Saturday, 15 May, 2004 was a historic day for football. It was on this day that the members of FIFA voted and announced that South Africa was to be the first ever African nation to host its showpiece event, the World Cup. Six years later and football fans and players everywhere are readying themselves for World Cup 2010. But is South Africa itself ready? And what impact will arguably the biggest sporting event on Earth have upon the nation? This summer the eyes of the world will be on South Africa; make sure you let yours look beyond the pitch and to the country hosting it.
In their World Cup bid the South African Football Association made a series of promises to FIFA upon condition of being awarded the tournament. As soon as the winner was announced, work began on fulfilling these promises and preparing the country for when supporters of the 32 participating nations would swarm upon it. The stadiums which have either been built or dramatically refurbished are already being described as amongst the most beautiful in the world, with the jewel in the crown being the 95,000 capacity ‘Soccer City’. The only issue surrounding them is that the roads, car parks and the rail transport system in the areas around the ground are far from finished. Reports suggest that it will be a real push to get them ready in time. Meanwhile, President Zuma recently opened a stunning new international terminal in Johannesburg’s principal airport and, with an entirely new airport in Durban, the country looks pretty much set to fulfil its guarantees to FIFA.
FIFA, on the other hand, have not been able to deliver on their guarantees to South Africa which could mean that the country might not receive quite the economic boost it would hope for. Initial estimates of one million fans travelling to the country now seem very farfetched and now that the country has prepared for such great numbers, FIFA has re-estimated a much more modest 150,000 visitors. Businesses such as hotels that have expanded based on the original predictions could be severely hit in the summer.
Also due to suffer are many of the poorest people in the country; those who have been relocated due to the building of the stadiums and the homeless who have been evicted from cities for artificial reasons. Some of these people will be able to gain jobs selling caps, badges and anything vaguely football related, although anything that is not official FIFA merchandise, which has been manufactured and shipped in from China, has been seized and the common street vendor bullied out of the market. This will mean that a significant amount of the profit from the World Cup will not stay in South Africa. It will instead fly out of the country, from the newly-built airports, as fast as FIFA officials leaving after the final whistle.
The long term effects, however, could be powerful. Up until 1994 the country was divided by race with black nationals treated as second class citizens. Although apartheid is thankfully dead and buried, its legacy is a largely unspoken racial divide across the country. Football is predominantly seen as a black past-time with only one white player featuring in the South African squad for the Confederations Cup, Cricket and Rugby are the more traditionally white sports with just two black players in the national Cricket team. Although a small minority of white, right-wing, Afrikaners are predicting and hoping for the failure of a project run largely by black Africans, the early signs indicate that the World Cup is uniting the races. A concerted effort is being made so that South Africans together can show the world what their country has plenty to offer.
A friend of mine who regularly travels to South Africa told me of a tangible difference due to the World Cup. When he and a friend first travelled out two years ago they attended an Amazulu FC match in the South African Premier League. There were just 3000 fans and these two were the only white faces in the entire stadium! A year later they went back and things were getting slightly better with about 20 white fans attending. Just six weeks ago they went for a third time to watch their now adopted team in their new stadium, one built for the World Cup. There were 13,000 fans there, but most impressive of all was the mixture of supporters from black, white and the strong Indian community, united by their love of sport.
Football is a powerful tool and hopefully the legacy of World Cup 2010 will be inspiration, empowerment and unity in South Africa.
Paul James
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