward and they refuse to use their wide-open wings to push the midfield forward. But hey, that’s just my thoughts. We didn’t deserve to win that game and we made Uruguay look good.

The referee – is, well, a referee and this is soccer, this is the beautiful game and there is always going to be a controversy for one team or another. This time it happens to be our team and it sucks. Most of all it sucks for our incredible goalkeeper, Itumeleng Khune who in no way deserves the punishment he is going through. Khune played out of his boots against Mexico and Uruguay and really got a raw deal. However, let me say this as clearly as possible; The referee had nothing to do with South Africa losing to Uruguay. You need to score goals to win a soccer match and you can’t score goals from your own half for 90 minutes. We lost because we didn’t play well.

Uruguay played South Africa in to a corner. They were driven, they pushed forward, they made space (which SA gave them) and they took shots on goal. They also scored the first goal which is imperative for a mental advantage. South Africa’s lack of international experience on a major scale showed here, we were a goal down and we couldn’t get our heads out of that framework. We beat ourselves after that first goal.

Plus, Forlan is brilliant. Enough said there.

But let me follow all of this criticism up with the following:

Bafana Bafana make me proud. I cannot even begin to fathom the weight that those players feel on their shoulders; host nation, one of the lowest ranked teams in the World Cup this year, they have records to maintain (such as trying not to be the first host nation not to make it past the first stage of a World Cup) and they have their pride above all. I do not envy their position. When they win they are our heroes and when they lose fans leave the stadium early.

ASIDE – the fans at Loftus who left the stadium early; I am hoping they left to avoid traffic and if Bafana were winning they would have left anyways at that time (a bit of a dream, but still). I was honestly insulted by their lack of respect for a team that is playing their hearts out for the nation. Disgusting.

Now on to South Africa and how we can still win. It’s simple: Be great hosts, don’t be bitter losers and make this World Cup one to remember for every single individual who has traveled to our beautiful nation.

We have still gained so much by hosting the Fifa World Cup 2010. Whether or not Bafana goes through to the next round they have done us proud by simply competing at a level that no one had previously even expected. We drew to Mexico who sit at #17 on the FIFA world rankings. Bafana sit at 83rd on the rankings, so let’s be realistic (yes this is me being realistic) about the outcomes of this World Cup for Bafana; we were probably never going to win it. Ever. Participating at the top level of global football is an achievement that we were only granted as the hosts of this World Cup. Our boys are doing us proud and we should hold our heads high.

There is more football to be played. There are more games to be watched and there many other African nations and underdogs that we can put our weight behind. I’m personally routing for the Ivory Coast to pull in some magic and get through to the next round and I’m hoping that Cameroon can pull together and show the world their class.

Bring on the next 20 or so days left of the biggest sporting event in the world. It’s going to be a blast that we will probably never in our lifetimes see again in South Africa. So let’s make it worth our while and enjoy it.

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What an absolutely incredible day to be proudly South African. The streets have been lined with people, proud people, loud people and people who want to feel the vibe.

Today, I am proud to be part of this country!

Here are many photos and a video or two showing what went on around the country!

Thanks go out to all the people who tweeted and linked to photos!

Jwaneezborg
Mike Stopforth
Fred Roed
Peter du Toit
mikesharman
AmandaSevasti
palesa08
deanoelsch
katiepossum
Sproutsmom
AMyburgh
youngBLOOD

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Last night was the first time I’ve been inside Soccer City. It was my first time driving in a crowd of 75000 people to a stadium to watch 11 men kick a ball around on a grass pitch. I can’t express sufficiently how unbelievably ecstatic I am that I forced myself to mission through the nearly 2 hours of traffic to get there. Johannesburg is ready for the 2010 Fifa World Cup, South Africans are ready and let me tell you so is Soccer City.

The drive to Soccer City in Soweto may have been epic in proportion but there was not a single minute that I didn’t have a smile on my face. People all around me where hooting in beat with other cars, blowing vuvuzelas, whistles and singing. This is in the street, on the highway, I’m not in the stadium yet.

I’m going to try and be as frank as I can about my experiences and preconceived perceptions going in to the game. I was incredibly nervous going in to the experience that I was over-hyping everything. That I would be looked at funny and frowned upon because I didn’t know enough about the team and players, because I was wearing the wrong thing, saying the wrong thing or because I was white. I was wrong, on all accounts.

We parked (that’s an entirely different story that includes my car being parked in by over 20 other cars!) and walked from the Nasrec Expo Center. We then joined masses of people in the walk down Nasrec Road. We were in the middle of the Shosholoza crew it seemed. They sang and sang and sang until we arrived at the stadium itself.

The Vuvuzelas are epic, unrelenting and extreme energy creators. The crowd too was relentless and exuberant. The didn’t stop for a single second, whether we were down, up or on a par with Columbia there was a song going, a Mexican wave flowing or tune blowing from a Vuvuzela.

With that said though, I must admit that I found the crowd to be extremely disinterested in the actual game being played. They watched and waited for the big moments, the free-kicks, the goals and penalties but not for the moments of flair and brilliance that one needs to pay attention to notice. There weren’t many occasions when good play was applauded, with thanks to the Vuvuzelas whether their were applause or not, you wouldn’t have heard them. So that’s my only criticism I think; I wish the crowd would have paid more attention to the game.

But all in all I was incredibly proud to be a part of that crowd, to be a part of this nation and to call myself South African. If ever there was doubt about whether we were ready for the World Cup, let me put many concerns to bed. After what I saw last night, we are ready and waiting. Bring it on and welcome to Africa.

Oh – yes, Bafana Bafana won in a relatively controversial game of 3 penalties (4 if you include the first one being taken twice). What a great way to open Soccer City to international Football, a victory much needed!

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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.

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I was fortunate enough to receive photos of the Moses Mabhida stadium in Durban over email.

I managed to find a source for the photographs. Credit goes to Lefty Shivambu for the all of the photos.

Have a look for yourself.

Forget Greenpoint, Port Elizabeth or any other stadium, this one simply blows my mind.

images: Karen Lotter

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I blogged about the need for 15000 volunteers to come forward for the 2010 Football World Cup. It seems as thought people in SA and around the world are not shy to lend a hand.

SouthAfrica.info reports that over 11000 volunteers have already come forward and offered their services from all across the globe. That’s impressive if you ask me.

Just days after opening its 2010 Fifa World Cup volunteer programme, South Africa has already received more than 11 000 volunteer applications from the country, the continent and the rest of the world.

Danny Jordaan, chief executive of the 2010 World Cup Local Organising Committee (LOC), told reporters after a meeting in Johannesburg last week that around 1 100 of these were from the rest of Africa and 1 500 from overseas.

“South Africans and other countries have responded very well to the programme, and we expect more applications before the closing date [31 August],” Jordaan said.

“This … clearly shows that people are looking forward to the event in which volunteers are significantly important. We are very impressed with the current number of applications.”

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I just read on the Mail & Guardian that Fifa’s 2010 World Cup being held in South Africa is asking for 15 000 volunteers.

Apparently anyone over 18 on March 1 2010 can apply from anywhere in the world:

Anyone 18 years or older on March 1 2010, and who has a good command of the English language, can apply. Application forms are available on the Fifa website or at a number of venues across the Cup’s host cities.

I think this is something very cool to get involved in. Apparently at the Beijing Olympics it was the volunteers who made all the difference. Some debate arose around “manufacturing” ambiance or actually having a real vibe. But lets be honest, we want the stadiums filled, the vibe rocking and the event to run smoothly.

Jobs available to volunteers include: accreditation, marketing, media and protocol services, welcoming and ushering spectators and providing them and other people involved in the event with information.

Applications close August 31 2009 so get cracking.

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