Category: world cup 2010

England to be based in Rustenburg?

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Simon Austin on the BBC Sport website claims that “agreement has been made in principle for England to stay in Rustenburg next summer”.

Rustenburg is not a big place. I went to Rustenburg once, but it was closed. Fortunately, we continued west along the N4 and ended up in Zeerust, with its friendly drive-thru bottle store. From there we headed north until some nice Batswana* border guards with shiny R5 assault rifles politely asked us to stop and turn around. It seemed rude to disagree, though – safe in the knowledge that we were heading back towards a drive-thru bottle store – we felt the need to stop as soon as we were around the corner and down an entire bottle of Amarula. Each. 
Coming face to face with a forceful gentleman in uniform brandishing his well-polished weapon can have that effect on a man.

All of this was a whole road away from Rustenburg though. So, apart from there being a drive-thru bottle store in a town a few miles to the west, why do England want to be there?

It comes down to three things: altitude, logistics and facilities. At 3,800ft above sea level, Rustenburg is great for acclimatising to the rarified Highveld air, it’s only 30 minutes from the small (yet perfectly adequate) Pilanesberg airfield and the hotel and sports complex there (Rustenburg, not the airfield) is still being built – hence the option of some degree of customisation. 

Reports in South Africa claim Capello has already asked for an arcade room, plasma televisions bringing in British channels in each of the rooms, an electric security fence around the perimeter of the site and superb training facilities with manicured pitches.

Former Spurs and England defender Gary Mabbutt, who is advising the organising committee on their World Cup team bases, says such requirements are not unusual.
“Most teams want single rooms for their players kitted out with wi-fi, plasma TV, satellite and Playstations,” he told me.

I’m guessing that DSTV’s selection of repeated episodes of Top Gear from 2004 and repeated episodes of Top Gear from 2005 won’t be enough. Although, given the temperament of Wayne Rooney, repeated episodes of Supernanny from 2004 may be helpful. As may the Cbeebies channel.

While Rustenburg may seem to be the best option for the England team and their entourage, Austin makes a error in comparing it to Baden-Baden where the team was based for the 2006 World Cup tournament in Germany.
There is little in Rustenburg to attract England fans to stay there. Most importantly, it’s only within comfortable travelling distance of 4 of the World Cup stadiums. The major centres of Cape Town and Durban are a 2 hour flight away – and that’s from Johannesburg’s OR Tambo airport, which itself is a 2 hour drive from Rustenburg. It would be like staying in Sheffield, driving to Heathrow and jetting off to watch a match in Madrid. South Africa is big.
Added to that, the villages of Port Elizabeth, Nelspruit and Polokwane are even less readily accessible.
(No-one is ever really sure of how best to get to Bloemfontein, or why you’d want to.)

But there’s no doubt that having one of the big teams staying at your resort means big money.
The Times reports how Val de Vie in Franschhoek is going to extraordinary lengths to attract one of the larger nations including converting its polo fields into practice soccer pitches and planting Fifa-specified turf on them.

The estate’s 2010 coordinator, Martin Botha, said they already have massage and medical treatment rooms and team-building facilities. “We’re going to change the grass to the Fifa specifications for practice fields but otherwise everything else is in place,” he says.

I’ll check out how they’re doing when I head there for The Killers concert in December.

Finally, news just in that (apparently, allegedly) Brazil are going to be basing themselves in Cape Town. However, the same “expert” that predicted this then went on to say that England are going to be based in Johannesburg, so who knows?

Meh. Until things get confirmed (and quite probably beyond that time as well) it’s back to the Amarula for me…

FIFA 2010 World Cup match schedule | Green Point Stadium Webcams | Cape Town Tourism 2010

 * Officially the demonym of the people of Botswana.

No words necessary II

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But sometimes rules must be broken and incisive footballing acumen documented:

Kevin Miles, of the Football Supporters’ Federation, said: “I feel a mixture of delight and relief, especially after the disappointment of missing out on Euro 2008.
“But all the emotions are positive and we have the best chance in years in South Africa. A 100 per cent record in competitive international matches is a pretty good basis for a World Cup campaign. If they keep it up, then we will win.”

Brilliant, Kevin. If England win all their games in South Africa, then they will win the World Cup. And presumably, to do so, all they need to do is score more goals than the opposition. Who knew?

Then and now

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What a difference two years, four months and thirteen days makes (as the song goes) (sort of):

       
Less golf course, more footy stadium. All the boxes ticked, then.

When I was adding yesterday’s photo to my Green Point Stadium Flickr set, I noticed that I had taken one back in April 2007 from almost exactly the same spot on Fritz Sonnenberg.

Fortunately, Fritz is a pretty easy-going kind of chap and didn’t mind me taking the pictures.

Imaginative

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With the kick off of the 2010 World Cup just 279 days away, the Green Point Stadium in Green Point seems set to be renamed. Originally, the name mooted was the African Renaissance Stadium, but who wants to play football in an ARS?

Thus, the Cape Town City Council have proposed that the new name for the new stadium should be (and I hope you’re sitting down for this):

The Cape Town Stadium

It’s both brilliantly simple and straightforward and really, really unimaginative. However, there is apparently method in their madness:

On Wednesday the mayoral committee approved the naming of the stadium going for public consultation after agreeing that “Cape Town” would offer the most brand value, together with flexibility in selling commercial rights for optimal financial and marketing benefits for the city.
Other stadiums in South Africa have either geographically linked, commercial, cultural or heritage names. It was noted that a cultural, heritage or personality name would restrict the selling of commercial rights.

Either way, this latest photo released from the 2010 Organising Committee on their twitter feed shows just how well work is coming along:

cpt
Amazing.  You just can’t fault a setting like this.

We’re almost through winter and still ahead of schedule for the official completion/handover date in December. I’m hoping that my study will be completed by then as well. Although I doubt that Jacob Zuma will come to the opening of that.

At least, he hasn’t RSVP’d yet.

British Journalist Speaks Sense About South Africa SHOCK!!!!!

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It seems that Chief Football Commentator at The Times, Patrick Barclay, thinks that England can win the World Cup in South Africa next year. And he may well be right. They’re playing some great football and getting some great results. And, of course, the 2010 World Cup will be held in the middle of winter in South Africa… 

Now the strength-sapping summer heat of Italy, France, Japan and even Germany gives way to an English footballer’s dream: the coldest World Cup since records began.

…bringing with it the probability of weather conditions which will play right into England’s hands. We like the cold; the Portuguese (if they even manage to qualify) – don’t. Shame.

Barclay’s comments on South Africa were refreshingly honest as well. After all the hysteria which has surrounded South Africa’s preparation for the World Cup, the allegations that stadiums would not be finished, that the infrastructure couldn’t cope, that a lack of security would mean that everything was shifted to Oz at the last minute; well, here is a viewpoint from someone that’s actually been here and watched football. At last!

In Germany — not to mention Japan — trains were a fine method of getting about. In South Africa, forget it. Put yourself at the mercy of the roads and inevitable match-day congestion, get organised into bus-loads with local guides (though security should be less of a worry than some suggest, only a fool would take undue risks) and allow four or five times as long as is recommended for every journey.

To be fair to the hosts, most of the traffic jams we encountered were because of road improvements designed to ensure a smoother flow next year. But do reset your watch to take account of the time-difference between aspiration and reality. Then it can be fun; I have especially fond memories of a day in Soweto, which is keen to take budget guests and will, I was assured, be safe (unlike downtown Johannesburg, which apparently is full of bloody foreigners and hence crime-ravaged).

This isn’t Japan. It certainly isn’t Germany (thank goodness – do you really think I’d be here if it was?). This is South Africa and when in Rome, do as the Romans and expect everything to take longer than it would in Berlin. Or Rome. And of course there will be match day congestion, just like there is at Bramall Lane when United are at home and just like there was before and after the rugby at Newlands on Saturday. This isn’t a problem peculiar to South Africa, nor to football.

Barclay’s piece is not sycophantic, celebratory or (in some ways) even hugely positive about South Africa. But it’s first-hand (compare and contrast Louise Taylor’s Guardian article, mentioned here) and it’s honest. Fans coming to SA next year expecting another Germany or Japan are going to be left confused and possibly even a little disappointed. Not because we aren’t going to do a great job of hosting the World Cup, but because it’s going to be  hosted in South Africa and it’s going to be hosted in winter. Not for us the slide-rule punctuality of the Germans or the Japanese (if you can measure punctuality on a slide rule?), nor the wall-to-wall sunshine of a European July.
Things here are done at an African pace: vive le difference. (We can’t do much about the weather).

Better then that visitors arrive informed, with their eyes open and can get straight down to enjoying themselves instead of having to spend the first 2 weeks of their stay adjusting  to how things are done here and how wet and cold it may be.
All in all, this promises to be a brilliant tournament – just read more of the Patrick Barclay stuff and less of the Daily Maily hysterical rubbish. Oh, and back England to win it. Cos I think they can.