100 days to go !
Are we ready, are we heck. The opening match is scheduled for June 11, just 100 days from today
Mr.Sepp Blatter and his entourage will be getting off their private jet in just 3 months time and wonder what on earth happened? Where did it all go wrong?
As he gets into his limousine he will look right and left and marvel that his African dream has finally come to fruition, as he looks a little further he will see that the shanty’s and corrugated shacks still litter the countryside, no electricity and still no running water.
As his motorcade travels over the potholed roads on the way to his 5 star accommodation, he no doubt will wonder why the infrastructure promised to him all those years ago when he opened the envelope and declared ‘Afrika de Sud’ is not in place.
The view east from the balcony at his hotel will encompass Cape Recife, Bird rock and perhaps a school of dolphins or even a family of Southern Right whales up from the Antarctic to winter and give birth in our warm sheltered bay, should he look to the west he will see a city undergoing massive redevelopment, all delivery promised prior to June 2010 but still 6 or even 12 months behind schedule.
Our 2010 World Cup stadium yesterday received a perfect score from Fifa general-secretary Jerome Valcke ten out of ten, the only one in the country so I’m told (report here.) He’s got to be joking, the stadium itself is a masterpiece and I have written fondly of my visits there since the very first match on June 16th last year, unfortunately the surrounding infrastructure is a complete shambles, I still drive past it three or four times a week, there is absolutely no chance of the road infrastructure being completed in time.
We were promised a ‘rapid bus/rail network’ , ha ha ha ha, 🙂 if the lanes are ready by Christmas I will personally send Uncle Sepp a Christmas card and a Kruger Rand!
We were of course promised a minimum of 450,000 foreign visitors, that appears to now be ‘pie in the sky’ a lot of people have spent a lot of money either building new facilities or revamping existing ones to cater for this ‘discerning’ foreign traveler, no such luck the figure is being reduced on a daily basis, today’s news mentioned 300,000 we get more than that on a single beach here on a good day!
Am I disappointed? Not at all, Blatter wanted an African World Cup, this country will deliver exactly that, after all I’ve been attending ‘African’ events all my life, I can’t wait!
Boadicea's Chariot 
Shame Soutie. But, possibly better that the visitors that do come will see South Africa as She is rather than have a ‘sanitised’ area around the stadium?
We lived in Sydney at the time of the Olympics. There were problems right up to opening day. We were told to take leave, and preferably to get out of Sydney because of the number of roads that would be closed. Money (our money) was thrown around like confetti to make Sydney look good – including $4m to finish a spire on one of the Cathedrals. But far worse, I thought, was that the homeless were told to take themselves off – anywhere – so that they didn’t detract from Sydney’s beautiful ‘image’.
100 days to go till what?
I don’t doubt that it will all be OK on the day, Soutie, or not! Frankly, I doubt that any of these events go completely to plan, but it all seems to happen somehow.
Thanks for this Soutie, a most interesting read.
Personally I regard all these large international events with a cynical and jaundiced eye. Lots of money flows from the taxpayers, many rich and privileged people have what amounts to a private party and at the end of the day the average Joe ends up worse off then he started.
I hope South Africa shows itself off well, but I would have preferred all the investment to have been ploughed into improving basic infrastructure as it should have been in Sydney, Beijing and London. Now there’s a disaster in the making.
Hello Boadicea, FIFA have a similar stipulation here, no beggars, homeless, hawkers, street-children etc.
There are also road closures, no ‘ambush marketers’, all ‘non-scheduled flights’ have to be cleared by our S.A. Air Force, blah blah blah.
It goes on and on, all building works have to be ‘gentrified’, (renovate so as to make it conform to middle-class aspirations.) Ha ha, whose middle class theirs or ours?
They insisted on all of this prior to and during the world cup draw held in Cape Town, December last year, I wrote about it here and concluded “They are not bringing the world cup to Africa but trying to have a private jamboree in surroundings that don’t offend their stuck up noses.”
Morning Sheona
The FIFA football world cup, 😉
Hmm I didn’t realise that it might be have been the Olympic bigwigs – I thought it was the NSW government. Makes it worse. You’ve summed it up beautifully. Whichever way I look at those people who are being thrown out have contributed to the games, if only by what they have not had put in place to ameliorate their condition. I so angry that I get lost for words on things like this!
Ara you are quite correct, our infrastructure was good enough for the Rugby world cup (’95) Cricket world cup (’99) and dozens of other major sporting events. Last year we hosted the British & Irish Lions and at very, very short notice the IPL.
I and my family have attended all of these events, there is no doubt that all will be more than OK on the day (for us anyway perhaps not the fifa bigwigs and their ‘hangers-on’)
Soutie – an opportunity lost?
As you say, after the latest example, the Lions tour, I’m sure the event itself will be great – if you’re interested in the game, of course 🙂
Who mentioned our own disaster in the making? And we used to be so good at this sort of thing…
Howzit Bearsy
Yes, our taxpayers money has been pilfered on a grand scale this last 15 years by the privileged and elite, I have no doubt that it will continue so.
I’m of the opinion that at least this time some of it has been spent on us, there have been a lot of naysayers complaining about our new stadium and the cost, ‘so what’ I say ‘rather have our money spent on something that we and the people of the Eastern Cape so desperately needed than ending up in some corrupt officials back pocket!’
Morning Bravo, I don’t think so, FIFA were hoping (and were probably promised) that our cities and infrastructure would be at least on par with perhaps the smaller cities of Germany and Korea (the previous hosts)
Fat chance.
The event will be a success, local South Africans will earn a bit of extra income, we are going to have 6 week economic fillup, unfortunately not Blatter’s (FIFA’s) way but ours 😉
Soutie, if you’ll pardon the expression, sod the bureacrats 😀
Sheona, doesn’t footie get a mention in your house then? Wonder why.
Thank you, Soutie. I hope South Africa does well.
Janus, football used to be all-important when my sons were younger and playing regularly for school and club. Many a time has a whole team’s kit graced my rotary dryer! I have often wondered how one sock can hold so much mud.
Now I don’t bother about footie unless Scotland is involved. And as you rightly suggest, the lack of interest is because it ain’t this time. I believe some of the neighbours are playing though. Who will wash all the team kits though?
Sheona, I read today that S Gerrard’s Mrs has cried off – probably because she’s sick of kit-washing. She will be replaced by a couple of J Terry’s cast-offs attending the fest to seek peace and reconciliation.
Soutie; thanks for posting this – I enjoyed it. It’s always interesting to hear the view from the ground, and as Boeadacia has said, it’s probably actually better for the country that people get a taste of reality, rather than some souped up PR version. Fascinating descriptions of the area as well; maybe you could do us a blog diary when the time comes….?
Sheona; I am probably even more clueless than you when it comes to footie. In fact, I was always getting bollocked for being clueless on such matters when I was a reporter in Liverpool. So now, I take a perverse pleasure in totally ignoring the existance of the beautiful game… ; )
When it comes to soccer, I am a complete gender traitor it seems.
I cannot abide the business (note not sport). Overpaid, overpriced, overtelevised, oversubscribed. I pray the whole lot goes the way of Portsmouth and the whole sorry debacle simply becomes “over”.
Having said that, I do like to get behind the world cup. I hope SA put on a brilliant tournament and that our hooligans choose to stay at home or drop dead which ever is the least inconvenient.
Hello Claire, a blog diary 🙂
I have enough difficulty trying to write something sensible once or twice a week, I have tickets for 4 matches here (including the England game), I do enjoy conveying what life is like here on the southern tip of Africa, it won’t be a diary, but I’ll do my best to keep you all posted!
Ferret, don’t spoil our fun, I dearly hope that your hooligans do come, we have a warm welcome ready for them here 🙂
I’m no big fan of the commercialized football industry, it’s important for our youngsters to play a sport and if football is their choice sobeit.
I can assure you that our show will be a fantastic occasion, it will be fraught with power failures, transport inadequacies, accommodation disasters and so on. Who cares Blatter wanted an African world cup he’s going to get one!
I suppose the South Africans couldn’t stump up a good race riot?
A quick mau mau style decimation of the UK football supporters would be greatly appreciated, only those in receipt of her majesty’s largess can afford to go.
Give us a bit of a clear out!