Center Line Soccer South Africa 2010 news wrap:
What South Africa wants from hosting

Next year’s tournament will not be the first world cup to be held in South Africa. One of the more important events in the young country’s history — and not just in terms of sports — was the Rugby World Cup of 1995.

That tournament began just over a year after Nelson Mandela’s inauguration as president, and the bonds that held the fledgling democracy together were still tenuous. The psyche of the country was split; long-time political rivals viewed each other suspiciously and, despite Mandela’s advocacy of a “non-racial” South Africa, few people really knew what the day-to-day realities of that lofty ideal would entail.

Mandela used the Rugby World Cup to illustrate exactly what he meant. He embraced South Africa’s team, the Springboks, despite the fact that the sport was almost exclusively the domain of the white minority until that time. Black Africans rarely paid attention to rugby unless they needed to make a political point, either by attending matches and rooting for the Springboks’ opponents or by lobbying for sanctions banning South Africa’s participation in international tournaments as a means of protesting the apartheid government. Mandela recognized the World Cup as an opportunity to embrace a sport that was loved by his former rivals, thereby creating a place for them in the new South Africa.

He succeeded spectacularly — not only did the entire country adopt the Springboks but the ‘Boks and their fans embraced Mandela, going so far as to chant “Nelson! Nelson! Nelson!” when the president appeared on the field before the final. (Mandela was not the only one to make the most of the occasion. Springboks captain Francois Pienaar, upon being asked after winning the tournament what it felt like to have the enthusiastic support of the 63,000 at Ellis Park Stadium, made the perfect reply: “We did not have 63,000 fans behind us today — we had 43 million South Africans.”)

Mandela’s use of sports to build community earned him the Arthur Ashe Courage Award at last month’s ESPY’s, as blogger Dale Williams noted in Friday’s Mail & Guardian Online. The video below shows the segment from the program, including interviews with Pienaar and a number of others.

(As an aside, if you’re interested in the whole story of the 1995 Rugby World Cup and the political climate in the country both before and after the tournament, you might want to read Playing the Enemy: Nelson Mandela and the Game That Made a Nation by John Carlin.)

The 1995 experience plays into South Africa’s hopes and dreams for next year’s World Cup. Already there are letters to the editor, like this one in Business Day, which use the tournament as a jumping-off point for a discussion on the future of the country, or this one in the Weekend Post encouraging the nation to unite behind the goal of hosting the best tournament ever. Business Day also features an editorial examining the rejuvenation that Germany experienced from hosting the 2006 tournament and wonders if South Africa might benefit similarly next year. 

Sporting Web’s article “2010’s Success Depends on You,” begins thusly:

“The success of the 2010 FIFA World Cup is not going to depend on the stadiums and logistics, but rather on the mood of the country. And that mood in turn depends on the extent to which people feel included and involved. The 2010 project for South Africa must have a life way beyond the World Cup, and challenge us to be the best we can be and to make a contribution”, believes John Perlman, renowned journalist and founder of the Dreamfields Project.

One of the things I really enjoyed about my visit to South Africa earlier this year is this civic-minded attitude. You might hear similar words here in the U.S., but in South Africa, they really mean it.

On to the rest of the news:

- A shout out to reader Richard McLennan who sent a link to this virtual tour of the Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban. It’s not quite up-to-date — the images are a month old — but it still shows off the beauty of the new facility.

- You can find additional photos of Durban’s new stadium here. My favorite among this batch reveals a hidden feature — you’ll actually be able to ride a tram to a viewing area at the top of the Wembley-style arch that surmounts the stadium. Too cool!

- Speaking of Durban, Reuters notes that the city has ambitions that go far beyond the World Cup. The region’s new airport is on schedule to be finished by the time the tournament begins, too.

- Here’s one more bit of stadium porn for you architecture fans: a page showing photos of the most recent progress at Cape Town’s new Green Point Stadium.

- Speaking of cool photos, you can get your picture taken with the World Cup trophy this Friday in Johannesburg. That city’s web site also notes that the planting of 200,000 trees in the township of Soweto is ahead of schedule.

- Not everything is on schedule, though. It’s still not known whether the Gautrain, a rapid transit project in Gauteng Province connecting Johannesburg, Pretoria, and the OR Tambo International Airport, will be completed in time for the tournament. East London’s airport improvements have also been delayed, reports eProp.co.za, but are still expected to be finished by the end of March.

- In other transportation-related news, Emirates is replacing two planes on its Joburg route with new Boeing 777s, which means that model will now serve all of Emirates’ three daily departures from OR Tambo.

- South Africa’s Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism is opening another 2010 Visitor Information Center on Friday, this time in the World Cup host city of Polokwane, reports IT Web.

- Cape Town has changed their World Cup tag line from “Africa’s party capital,” to “Ready to welcome the world.” Organizers wanted something a bit more businesslike.

- We have some lodging news to pass along today as well. In Port Elizabeth, the 1832 King Edward Hotel has completed the first phase of its refurbishment, reports the Weekend Post.  Rooms will go for $150 to $180 per night unless you want to stay in His Excellency’s Suite, which will set you back $1,250.

- If that sounds expensive, consider this article on realestateweb.co.za which reports that some Cape Town-area property owners will be looking to boost their rental rates over 700% during the tournament.  Yes, apparently some landlords want to take their flats, typically let at $1,000 per month, and increase that fee to over $7,500!

- It could be worse, though — you could be a member of the media. As the Joburg Times reports, construction of the broadcast village near the new Soccer City Stadium has been halted by a court order. The Mail & Guardian notes that the suit was initiated over concerns that the new, “inferior” plans for “hostel-style” dwellings would lower the value of surrounding property. Concerns were also voiced over allegations that the pre-fab structures would not be insulated, despite the fact that the World Cup will be played in winter.

No insulation? Despite the welcoming attitude exhibited by most South Africans, it sounds like broadcasters were in danger of getting the cold shoulder.

Jay Hipps is managing editor of Center Line Soccer. Follow him on Twitter at jayhipps.