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agoonersworldcupdiary
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A GOONER’S WORLD
CUP DIARY
A PERSONAL ACCOUNT OF SA2010
ORIGINALLY POSTED ON
WWW.ONLINEGOONER.COM
BY KEVIN
WHITCHER
gooner.ed@gmail.com
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Introduction
A surprising number of people have requested that I put my onlinegooner ramblings on my three week trip to South Africa
for the 2010 World Cup Finals into one document, which is the reason for the existence of this pdf. Having combined the
diary entries, there are over 31,000 words, which is pushing close to half the word count for a normal book. And for that
reason alone, I restricted myself – in terms of corrections – to going through looking at the red lines Microsoft word puts
underneath mis-spellings and adjusting those that were not merely highlighted because of the way Americans spell things
differently. I also corrected one unforgiveable factual howler where I talk about South African history, getting the Sharpeville
Massacre and the Soweto Uprising confused. The original mistakes are on the website for those who want to see just how
lax I can be when it comes to producing stuff at pace. However, doubtless both factual inaccuracies and plain dodgy grammar remain. And I am certain I have been guilty of repetition on occasion. However, if I did do the tidying I needed to, this
wouldn’t be available for at least another month.
In the time since returning from South Africa, I have read up on some of the aspects of the society that I touch on here,
and have concluded that there is actually a book to be written about this country, but not one geared towards readers of
an Arsenal fans’ website. The positive reaction to my jottings on the road has encouraged me that, perhaps, writing about
non-football issues is something that is worth exploring for me, in terms of what lies ahead professionally. That does not
mean I will stop writing about Arsenal anytime soon, just that it has given me an option to consider. As far as South Africa
goes, there are unquestionably major problems that need addressing, but the World Cup was a much-needed good news
story for the nation, and for this reason, the picture I paint is a positive one. My hope is that the place can use a football
tournament as a springboard to improve the country on many levels. I hope, for those that have not read this before, that
you enjoy my account of the trip…
Kevin Whitcher, 26th July 2010
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Part 1 Getting to
South Africa
O
Thursday 10 June
k, let's begin by dealing with
the hate email in advance.
'Why the f*** do we give a
damn about what you get up to in your
leisure time. Write about Arsenal
instead - or even better, go to hell and
stop writing period.' Or words to that
effect. Er... this is a free website for
which you pay nothing to access the
content of, and you have the choice to
stop reading right here and now.
'Good, I'll do just that, then.' Thank you
and maybe see you again at the beginning of August. Additonally, apologies
to my old mate Bernard Azulay, author
of the ‘A Gooner’s Diary’ blog. My
title’s a little close for comfort, but I
know he’ll forgive me. Imitation is the
sincerest form of flattery and all that.
For those still with me, I'm off to the
World Cup for three weeks, returning
home before the quarter finals (when
the tickets start to get seriously expensive. Until then, I will catch 12 group
matches and four last 16 knockout
games. And as I have the luxury of a
notebook pc with me, and access to
wi-fi, I thought I'd record something of
the trip, as much as for my own benefit as yours. Pure self-indulgence?
Undoubtedly. I thought of setting up a
dedicated blog to do this, but what the
hell, more people are going to read it
here, so I am going to abuse my position as editor of this here website to
relay my World Cup odyssey right
here. Those who have an issue with
this can refer to the opening paragraph.
I am typing on an Ethiopian Airlines
flight from Heathrow to Addis Ababa.
There, I (and i suspect half the other
passengers on this flight) will change
to an onward flight to Johannesburg.
Many will end their journey there,
going by the number of Mexico fans on
the plane, but I will then catch an internal flight to Cape Town. I will travel the
country to catch at least one game in
every one of the ten stadiums by hire
car and the occasional plane, accompanied by fellow Gooner Adam, who
arrives in Cape Town about 14 hours
after I do on Friday morning. That I am
flying Ethiopian Airlines should give
you the impression, and rightly so, that
I am trying to do this trip as cheaply as
possible. We have arranged to stay
with a number of South African
Gooners, who I have managed to hook
up with purely through my involvement
with onlinegooner.com and The
Gooner itself. Undeniably a perk of the
job. Mea culpa for the abuse of position, but wouldn’t you?
I booked the match tickets long before
I even knew who qualified. The aim of
the game was to see a match in every
venue, and this I have managed. Due
to the far flung nature of the venues,
this took quite a bit of planning with the
aim of trying to avoid too many internal
flights. Although (now especially) it is
possible to pick up flights at reasonable rates, once you don't have a car,
it does make getting around in the
actual venues pricey, as taxis are the
safest and quickest option. I imagine
there will be some special buses laid
on between airports and city centres,
but at some point you have to get to
the place you are staying. So in the
end, you are using taxis.
There are a few long drives, but nothing that should prove too much with
both Adam and I able to drive. My travelling companion is a little concerned
about safety, in spite of having visited
the country a good few times. We want
to avoid driving long distances looking
for places we haven't been to before at
night if possible, and there are obviously some places it simply isn't advisable to go. I think, given the amount of
security there will be in the vicinity of
the stadiums on matchday, the biggest
fear is carjacking. The doors will
3
remain locked in town, red traffic lights
will be approached very slowly to
avoid coming to a complete standstill
and the hope is we never see the barrel of a gun pointing at us through the
window. FIFA refuses to replace lost
tickets no matter the circumstances,
which is good of them having chosen a
country that is notorious for violent
crime to the extent that many residences are surrounded by high walls
and barbed wire. There has never
been a World Cup like this in living
memory.
I think, for starters, there are a good
few innocents on this flight. There are
some England fans, a large contingent
from Northern Ireland for some reason
as well as the aforementioned
Mexicans. All were checking in their
hold luggage presumably unaware of
the reputation of baggage handlers at
Oliver Tambo airport in Jo'burg. I have
been to the city a couple of times previously and rarely recall seeing much
hold luggage that wasn't wrapped in so
much cellophane (a preventative
measure to stop the handlers rifling
through the suitcases) that shares in
Clingfilm can only be a must buy on
the South African stock exchange.
With all these naive tourists arriving en
masse, you can be sure there will be
no industrial action amongst the baggage handlers for the duration of the
tournament. Not when the pickings are
so easy. I have managed to travel with
hand luggage only out here.
The return from London to Jo'burg on
Ethiopean Airlines only cost me £475.
And after travelling on so many budget airlines in the recent past, it is a positive relief not to have to pay for food
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and get some free alcohol. I am currently quaffing my second 187ml bottle
of red wine. It helps relax my mind, a
definite asset given that the combined
flights mean I will not arrive at my destination until 21 hours after leaving
London, although that might actually
be 20 on the body clock due to South
Africa being an hour ahead of BST.
The final leg of the journey from
Jo'burg to Cape Town is a criminal
£200 one way. As soon as flights
became available for the World Cup
period, the minimum cost rocketed
from the customary £40 for early bookers. Worse still, for yours truly, in the
last couple of months, lots of extra
flights have been laid on which are a
damned sight cheaper than the
amount I have paid. Oh well, I guess
£675 return all in, isn't so bad, so I am
philosophical about being ripped off for
the internal flight that gets me to the
venue of my first game - France v
Uruguay on Friday evening.
The kick off times in the UK for the first
round games are 12.30, 3pm and 7.30
in the evening. I don't know why there
is such a huge gap between the second and third games. The local time is
an hour later. But people working normal hours in the UK will only be able to
catch the evening matches live from
Monday to Friday. In a sense, it's positive that the games are not being
scheduled for a European TV audience, although a bit of me suspects
that actually, the earlier kick offs are
geared towards the Asian market. One
advantage of there only being one
'after dark' game per day is that it is
winter in South Africa, and when the
sun goes down the temperature can
sure drop. Nine of the games I attend
will be 8.30 kick offs, so I've bought
layers of clothes to keep warm. As a
sop to my other half, I had to do a
week in Egypt recently with the family.
After suffering 40 degree temperatures
there, frankly I will welcome a bit of
chilly weather, even if it seems anathema to a World Cup.
On family matters, the missus was a
little upset about me departing for
three weeks earlier today. Strangely
quiet and obviously a little choked. I
just can't get my head around it. I
behave like a cantankerous git at
home, the kind of individual you wouldn't give houseroom to, given the
choice. And she is going to miss me!
Bloody hell, in her shoes I would be
turning cartwheels at getting shot of
be falling asleep during the France
game.
PS - I have spares for the last 16 (first
knockout round) games in Port
Elizabeth, Ellis Park and Pretoria
(June 26th to 29th) in case anyone is
in need. Just get in touch via the editorial contact email address on this website.
A Mexican fan awaits our
connection at Addis Ababa. His
sombrero is in a plastic bag as
the airline considered it hand
luggage rather than headwear!
me for an extended period. Women. I
just can't work them out. The worst
thing is that this kind of behaviour
gives me licence to continue in the
same vein, although being a sod at
home is not something I consciously
work on, it just comes naturally.
My host in Cape Town is a legendary
SA Gooner named Harv. I've received
a good many emails since striking up
contact, many of which lay into
Arsenal's current manager. It will be
interesting to meet and exchange
views. I suspect the underlying questions for all Arsenal fans reflecting on
the seasons since the stadium move
are firstly, could Arsene have done
anything differently? Did he or did he
not have money to spend that he
chose not to? Is he the best man to
take the club forward now? There's a
lot of soul searching to be done on that
one, but when a player like Cesc
Fabregas wants out, frankly, it's
tremendously worrying, in spite of the
huge transfer fee he will command
from Barcelona before Arsenal relent.
Enough of this for now. We land in
Addis Ababa in four hours. It's 1.20 am
UK time and 3.30 am in Addis Ababa.
We'll get breakfast in about three
hours, so time for some shuteye, or I'll
4
Part 2 Another
report from
the
front line
(Cape
Town)
G
Friday 11 June
reat stadium, terrible game.
Three Arsenal players lined up
for France v Uruguay, and at
times, the French looked as incapable
of breaking down their opponents’
defence as, at times, the Gunners do.
Diaby saw plenty of the ball but had
minimal impact. Defensively, the
French were not seriously tested often
as Uruguay looked happy with the
draw. So little to report on the soon to
be departing Gallas or Bacary Sagna.
Two very well drilled offside traps ruled
the day.
The one thing I have concluded from
the opening day’s matches is that
none of the sides in this group are likely to play a significant role in the latter
stages of the tournament. South Africa
v Mexico was a far better game, in
terms of action if not actual quality.
Carlos Vela’s involvement was hardly
extensive, although he could have
scored had he been as clinical as
South Africa when they had their first
gilt-edged opportunity and took the
lead. I have to say the buzz in the
country is far and above the euphoria
of any in the previous four World Cup
finals tournaments I have attended
(starting in 1990 – I didn’t travel to the
States in 1994, but have heard that –
predictably – ‘soccer’ failed to set the
country alight for the five weeks of the
tournament).
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My host Harv lives out in the Cape
Town suburbs – Diep River to be precise – so I caught a train into the centre to catch the opening game on the
box in a restaurant on the waterfront
with Adam. It was absolutely rammed
by the time it got into the centre, with
many unable to get on as we stopped
at stations further down the line. I was
offered a swig of Bacardi by one very
drunk local who was having the time of
his life. It was interesting to see that
white South Africans are getting into
the football with enthusiasm, as the
game is normally attended by the
black population and white faces in the
crowds at domestic matches are a bit
of a collectors’ item. There is a big
thing here about the tournament being
a unifying factor for the society, in the
way that the 1995 Rugby World Cup
was, and my initial impression is that it
will be successful on that level. And for
that reason alone, it must be hoped
that the host nation retain an interest in
the tournament as long as possible,
even if there were signs in the first half
of their opening match that it might
only last a few minutes, with Mexico
threatening an avalanche of goals.
We get into our seats in the Green
Dolphin restaurant where we were to
watch the South Africa game about
two hours before kick off. The opening
ceremony had just begun. It was a
place where the entertainment was
usually jazz music with a stage at one
end. A television had been plonked on
top of a grand piano, and I doubt any
previous performer would have
packed in as many people as the place
hosted for the ‘Bafana’ game. We were
ready for lunch, but were told by the
waitress that it was drinks only, as the
kitchen staff wanted to watch the
game! This at 2pm with the game not
starting until 4! What the hell, we had
good seats, and everywhere was
rammed. It was standing room only by
the time the game started, including
some standing on tables. Harv had
given me a pack of meat snacks for
the evening game – basically off cuts
of different types of meet that you get
through in similar fashion to a packet
of crisps or peanuts, but with a hell of
a lot of chewing involved. It sufficed for
my lunch, washed down by bottles of
Castle beer featuring South African
footballers on the labels.
Vuvuzelas were out in force on the
train into town, in the city centre, and
inside the restaurant. I have already
become immune to them. I did not
expect there to be so many at the
France game as I believed there would
be more visitors from abroad inside
the actual stadium. However, this
proved not to be the case, and the
buzz continued. It does actually help
the atmosphere as it was a hell of a
dull game and without the sound these
extended plastic horns provide, the
event would have seemed very flat.
The stadium reminded me a little of
Arsenal’s, except the roof was shaped
how it is supposed to be, allowing
even those high up a complete view of
the venue. Additionally, the middle tier
is larger. What those watching on TV
might not have seen were the swathe
of empty seats in a very large VIP section running along most of the side
where the players’ tunnel and the
benches were. Aside from that, the
attendance was healthy. I was
intrigued by some members of the
crowd. They didn’t look like football
fans and were probably there to check
5
out the new stadium and see what all
the fuss was about. It’s a shame the
match was such a let down on that
front. It would have failed to convert
the uninitiated.
Trains were running to the suburbs
until three hours after the match finished, a special concession for the
tournament. I caught one at 11.30 and
it was as rammed as the one I caught
in. Many had not attended the match
at the stadium, but just flocked to the
centre to see both games on screens,
and be a part of the communal experience. This included many families,
especially white ones, with young kids.
The day was like one long party and
there were a lot of shattered people at
the end of it. There were a few hiccups
in the matchday organisation, such as
bottlenecks on exiting the stadium
which should be addressed, but it’s a
learning process. Having used public
transport for the first match, I have to
admit that from here on, I will be glad
we are in a hire car, with the aim of
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Part 3 England Always good
for a bit of
drama
Fans of South Africa and Mexico watching their team play on a TV
propped on top of a piano in the Green Dolphin
using the ‘park and walk’ car parks, on
average about 20 minutes walk from
the stadiums.
I am writing this on an internal flight
from Cape Town to Durban, where we
hook up with our next host Ian. Harv
was the perfect host. We had a braai
(the South African version of the barbeque) on the night of my arrival,
where we were joined by fellow
Gooner Warren. Harv’s missus was
away, so it was fish and a toasted
sandwich, without the traditional braai
accompaniment of salad. Things are
very traditional in these parts. No
women = no salad! It was interesting
to speak to Arsenal fans who rarely, if
ever see the team in the flesh, and
hear them echoing exactly the same
concerns as I hear from those back
home. Harv greeted me on arrival at
the airport with a chant of ‘Wenger
out!’ No need for one of those taxi
cards with my name on it! The man
can talk like a machine gun. It’s as if he
verbalises every thought in his head,
thinking fast to boot. Rather strangely,
this doesn’t end up with him speaking
a load of tosh, so he’s great company,
with never a dull moment. It’s a shame
I won’t be back in Cape Town for this
tournament – frankly, it’s a bit too far
away from the other stadiums to justify
the trip - but I hope one day to return,
just to do all the leisure stuff the area
offers. My thanks to Harv for doing the
hospitality honours, and indeed, getting up at 7 on a Saturday morning to
get Adam and myself to the airport. My
World Cup trip may have started with a
poor game, but I will have good memories of my brief stay in Cape Town.
Another word about the enthusiasm
for this tournament over here. The
South African World Cup squad went
on an open bus top parade in
Johannesburg on Wednesday and the
crowds were unbelievable. So big that
the photographer for the national
newspaper I bought (The Star) could
not even get a shot of the bus, just the
crowd. I guess he couldn’t get near
enough to actually see anything. There
are echoes of a similar pre-tournament
event in Glasgow in 1978, when Ally
McLeod’s squad did a circuit of
Hampden Park before heading off to
Argentina and the ignominy of defeat
by Peru and a draw with Iran. At least
though, there is little real assumption
South Africa are going to win the tournament, unlike Scotland 32 years ago.
However, if the hosts make it as far as
the last eight, I expect another parade.
It’s not an easy group they are in, but
France and Uruguay sharing the spoils
last night will help them.
Today’s a bit of a rest day once we
reach Durban. We pick up the hire car
and drive to Ian’s, where there will be
another braai, followed by today’s
three matches on the box. England v
USA completes the evening, and we
attend the Germany v Australia match
on Sunday evening. We are off and
running. One match down, fifteen to
go...
6
D
Saturday 12 June
ay two of the World Cup and a
rare day without attending a
match. Our host for the Durban
leg of this trip is Ian, who lives a fair old
drive from Durban itself, but in a beautiful area. I could get used to this. He's
very much a pro-Wenger man, in contrast to Harv, and can't wait until the
new 25 man squad rule and the financial fair play stuff comes in, as he is of
the view that Arsenal will seriously
profit on the field from the work
Wenger has been doing in recent seasons.
World Cup-wise, a day of three games
on the box. I have to confess to only
catching the last 20 minutes of South
Korea's win over Greece. The empty
seats at Port Elizabeth told their own
story. The game was a tough sell and
there aren't many casual visiting fans
down that way as it is another fairly
isolated venue. So tickets were doubtless plentiful and many left unsold.
Looked like quite a stadium though. I
was sitting in a reclining chair and drifted off to sleep before the game finished. Apparently this can be an effect
of altitude, and although we are within
reach of Durban here, we are actually
quite high up. Mind you, I often fall
asleep in front of matches on the box
at home, so I'm not convinced.
Just as well I didn't nod off that in the
hire car we picked up from the airport
in Durban. The road to Ian's was a
good one, but some of the driving of
other road users is unpredictable. You
unquestionably have to have your wits
about you. As soon as I see a taxi bus,
I already know to expect the unexpected and sure enough one cut me up
today. I saw it coming, so no harm
done. It's like watching my son playing
Super Mario Kart on his Nintendo Wii,
although with potentially fatal consequences for the unwary. Thinking
about it, the only World Cup I have
attended where a car was not the main
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in your pocket. Don't know if anyone
caught this guy on TV. He was at the
end France attacked in the second
half, nearest the goal on the right wing
side. He must have had full accreditation to be there, but what kind of photo
agency or newspaper sends a photographer along to the World Cup Finals
game with a piece of equipment more
suited to taking pics at a kids' birthday
party? Surreal.
mode of transport for me was eight
years ago in Japan. The trains were for the most part - so good, it made no
sense to attempt to get to grips with
the Japanese road system. And I have
a vague recollection that the road
signs were all in the native alphabet
anyway, so frankly, I'd have struggled
to find my way anywhere. Any time a
hire car is involved, it's a joy for me to
drive something less than two years
old, relying on an old banger at home.
We are driving a Honda 'Jazz'. Never
heard of it before today. Drives nice
though. Struggles a little on steep hills,
but hopefully that means small engine
- less petrol.
Enough of 'Top Gear'. What you want
to read about is England. Fabio
Capello can drill his side all he likes,
but when you get the kind of clanger
Robert Green made, there is nothing
any coach in the world can do other
than drop the clown for the next game,
which I am sure the manager will do.
The texts were flying around. Mostly
from Harv in Cape Town. 'Sign him up
Wenger', followed by an 'Almunia for
England'. Harv backed the draw at 3-1
as did Ivan Merc, a Russian Gooner
who emails me regularly. I had a feeling they'd be right but haven't had
enough time online to start betting on
these finals, except for a 15-1 bet on
Nigeria making the last four I put on
months ago. The Rustenburg match
was a cracking game for incident
though. Feels like the finals have
taken off in terms of drama, in contrast
to Friday. And a special mention for
Capello for yanking off Milner after 30
minutes. Not playing well and on a yellow card. The manager could see what
was coming and made the change
before the referee removed him from
the encounter via a second yellow
card. Now that's management and
thinking on your feet during a football
match. Arsene's substitutions are so
predictable they have become a tired
joke.
The Argentina game was also a good
watch. I don't think Maradona's team
can go all the way because the
defence really doesn't seem to cope
with danger all that well. Nigeria had
plenty of chances. Argentina have the
players to win the tournament, but I am
afraid - even if he might be a good
motivator - Maradona is not a great
manager. They are not organised or
disciplined enough to win the tight
games against the top sides, although
they will doubtless qualify from their
group after their opening game win.
Maradona himself is great entertainment in his technical area. I can see
him being dismissed to the stand
before his team go out, probably in the
last 30 minutes of the match they do.
Sunday evening is Germany v
Australia, following a mooch around
Durban. It's been a relaxing Saturday,
but we now have five games in five
days. After Durban, there follows
Bloemfontein,
Johannesburg,
Nelspruit and Polokwane. I can't even
remember who we will be watching
where after the Durban game. The fixture list just kind of merges into a conglomerous lump in my mind until I consult our printed out schedule.
One final note before I forget. At Friday
night's France v Uruguay game, I was
using my binoculars when there were
corners at the far end, and I spotted a
press snapper using the kind of mini
digital camera you and I would use on
holiday. There he was behind the
hoardings near the goal, lined up with
all the other snappers and their phallic
zoom lens attachments. And although
his digital camera was on a tripod, it
was just some tiny thing that would fit
7
Part 4 Aussies
thrashed in
Durban
I
Sunday 13 June
think it was after the fourth goal went
in, but an Aussie behind us, leaning
on an iron stanchion, then headbutted the thing about six times. I was
rooting for the Germans on the basis
that it is always good to see the
Australian sense of superiority punctured. The Aussies now face Ghana in
a game that would see them eliminated from the tournament if they lose.
Their World Cup could be over before
it's a week old. Shame.
Arsenal have been linked with Robert
Green and Mark Schwarzer as the
answer to their goalkeeping problem.
After this weekend, at least both
should be a bit cheaper. When I saw
the German line-up before the game, I
wasn't convinced their squad was particularly strong. Many of the subs'
names were ones that I'd only heard
fleetingly. Not many with reputations.
But they played a quality match both in
attack and defence and look very
solid. They will probably win the group
and If England are second in theirs,
the two will meet in Bloemfontein on
Sunday June 27th. It's an incentive for
England to try and win their remaining
two group games by getting better
results than the USA and Slovenia.
It was a relaxed morning at Ian's outside of Durban. I got up to catch the
sunrise, whilst Adam caught up with
his sleep. Around lunchtime we headed into the City and parked up in a
Casino car park for a fiver, or 50 rand
if you prefer. It was 400 metres from
the stadium, which looks like a five star
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like Berlin's Olympic Stadium.
However, it has evidently been built for
athletics use too, even if the circumference was covered in grass. It is quite
evident that after the tournament, this
will be ripped up and a track laid. I
understand why stadiums are built for
multi-purpose, but the world's best are
invariably those where the crowd are
closer to the field of play.
Watching Ghana play Serbia at the Fan Fest on the beach at Durban
Arabian tent from the outside. The
weather was marvelous - shorts and tshirts stuff, with the waves of the indian Ocean hitting the Durban beach. It
was a great feeling to be in the area.
There is a large Indian population in
the city, and the beachfront area was
packed with a lot of young people out
to enjoy a unique Sunday afternoon
with the game to follow that evening.
I'd wax lyrical about the sights that had
my eyes on stalks but I'd be in trouble
when I got back home. Suffice to say
that, remembering this is the pit of winter here, a man could get used to this.
Our interest in the Slovenia v Algeria
match was minimal, and we had lunch
in an Indian restaurant, before heading
for the Fan Park further along the
beach to catch the second game of the
day between Serbia and Ghana. I'm
not normally a big lover of these
places, but this one was on the beach
and although healthily populated, not
so crowded it was a pain. We were
able to sit on the sand to watch the
game, as most people were happier
sitting than standing. The locals were,
unsurprisingly, rooting for the African
team, and there was great joy when
Ghana won and converted their penalty. Overall though, it was a game without much entertainment. The brief
glimpses I caught of Slovenia's victory
suggested I didn't miss much there
either. I was convinced the match we
were attending would be an improvement and I was bang on.
The thing about the times the matches
are staged is that whereas there is a
half hour break between the two afternoon games, there is then a two and a
half hour gap until the evening kick off.
I think I've mentioned in a previous
entry that I think this is geared towards
television audiences in Asia, as at previous tournaments the games have
been more staggered. Writing this in
the passenger seat on the way to
Bloemfontein to catch Alex Song's
Cameroon play Japan at 4pm, I know
we are unlikely to see any of the
Holland v Denmark game at 1.30, due
to the need to get parked up (almost
certainly a park and ride today) and
reach the stadium. But on the upside,
we will get back to our guest house in
good time to see the evening match,
featuring Italy.
In Durban, it was dark by the end of
the Ghana match, so we headed back
up the beach in the direction of the stadium, getting in over an hour before
kick off as the security checks were far
better organised and much quicker
than Cape Town, presumably because
there were simply more staff and more
entrance gates. The stadium itself
looks great with a Wembley-esque
arch over the centre. There is also a
gap in the upper tiers at one end, a bit
What struck me as we took our seats
was that - over an hour before the
game - the vast majority of spectators
were already in the stadium and making a hell of a racket. And most of
these were neutral fans, blowing their
vuvuzelas. A pretty significant proportion of the crowd were obviously from
Durban's Indian population - surefire
evidence that the tournament is bringing people to the stadiums who would
not normally attend football matches. It
is very much an event that everyone is
getting into, a further argument that
the game can be a unifying force in a
country where such things are desperately needed if the place is to continue
to shake off the legacy of a history that
saw it banned from international sport
for so long. The great thing about all
this buzz is that you feel like you're at
someone's party and don't get bored
waiting for the game to start. There
was a woman in a Liverpool away shirt
near us supporting Germany. I've no
idea where she was from, but it was
ironic that, soon after her arrival,
someone blew up about 15 beach
balls and a bit of crowd volleyball followed until the game began.
Our seats were low down behind the
goal. There were about seven rows in
front of us, and never mind the goalline, the advertising hoardings meant
Durban’s Moses Mabida Stadium: Not many shouts of
‘That one bounced behind the line ref!’ from the cheap seats
8
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tight. I knew before I came that I'd
probably be coming back for a nonfootball trip at some point in the nottoo-distant future, and all I've seen and
experienced so far merely confirms
that. Additionally, up to this point, I
would say that I've never felt that I am
in any danger. Obviously we are not
doing anything blatantly stupid, but I
was able to pluck out my digital camera in Durban yesterday without feeling someone was likely to rip it out of
my hand. I am sure some things will
happen to some visitors. Some crime
is unavoidable. But overall, I would
have to say that the impression I get
here is that the visitor is king and people are doing their best to make sure
that they have an enjoyable and positive experience of this country. Long
may it continue.
Cameroon v Japan this evening. I
have a feeling I might not be able to
get this online until after I've attended
the game, but you'll get the impressions as and when i can get online.
we could not see the line at the edge
of the six yard box. I call that restricted
view, but fortunately, Germany's first
two goals at our end hit the back of the
net at head height, so we could enjoy
them in their full glory. We spotted a
sparely populated section next to the
press box on the second tier and
moved there at half time, giving us a
decent view of the second half
German goals. Along with the drama
of England's draw with the USA, this
was surely the best 90 minutes of the
tournament so far, and the World Cup
desperately needed a game with a few
goals and a team that made a statement.
Driving back to Ian's afterwards was
interesting, if only to see how poorly lit
some of the main roads are. It is a
good argument to find where we are
staying in daylight, as trying to look for
road signs (many were simply unlit,
even on stretches of motorway) when
you have not driven a route before
could be hazardous. We departed
from Ian's this morning, but will return
at the end of next week for a couple
more nights. Many thanks to him and
his better half Annie for their hospitality. A beautiful home in a lovely setting.
As we left there were monkeys traversing the phone lines outside their
house. On the road to Bloemfontein,
we made made contact with our host
in Johannesburg, Martin, who suggested a scenic route with some lunch
on the way. Looking at the timings and
realising that we will need to probably
park up by 3 (after having dropped our
bags at the guest house a little way out
of town), we can see that we won't
have time to see some of this beautiful
country. If we'd known before, we
could have left at 7 instead of 8 this
morning, but Adam said he took an
age to get to sleep last night (no troubles here at all on that score!), so we
expect to reach our digs approx 1.30
this afternoon.
It's a highly predictable aspect of this
trip that there is going to be so much
that we simply won't have the opportunity to see, as the schedule is quite
9
Part 5 - If
it's Monday,
it must be
Bloemfontein
T
Monday 14 June
he journey from Durban to
Bloemfontein took seven hours
in the end. There were some
slight delays due to roadworks, but
hoping to make it in five hours proved
somewhat optimistic. We listened to
the first hour of the Holland v Denmark
match on the radio. It didn't sound as if
Nicklas Bendtner set the world alight,
but that Robin van Persie put in a
decent performance.
We reached the outskirts of Bloem (as
the people here call it) at about 2.50
(kick off being at 4). As the park and
ride was in the direction of our guesthouse, going away from the centre, we
opted to use it. It was far less popular
than we feared, so there was no problem getting out after the game. We
were dropped off about 100 yards from
the stadium and made our way in with
plenty of time to spare.
The stadium in Bloem looks quite old,
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and retrieving them with the credit card
used to book them. However, the
empty seats do not dent the atmosphere, they simply don't look good on
television, rather like those at Arsenal
which may have been sold, but indicate a lack of interest.
A young South African plays a mean vuvuzela
although Adam told me it was only built
15 years ago for the Rugby World
Cup. Whatever, I liked its character.
Good steep stands with a setting winter sun behind the west side that was
reminiscent of Highbury. This was the
first game featuring an African side
that we had attended, and the crowd
were even more into having a party as
a result.
The game, between Cameroon and
Japan, was fairly uneventful for a long
time. We were disappointed not to see
Alex Song and the only Arsenal interest (aside from players the club have
been linked to, such as Mbia) was the
introduction of Junichi Inamoto for the
last few minutes of the match from the
Japanese bench.
However, the crowd were not going to
rely on a field full of pampered overpaid footballers for their entertainment,
and just got on with having a good time
featuring the inevitable vuvuzelas,
using the instruments both to make
noise and as an accessory for some
crowd dancing. if the game was not
warranting interest, then you simply
watch the crowd. I was entranced by a
young boy with his father sitting near
us, about five years old and blowing
his horn for all he was worth. He got a
mean note out to boot. In the second
half, as it got a little chillier, his dad
wrapped him up in a blanket in the
design of the South African flag. He
continued to use his instrument and
the effect was kind of symbolic.
During the game, it really struck me
that this is a totally unique World Cup.
And for that reason alone, it is wonderful to experience it first hand.
Apparently there have been a lot of
complaints about the vuvuzelas.
Whether these are from people watching on TV or those attending matches,
let me state that I think they are
absolutely wonderful. If you are at a
game and part of the experience, I
can't see how you would fail to be converted by the atmosphere they create.
And they are not deafening either.
You'd think so hearing them on TV, but
unless someone is blowing straight
into your ear, there is no problem. I am
sure if someone brought one to an
Arsenal home game, they wouldn't get
it past the security check at the turnstile. Therein lies the difference
between the approach to life in
England and South Africa. If you go
somewhere to be entertained, no-one
is going to stop you having a good
time. Of course, this society has an
infinite number of problems, but with
this tournament they are at least trying
to work on it.
There were a good number of empty
seats in the stadium. Some, were simply unsold. There are many many corporate boxes completely unoccupied, I
suspect because of the asking price
FIFA came up with. Having said that, I
believe a number of these go with the
sponsorship deals for the major companies that advertise around the pitch.
Possibly they simply could not afford
to fly their guests in and pay the doubtless extortionate hotel prices they
were being asked. Some of the ordinary seats, I suspect, have been
bought by fans abroad who, on discovering how expensive it would be to
come here, decided simply not to use
their tickets. They will not even have
an unused ticket as some kind of souvenir, as you can only collect tickets by
physically turning up in the country
10
As for the game, Cameroon were
tremendously disappointing, fashioning about two chances of real note that
I can recall. I didn't expect great things
from Japan, but they defended well
and were certainly worth at least a
draw. I doubt they will beat either of
Denmark or Cameroon, but then I didn't expect them to get anything from
this game, so who knows.
The weather has changed a little. The
sunshine was glorious in Bloem, but it
was very much winter sun, and we
were well wrapped up for the game.
Watching Italy and Paraguay play in
Cape Town last night, I was relieved
we had moved on from there before it
rained. It looked seriously like a seriously heavy downpour, although even
that didn't seem to dampen the atmosphere.
It was dark after the game, and finding
our guesthouse - which we had not
had the time to do before the match was a little tricky, due to the lack of
light on road signs. Fortunately, we
had decent directions and were able to
find the place with a little sharp braking
at a couple of turn offs. A good night's
kip and we are all set to head off to
Johannesburg where we will meet up
with our next host, Martin. The evening
game takes us to Ellis Park to see
Brazil take on Korea. I lost track of
which day of the week it was for the
first time yesterday, which will become
a very common occurrence on this trip.
I'm definitely getting into the swing of
things though, and am now glad I
made the trip.
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Part 6 Johannesburg
- This is the
winter
World Cup
after all
B
Tuesday 15 June
razil beat North Korea 2-1 at
Ellis Park and it felt like winter
was definitely here after all.
We've got away with it weather-wise
until now, with some very pleasant
conditions to attend football matches.
Not so today.
We arrived in Johannesburg about
3pm and were met at a rendezvous
point - a Shell garage - by our host
here Martin. We will be staying at his
place tonight, before returning on
Friday for a good six night stretch that
will allow a little relaxation in our
schedule. His house is situated in a
secure private housing estate in the
Bryanston area near Sandton. To get
past the security gate, we needed to
tail his car in. Martin suggested we get
to the ground early and was good
enough to offer us a lift. This put paid
to watching the Portugal v Ivory Coast
game, but not really having a clue
about how to get to the venue, we
were happy to head off with a local at
the wheel.
Traffic was bad on the way, with a slip
road onto a main road being reduced
to a single lane and later on, an accident. It was the beginning of rush hour
to boot. Still, eventually we got fairly
close, driving through a notorious area
(for crime, one of the city's no go
zones) called Hillbrow. Before we were
really out of it, cars were not allowed to
get any closer to the stadium so Martin
dropped us and arranged to pick us up
at the same spot after the match. I
could see by the close proximity of the
Ponte Tower (apologies if mis-spelt,
I'm not able to check on this stuff
online at the moment) that we were
certainly not out of the woods in terms
of reaching a safe area. It was surreal
that Ellis Park - an international sporting venue - was situated in such a rundown area, but when that, and indeed
the tower, were constructed, this was
obviously not the case. The tower is a
cylindrical block of flats that is hollow
in the middle. People access their front
doors from walkways on the inside, but
once the more affluent moved out of
the area, it was overtaken by squatters. Those on the higher floors used
to throw their rubbish out of their front
doors down into the hollow centre of
the tower, so much so that there came
a time when those that lived on the
bottom two or three floors could no
longer access their flats, due to the
rubbish piling up. Still, as they were
squatting, no-one was going to clear
the rubbish for them. Martin told us it
was full of Nigerians these days, which
doesn't suggest that much rent is
being paid, although I think the rubbish
in the centre was cleared some time
ago.
With three hours to kick off and the
temperature dropping, we had time to
kill and certainly didn't fancy sitting in
the stadium that long. We found where
the entrance was, but turned away to
have a stroll to see if there was anywhere we could sit down and have a
drink, but such places tend to be found
in shopping malls and not on the
street. However, we walked past an
internet cafe and at ten rand an hour
(£1), it was a good way to kill some
time indoors. The door was locked as
a precautionary measure - they sold a
few other things in there - but they
opened up to let us in. Given the area,
I am fairly confident that white faces
entering were something of a rarity,
but custom is custom. They were glad
of it, and for about 55 minutes, we
were their only customers. The connection was slow, but we were able to
check email and the like. The equip-
ment had certainly seen better days.
This was the fag end of this society, at
least as far as Johannesburg was concerned, but the people were fine aside from the guy on the door and the
one manning the cash till, a couple of
others were just sitting there doing
very little, occasionally watching a TV
with an appalling picture. 'Come back
again,' they said when we departed.
The area was also choc-a-block with
street hawkers selling football souvenirs - hats, scarves, flags, vuvuzelas. Some were just selling ear plugs.
Given the cold, I bought a woolly hat
for 30 rand. When I checked my email
there was a request from home for a
vuvuzela! I bought one of those on the
way out. At some other stadiums, I
suspect street sellers would be
cleared away on FIFAs behest, but the
police in this area had bigger fish to fry
ensuring everyone got to the game
and away from it safely. When Brazil
play at World Cups, there are normally a few modestly attired girls who
dance the samba to the accompaniment of drums. If there were any here,
they were well wrapped up. The forecast said it would be minus three
degrees and I think they couldn't have
been far out.
The Ellis Park stadium, sight of the
1995 Rugby World Cup Final, was
apparently built in the early 1970s.
With the doors to the hospitality boxes
on walkways visible from the exterior,
it looks like a council block with a football stadium roof. Once inside, there
was a powercut and darkness for
about 30 seconds before the stadium's
generators kicked in. This - I assume was the reason behind billows of thick
black industrial smoke pouring out of a
Ponte Tower - Notorious Johannesburg landmark near Ellis Park
11
10/8/10
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pipe straight into the lower concourse
behind one of the stands. It hung thick
in the air as people queued to buy food
and drink. This place was not of the
standard to be hosting any major
sporting event. There was a large
videoscreen at each end of the pitch,
but only one of them worked on this
night, meaning the set of supporters at
the end of the working screen either
had to crane their necks or do without.
However, our seats were a row from
the back in the upper tier pitchside and
the view was fantastic, so no complaints on that front. It was a bit
cramped, but the closer we were, I
guess the warmer we were. It certainly felt even colder when we left after
the match. Brazil had the ball most of
the time, but when North Korea did
manage to gain possession, they
looked tidy and capable. The 2-1
defeat was no disgrace at all given the
opposition. Brazil certainly took long
enough to finally break through and all
credit to their opponents on that score.
I will admit though that the sheer cold
had me watching the clock a little in
the second half. Having watched the
Confederations Cup on the box a year
ago, I knew there was a chance it
could be like this. However, warm as I
was up top, I wish I'd worn an extra
pair of socks and brought some thermals. I hope this will turn out to be the
coldest game we attend, but I've a
feeling it might not be. Brrrrrrrrrr....
Part 7 - Sun,
glorious sun
in Nelspruit
T
Wedneesday 16 June
hank God for good old African
corruption. It may hold the continent back from developing in a
huge way, but occasionally, it can work
in your favour. On the road from
Johannesburg to the Chile v Honduras
game at Nelspruit, there was a single
lane stretch of road on which I overtook a slow lorry. The markings suggested I shouldn't, but the road was
straight and flat and there seemed no
danger. The authorities were obviously aware this was a good overtaking
point (and an illegal one) as I was
pulled over by some roadside police
once I'd overtaken. The fine was 500
rand - £50. I knew I didn't have that
much cash on me, and went to ask
Adam how he was fixed. While he was
searching, I returned to the police car.
A black driver had also been pulled
and wasn't going through the same
routine as me. I suspected he was
simply paying them off and offered the
officer with my licence 100 rand - a
tenner, explaining I didn't have 500
and that if he was happy with this, I
could be on my way and I wouldn't do
it again. He accepted without question,
no need for any paperwork. He's a tenner up and I've saved £40. Everyone's
a winner.
We got to Nelspruit in decent time and
used a park and ride as, with the stadium out of town, there was no parking
anywhere near it. It was efficient
enough. Back in Johannesburg,
Martin's wife Sue had made us some
sandwiches. On entering the first
security check, I was told that no food
was allowed inside the stadium. I think
there is a human rights issue here, but
I wanted to see the game rather than a
solicitor, so I withdrew and eat the food
before entering. I have a few spares
and for about 25 minutes, held a sign
up offering them at face value. A couple of potential buyers took my phone
number, but no sales. it was glorious
sunshine in Nelspruit though, so it was
a pleasure just to stand in the sunshine and people watch. It was interesting to note that a fair number of uniformed schoolchildren were going in,
suggesting free tickets to fill empty
seats had been distributed. This venue
certainly isn't an easy one to get to,
although credit to a decent number of
Chile and Honduras fans for making it.
The stadium itself is a cracking one with the supports holding the upper
tiers looking like giraffes. There are
justified questions about its use after
the tournament. I guess there is a local
12
football team, but it doesn't seem like a
big town. I recall some of the stadiums
in South Korea were actually demolished after the World Cup as there was
no further use for them. In Japan there
are certainly a few white elephants,
such as the stadium in the far west of
the country in Oita. A local team plays
there, but the crowds will never make
the place feel anywhere like remotely
full.
As for Nelspruit, the atmosphere during the game was incredible and made
the football at times an irrelevance. I'd
intended to bring in the vuvuzela I
bought outside Ellis Park to take back
home, but forgot it in the car. I'll give it
a blast on Thursday at Polokwane
instead. Still, my contribution was not
exactly missed. Chile were much better than Honduras, no great shock
given the teams they had to beat to
qualify. USA and Mexico are the
decent sides from the North American
zone. I remember Costa Rica having a
half decent World Cup Finals once, but
I can't see Honduras getting through
this group in a month of Sundays.
It was re-assuring to drive to our
guesthouse in daylight, especially
given how rural this area is. The
Kruger National Park is nearby, and
the roadsides far greener than in the
parts of the south and centre we've
driven. Our destination was Hazyview,
about an hour and a half's drive north
of Nelspruit. As a rule, the roads in this
country are uncrowded outside of the
major cities. Once we reached
Hazyview, the guesthouse was 14km
down a road with no turn offs, a fair
number of guesthouses and a greater
number of potholes. We arrived in time
to catch the last 35 minutes of Spain v
Switzerland on the box, a little surprised to see the Swiss one up. I suspect both teams should qualify after
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Page 13
progress, as four points will not put
them through on goal difference after
the scale of their defeat to Uruguay.
Adam fell asleep during the first half
and I left him to his slumbers, even
though I had done the driving that day.
He was well gone. As a father, I've
become accustomed to less sleep
than I'd like, and the bags under my
eyes are a testament to parenting
rather than burning the candle at both
ends. They look particularly bad in the
reflection on my laptop screen, but
maybe I'll catch up with my sleep one
of these decades and they'll miraculously disappear.
the Swiss victory, although Spain v
Chile could now be a huge game at the
group's conclusion.
The place we are staying is called
Cuckoo Ridge, and is situated above a
valley. The view from the balcony was
a pleasure, although we only had
about 30 minutes to enjoy it before
darkness descended. We headed
back into town for something to eat - a
20 mile round drive which kind of says
it all about how isolated places can be
in this area. You either have a car or
rely on the taxi buses that ferry the
indigenous (and poor) population
around, although on the road into
town, we spotted a number of people
walking back home after a day's work,
which suggests the route is too quiet
for any taxi buses to work it. It's very
hilly as well, so these people can only
be fit. The road is pitch black, which
made avoiding the potholes something
of a challenge, especially when we
had to turn off the headlamps' full
beam.
After eating we headed back to catch
the South Africa v Uruguay game at
the guesthouse. Having been here for
a few days, my feeling for the Bafana
Bafana (which apparently means 'The
boys, the boys' in one of the native
tongues) to progress is far greater
than when I first arrived. The sheer
enthusiasm of the people in this country deserves it. With June 16 being a
public holiday marking the anniversary
of the Soweto Uprising, and the death
of schoolboy Hector Pieterson in a
protest at the plan to make Afrikaans
the compulsory language that education was taught, the match was emotionally loaded for the hosts. Sadly,
they did not respond, and were beaten
out of sight. What a let down.
Defensively, they lack the quality to
progress in the tournament. It is a
shame to see their hopes so punctured, especially given the significance
of the event for the society. They are
now praying for a draw in the game
between France and Mexico in
Polokwane as their only hope of
13
The morning after, we had our breakfast at the guesthouse before departure. Our host Joan, was a nice
woman but slightly scatty as age has
caught up with her. She asked if we
wanted white or brown bread for toast
and then forgot to make it. We were
not hungry enough to make a fuss as
the cooked breakfast was plenty. One
of the locals she employs was kind of
mopping the floor in the next room in a
manner that suggested it didn't need
doing and she was just killing time. I'd
liked to have engaged her in conversation to find something out about her
life, but she never came close enough
to say anything but hello. My guess is
she works long hours and some of
them are pretending to do work that
doesn't even need doing. Joan told us
that her staff asked if they were needed to work on June 16th as it was a
public holiday. Joan wasn't even
aware of that, and said that - given
there were guests staying - of course
they were needed. But when you have
a job here, I guess you don't complain
as there are so many others who
would take your place. I was horrified
to hear that 86% of young people
(aged 16 to 35 I think) are unemployed
in this country. It really is a place of
haves and have nots, but those that
live here know nothing else for the
most part. Although the society is moving in the right direction, the statistic
about the unemployed is particularly
alarming.
Without corruption, rebuilding the society on lines that allow greater opportunity might be an easier ride, but I think
that's where we came in today.
Next stop. Polokwane for France v
Mexico. My trip is a week old now. Five
games down, eleven to go.
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Part 8 The road is
long, with
many a
winding
turn...
T
Thursday 17 June
he drive from Hazyview, our
post-Nelspruit guesthouse, to
Polokwane was a fairly interesting one. The scenery is more dramatic
in the north of the country, or at least
I'm led to believe, and there were certainly a few mountain ranges viewed
on the route. We had time to check in
to our guest house before today's
game - an 8.30 kick off between
France and Mexico. We listened to
Argentina beating South Korea on the
radio before arriving. From what I
heard there was no change from their
first game. Maradona's team can
score at will, but are susceptible
defensively.
- Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Chelsea,
Manchester United, Arsenal and Lyon
amongst others, there should be no
excuse for the pair of performances
we have witnessed so far. However,
they are as good as out, as it can safely be assumed that Uruguay and
Mexico will play out a draw in their final
game to ensure both qualify.
Our seats were behind the goal, but
we could see a large number of vacant
ones near the press box, and were
able to walk round to get a better pew.
It also meant that, towards the end of
the game, Luis Figo walked in front of
us looking for an exit. I have to say he
looks much younger in the flesh than
he does on the box. More significantly,
I remembered to take a vuvuzela into
the stadium and have mastered blowing it.
The stadium itself was another newly
built one, and as such, unsurprisingly
good. Two of the corners featured San
Siro-esque spiral towers that took an
eternity to walk up and down. Looked
To give you an idea how big this country is, our guesthouse - Kanniedood was advertised as being in Mokopane
(approx 50km south of Polokwane). In
fact it was something like 15km from
the town. Once we took the entrance
to the guesthouse from the road, it was
a further kilometre before we finally
reached the property. The building is a
little surreal, being constructed a long
time ago. It feels like we are stepping
back in time, with the only concession
to modernity a wall mounted TV. I've a
vague memory of seeing a movie with
Greta Scacchi and Charles Dance set
in Africa in the early part of the 20th
century, the title of which I can't recall.
The interiors were just like this place
though, especially the rustic colour
scheme.
It is not quite as cold here as it was in
Johannesburg, but still chilly enough.
We wrapped up well for the game and
got into the stadium about 15 minutes
before kick-off. France may have gone
a goal down to a very dodgy piece of
decision making by the linesman, but
frankly, they got what they deserved
from this match. They were woeful.
Given the clubs these players play for
14
good from the outside though. Why
these are on only two of the corners, I
could not say. Great views inside too.
Mexico's win was not only a probable
death knell to the chances of France
progressing, but probably South Africa
too. The tournament is only seven
days old and the hosts are clinging on
to the thread of their beating France
and hoping Uruguay stuff Mexico.
You'd get good odds on that particular
double.
Tomorrow, a break, at least for me, as
we return to Johannesburg, but do not
have a game. Or at least, I don't. Adam
will take a flight to Cape Town to see
England play Algeria before returning
to Jo'burg the following day. I'll be glad
of the break and think he's mad. As he
is returning to the UK two days before
I do, it means he will see 15 games in
total, to my 16.
We have done six stadiums of the ten
now. Outstanding are Pretoria
(Saturday evening for Cameroon v
Denmark), Soccer City near Soweto
10/8/10
18:09
Page 15
so I will sort this out before picking up
Adam at the bigger Oliver Tambo airport on Saturday, after which we head
for Pretoria and another stadium to be
checked off the list.
(Brazil v Ivory Coast on Sunday),
Rustenburg (Can't remember!) and
Port Elizabeth (for the last 16 game on
Saturday week). Also, there will only
be one place we are staying now that
we haven't before - a mate of our
Jo'burg host Martin's in Port Elizabeth.
The stress of finding new places
(especially in the dark) in unfamiliar
areas is now more or less done. I am
sure we will get decent directions to
our Port Elizabeth host and will be
arriving lunchtime, so at least we will
be able to see the relevant landmarks/signs with ease. Uncertainty is
always a potentially stressful factor
when travelling in a country with a reputation for danger. However, in fairness, we've not yet encountered any
hostility or felt our safety was being
compromised. I need a haircut and
saw a couple of places on the road
yesterday that cut mens' hair, situated
amidst ramshackle structures on the
edge of black settlements that were
trading various goods . I wish we'd had
time to stop and I could have experienced a haircut in such an environment. But time was the enemy and in
fairness, Adam is very cautious about
stopping at places where he sees the
potential for trouble. There's a debate
about being better safe than sorry
against experiencing things at the risk
of events turning negative. I tend to
lean towards the latter, but can understand the desire not to take chances.
My own view is that a lot of it is to do
with attitude, although it does depend
on the area. There are places where,
frankly, anyone is likely to get mugged
regardless of their behaviour, not least
in Johannesburg. I was interested to
hear Martin mention that a lot of white
people go to Soweto's bars for a night
out - enjoying the atmosphere. That is
certainly a step towards full-blown
integration. Additionally, I remember
Ian's wife Annie (in Durban) stating
that mixed race couples are becoming
more common, something that wasn't
seen only ten years ago. I know this is
supposed to be a football-based diary,
but the race issue is so prominent in
this country that it is impossible to give
impressions of the trip whilst pretending it is less significant than it is. And
the triumph of this tournament is
unquestionably the melting of barriers.
Football - previously a black sport in
this country - is seeing spectators of all
creeds and colours attending matches.
On a more prosaic note, there is a
strange protruding lump on the side of
our front driver side tyre. It sure doesn't look right, but we have done a fair
bit of driving since noticing it. Our host
in Mokopane, Dinnie (not sure of the
spelling, but that's the pronunciation)
was most concerned about it and was
offering to ring Hertz and agree for a
local place to sort it out. Good of him,
but our schedule simply doesn't have
space for such unscheduled diversions. We will get it looked at by the
Hertz office at the airport when I drop
off Adam for his flight to Cape Town.
Part 9 - A
Day Off
W
Friday 18 June
e left the Mokopane area in
good time for Adam to get his
plane to Cape Town and the
Friday evening England game. For
those following this diary, Hertz had no
spare cars at Johannesburg's
Lanseria airport, which is their solution
as opposed to swapping a dodgy tyre,
15
As I have a day off from attending
matches, I will reflect a little on the
tournament itself. I have no idea about
the perception of it back in the UK, but
there seems little doubt too many of
the games have lacked both drama
and quality, However, few here care
about that. The country is determined
to party, and within the stadiums, the
atmosphere more than compensates
for those games which are probably
dull as ditchwater on TV. Apparently,
there are lots of complaints about the
vuvuzelas, but even watching games
on the box, I have to say they don't
trouble me. Inside the stadium, they
are integral to the experience. I said to
Adam during a game recently that this
was a totally unique World Cup as I
couldn't foresee anything like this happening again in my lifetime. And for
that reason, I am glad I came, even
though I was having second thoughts
just prior to departure. I've got a
sh*tload of stuff to take care of when I
return to the UK, but for now, am just
drinking in this country and this tournament.
Fortunately, in the last couple of days,
drama has begun to arrive in decent
doses. The victories of Switzerland,
Mexico, Serbia and the draw between
the USA and Slovenia have thrown up
surprise results with a fair bit of drama
along the way. The feeling is that as
caution has to be dispensed with, the
matches are becoming far more entertaining, and surely this will only continue. I'm not sure why there were so few
goals in the early games. Some blame
the design of the ball. Altitude is surely
not the issue, although that is one theory for so many shots flying high and
wide. It doesn't explain some of the
low scoring matches witnessed at the
three coastal venues though. Another
possible explanation is that some of
the players are just plain knackered
after their domestic seasons. For me,
it is more a case of defences on top.
There are some very efficient offside
traps and on other occasions, well
drilled defences have proved very difficult to break down. As sides have to
take more chances to gain more than
solitary points, this should correct
itself, as already seems to be happening.
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Page 16
I don't know if reports of problems over
here have reached the UK, but one big
issue is the security stewards that
check spectators when they enter the
stadiums not being paid at the promised rate. They have gone on strike at
many stadiums and the police have
taken over the searching. It is a shame
when an employer cuts promised pay
and I have sympathies for those striking. An unfortunate case of profiteering
on the part of the concern in charge of
the staff, who one assumes pocketed
the money for this work from FIFA.
Additionally, there have been transport
problems ferrying fans to a couple of
venues. Both Soccer City and
Rustenburg have been criticised on
this front. I have yet to experience
either, so all I can say is so far, so
good. Hopefully, problems will be
ironed out after the first games. We'll
see.
Late PS - Just seen the England
game. The national team are reverting
to type in spite of the manager. Still, I
guess this is the way World Cups are
won. Play a couple of stinkers in the
group stage and then pick up some
form once you get out of the group,
which England will do if they beat
Slovenia. All it really means is that the
knockout stage has started a game
early. I'd say that a victory should be
likely on the basis that England can't
play this badly again. Nevertheless,
the Saturday morning papers sure
won't make pleasant reading for Fabio
Capello and his men.
Part 10 Pretoria for
an African
exit
A
Saturday 19 June
nother busy day, even though
this one started with my waking
up in the same bed I would be
sleeping in at the end of the day - the
first time this has happened since I
was in Durban. It's the beginning of a
decent stretch of days based in
Johannesburg and comes as a welcome break from the routine of waking
up, getting all the stuff together, and
driving on to find the next place. A little
after a leisurely breakfast I headed
down to the FIFA ticketing centre in
Sandton to try and shift some spares.
These are tickets for games that we
applied for more than once in the belief
that not all our applications would be
successful. The first sales phases suggested that tickets might be hard to
come by, but evidently, a good number
more were released after the draw and
this has left us with surplus seats.
The ticketing office had a gaggle of
people outside, some touts, others like
me with spares they just wanted their
money back on. I managed to shift two
of the four spare pairs I had. A last 16
game in Ellis Park featuring the winners of Brazil's group was snapped up
by an American who seemed like a
genuine fan who wanted to attend the
game. I got what I paid for those. The
following evening sees the winners of
Italy's group play in Pretoria. I have a
feeling this might not be a very attractive game - especially if Italy do not win
their group. I took £200 for two category one tickets I'd paid £280 for. It was
like 'Deal Or No Deal'. Should I hang
on to them hoping to get face value
nearer the time. In theory, it could be
Italy v Holland, but more likely, it will be
someone v Denmark, possibly
Paraguay or Slovakia. No-one wants
to pay top dollar for that, especially
given the number of spares that seem
to be floating around. For the less
glamourous matches, it is certainly
possible to pick up tickets for cheaper
than face value, although for popular
teams, this is not the case. So
England, Brazil and the USA, for
example, will always fetch at least face
value and normally more. It was interesting that the trading was allowed to
go on so blatantly outside of FIFA's
ticketing centre, with staff around not
giving two hoots about it.
Adam had originally wanted to attend
both the matches in Rustenburg (6pm
finish) and Pretoria (8.30 kick off), but
I said that, as we had another match in
Rustenburg, I could do without the
stress. It is possible to get between the
two venues in time, but that's with
parking close by, and there was no
guarantee we could do that. As it
turned out, Adam's flight from Cape
Town was delayed so there was no
way we could have made it in reality.
So I had a couple of spares for the
Australia v Ghana match and these
were being sold at way below face
16
value by others with spares for that
game. So I have two unused tickets for
a World Cup match. Adam and I took a
fall of £55 each for them, but that's life.
My only concern now is a pair of
Category 1 spares I have for the last
16 game in Port Elizabeth. It might be
Uruguay or Mexico v the runners up in
Argentina's group. Possibly a tough
sell. My best bet will be on the day
when I get there as no-one in Jo'burg
is planning to travel that far for a game
that doesn't capture their imagination.
A couple of Gooner newlyweds Sarah and Donnie - are here for the
second part of their honeymoon, having begun it in Mauritius. They suggested meeting up, and when they
found out we were going to the
Denmark v Cameroon match in
Pretoria, requested a lift on the basis
that I had told them they could buy
tickets there, even though the match
was sold out. They are staying in
Melville, and as our host Martin was
over that way, he offered to pick them
up. Once back at his place, I then took
them to Oliver Tambo airport to pick up
Adam, fresh from the appalling
England performance in Cape Town. I
turned onto the wrong motorway en
route and this led to a tour of the west
side of Johannesburg which we could
have done without. It wasn't a great
day for me behind the wheel, culminating in my confusing a policeman
(around midnight) with someone
directing traffic around roadworks and
driving past him before Adam informed
me he was requesting me to stop. He
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Page 17
when an African team is involved,
there seems just a little more volume
to the vuvuzelas. Cameroon responded by taking the lead, but ultimately,
Denmark were just a little more composed when they had their chances,
and we were treated to a goal from the
self-styled World'd Greatest Striker
himself, Nicklas Bendtner. As the clock
ticked down, Cameroon almost
seemed as if they'd given up, as if a
draw wasn't even going to be good
enough to bother chasing. So they are
out, probably meaning an easier game
for Holland against them and a first
place group finish for Robin Van
Persie's team.
was checking on drunk drivers, but
was happy I was not over the limit
when he realised that we were
strangers in town with a map book trying to find our way somewhere.
With Adam's flight being delayed, our
going the 'scenic route' to get to the
airport was not a problem. We even
had time to switch the hire car with the
dodgy tyre. As they had nothing in the
class of a Honda Jazz, they were
forced to upgrade us, so after picking
up Adam we drove away in a Kia
Sportage. I know nothing about cars,
but this thing seems like a tractor to
me. Huge. We're undoubtedly getting
more than we paid for.
The journey to Pretoria was fairly painless. We parked up on the street near
a park and walk place, five minutes
from the stadium. Sarah and Donnie
went off on a successful mission to
buy their tickets, whilst Adam and I
killed time by watching the last hour of
the Australia v Ghana draw in an
African restaurant. We then used up
another hour in an internet cafe. The
area where the stadium is set seemed
a much nicer one than most. Some are
situated away from habited areas and
there is nothing to do except go in.
Somewhere like Ellis Park is located in
an area where the only businesses
that offer food and drink are petrol stations. It was a good vibe, and it is a
shame I won't have time to see the city
properly. The Loftus Versfeld is situated quite a way from the centre, in what
seems a fairly well to do area.
The stadium itself is another old one.
Like Ellis Park, a great place to watch
a game of football, but nowhere near
the standard of the newly-built ones in
terms of facilities. I have never seen
such a crowd of people trying to use a
toilet at one time. Some gave up and
went behind walls. It reminded me a bit
of the West Stand at Highbury in the
way there were too many people for
the space on the concourse. The
atmosphere was another cracker, and
17
Regarding lack of space at the stadium in Pretoria, it was worse than
Arsenal's new stadium for too few
aisles for too many seats. It would
have taken at least ten minutes to
reach the concourse after the game if
we'd remained in ours near the back
row of the upper tier. So we headed
down and grabbed a couple of vacated
ones near the exit. The early leavers
phenomenon is as pronounced here
as it is back at Arsenal. People just do
not want to get stuck in traffic. So far,
we've avoided that through not hanging about at the final whistle and making sure we are near an exit. Whether
or not the roads become gridlocked
after matches, I do not know. But so far
things have been relatively efficient.
We'll see what happens on Sunday
evening at Soccer City, but I suspect,
as it's a Sunday, the traffic won't be too
bad.
We dropped Sarah and Donnie back
off at their guesthouse in Melville and
then drove back. It was a challenge
navigating the city's road system, but
we managed it, although not without
missing a turn here or there. Still, I am
slowly getting the feel of this place.
Next game is Brazil v Ivory Coast.
After that, I am halfway through in
terms of matches attended. I am
enjoying this tournament, although I
will confess the one negative aspect is
needing to get to games so early to
avoid either traffic jams or being forced
to park too far from the stadium. It
would be better if there wasn't a huge
two and a half hour gap between the
6pm finish of the day's second game
and the final one at 8.30, as it might
then be possible to find somewhere to
watch the previous game before heading for the stadium and not having to
wait an eternity for kick off.
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Part 11 Soccer City
- Halfway
there
A
Sunday 20 June
Sunday
in
Johannesburg.
Fatherhood has conditioned me
to wake up by 7, so lie-ins are
something I will have to adapt to once
again in later life. The compensation?
Every year I get a nice card from the
offspring to tell me I am, after all,
loved, in spite of the ongoing battle of
wills with the monster I created. I was
given an envelope with his card before
departure with instructions not to open
it until Sunday 20th. Adam, having
been out until 3am in Cape Town after
the England game, slept very late,
waking up in time for a lunchtime braai
(South African barbeque) that Martin
had laid on. Three guests game round
- John (another Arsenal fan), his
nephew Ross (a Man Utd supporter)
and Gordon (with little interest in football). The first two were coming to the
match at Soccer City with us (including
Martin and wife Sue)
Ross, 16 years old, was an admirable
youngster. Pre-conceptions on initially
meeting him would be that he was a
typical white South African youth. But
this lad, during his holidays, had
organised a township youth cricket
team, which went on to beat his school
side, as the raw talent of the township
kids proved too much. His efforts had
been recognised with grants and a
visit to the UK where he was introduced to members of the Royal Family
thanks to his efforts. If Ross symbolises the attitude of young white South
Africans, there is real hope for the
future here.
The food went down a treat, alongside
a fair bit of alcohol, before we departed at about 4 for Soccer City in
Martin's car. He had heard horror stories about the traffic getting to the stadium and wanted to get there early so
we could relax. We had a smooth run.
You need to pre-book the park and
walk/ride facilities in Jo'burg and he's
booked the nearest car park to the stadium. Although I thought we were very
early (arriving by 5), in fairness there
were many there before us. Apparently
the N1 highway around Johannesburg
does get very, very busy later on a
Sunday, so perhaps we did the right
thing. Plenty of time to kill though. As
the crow flies, the stadium was about
400 metres away, but the walking
route is around a kilometre.
As we were all sitting in different
places, Adam and I left our hosts and
strolled slowly to see if there were any
distractions outside the stadium. Aside
from people watching, and hawkers
selling either food or souvenirs, there
were none. So at 6pm, we bit the bullet and entered Soccer City. Its design
is supposed to resemble an African
cooking pot, and it certainly does look
unique from the exterior. The gaps in
the external panelling come into their
own once darkness falls as the light
from the interior shines through. It's
like a giant lampshade which has seen
better days. It gives a real feeling of
being the centre of the action when
viewed from outside, fans drawn like
moths to a light.
The security check we went through
was as thorough as you'd get at an airport. As there were not great numbers
at that time, it was bearable, but I
wouldn't like to arrive in the last half
hour before kick off. We may have
18
been unlucky. Our hosts indicated they
had a much easier experience.
Obviously, such events are predictable
targets for terrorist attacks, although
the cosmopolitan nature of a World
Cup stadium crowd would mean that,
in terms of propoganda, they would be
a huge own goal. However, that wouldn't stop some, so these checks have
become part and parcel of life.
We wondered around the various
sponsor provided entertainments for a
while. I then took my seat with two
hours before kick off. There is relative
freedom of movement around the public areas of the stadium, so I was able
to check out the lower and middle tiers
before making my way up a long ramp,
which doubled back on itself about
four times, to the top tier. It is a huge
stadium, and definitely fitting of a
World Cup Final. That the seats are all
orange is quite surreal. It is like the
cooking pot theme is continued within,
resembling the orange glow of burning
coals. I looked at a picture of the stadium in Nelspruit after having seen the
game there. It appears that, when it is
empty, there are zebra skin style markings in the seating, a counter to the
giraffe like supports propping up the
stands. We arrived too late to appreciate that as many of the seats were
occupied, but it's a nice touch.
I took in the ambience as the stadium
slowly filled up, and read a Sunday
supplement I'd brought from home.
Fortunately, the weather in the
Gauteng area has not been quite as
cold since we returned from the north.
The horrible cold snap meant that the
previous time we'd seen Brazil, in Ellis
Park last Tuesday, the temperature
had dropped below zero. I bought
some gloves from one of the sellers
pitched up in the car park at Soccer
City, but there proved no need for
them.
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Page 19
The seats in the stadium rake back so
that, in spite of there being no running
track, you end up quite a distance from
the pitch unless you are in the first 20
rows of the lower tier. However, the
views all seem to be superb (possibly
excepting those really low down who
probably cannot see the goal-line due
to the advertising hoardings). I was
glad I remembered my binoculars
though.
Eventually, game time came around.
One thing I like about Brazil is that the
manager gives the squad numbers of
1 to 11 to the players he intends to
start the game. There is no point in my
giving any details of the matches here,
there are plenty of alternative sources
for that, and many will have watched
the game anyway. But my opinion, for
what it's worth, hasn't changed since
before the tournament. Brazil are the
team most likely to win the World Cup
in South Africa. They mix defensive
organisation with flair. The job that
Gilberto does for them is as key now
as it was in 2002 when they were triumphant in Japan. Joined by Felipe
Melo as his defensive midfield partner,
they allow the full backs to attack without compromising on numbers at the
back. They are very rarely susceptible
to counter attacks.
Ivory Coast disappointed. I expected
more from them, but they were not
really at the races in this game. I can't
comment on their goalless draw with
Portugal as I didn't see any of it.
However, they would surely have been
hoping for more than a point from their
first two games. I've never been totally
convinced by Sven Goran-Eriksson as
an international manager, and nothing's changed after this game. Kaka's
sending off had us wondering what
went on, although it does seem he was
a victim of play-acting and subsequent
reaction from the Ivory Coast players.
It's a shame they do not seem to be
able to cancel suspensions for red
cards after matches when video evidence proves the referee got it wrong.
It is interesting to sometimes hear the
positive crowd reaction to Premier
League players in the stadiums, especially when the teams are shown on
the scoreboard and there is a short
film of each player striding up to the
camera and facing it sideways on.
Maybe you get this footage back in the
UK, I have no idea. However, when the
likes of Kolo Toure, Eboue and Drogba
are read out, there is an increase in
the volume of appreciation. The
Premier League is very popular in this
part of the world. They get every single
match played, either live or delayed.
It's certainly a country I could live in on
that score. It should also be mentioned
that stars from the big teams in Spain
also get a huge response. The loudest
this evening was undoubtedly for
Kaka.
Brazil won fairly convincingly. Strange
how it took a consolation goal to spring
19
the opposition into some kind of life.
Overall, the African teams have disappointed in this tournament so far, with
the exception of Ghana. I hope they
get through, although their final group
game v Germany is obviously a tough
ask in that Germany probably have to
win. As for the others, Cameroon and
Nigeria are already out, South Africa
and Ivory Coast are probably doomed,
and I don't think Algeria are going to
get out of England's group unless they
learn how to score goals.
The getaway after the game was fairly
easy. I swallowed rather more dirt dust
in the car park than I'd have liked, waiting for Martin and the others to return,
but once we were moving, the queue
to get out wasn't too bad. Once on the
road, it was plain sailing. We'll use this
car park again when we come for
Germany v Ghana at this venue on
Wednesday.
I've now seen eight matches in eight
different stadiums. Tomorrow, I do my
first visit to a stadium for a second
time, if you get my drift. Ellis Park for
Honduras v Spain. However, the visit
to Soccer City marked the halfway
point in this trip. I am enjoying it all, but
at the same time, it will be nice to get
home and plonk myself in front of the
TV for the quarter finals onwards. This
is a hell of an experience, but there is
a treadmill element to seeing so many
matches in such a short space of time.
Not that I regret it of course, but opening the father's day card is always
going to be a moment when thoughts
return to home. Thursday week I will
get back. Once I do that and realise
exactly how much I've got to do, I'll
probably wish I was back here! It's
been a great trip so far, but three
weeks is definitely enough.
10/8/10
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Page 20
Part 12 Return to
Ellis Park
for a slice
of Fabregas
O
Monday 20 June
n Tuesday last week we arrived
in Jo'burg knowing that little
more than 18 hours later, we'd
be on the road again. Our host Martin
was good enough to give us a lift to
Ellis Park to see Brazil v North Korea
and pick us up afterwards. For our
second game at the venue, buoyed by
the confidence gained in driving
around the city, we made our own way
there to see Spain face Honduras in
our hire car. We got a taste of the
Johannesburg rush hour with Martin,
but this was the real deal. Leaving
about 4.30, we took the direct route
and found ourselves wondering how
people could endure this crawl on a
daily basis. On the assumption that if
there were alternative routes, they'd
use them, then the short stretch of
road it took us about an hour to get
down to get on the M1 road south was
presumably a very familiar one for
many of the others queuing with us.
There is really no alternative to using
the car. It is a large city with no public
transport system to speak of. The road
is the only way to get anywhere.
Johannesburg is what happens when
there are simply too many cars for the
existing road capacity.
Fortunately, leaving four hours before
kick off, we factored in enough time for
the jam. We predictably met more traffic near the stadium itself. There were
scores of locals offering safe parking,
and we hooked up with one youth who
directed us into an underground parking lot. We gave him 50 rand for his
efforts and the assumption that the car
would indeed be safe. It wasn't the
kind of place you'd park under normal
circumstances. The alternative is
booking a place for 50 rand in a park
and ride and bussing it in. I guess
there is something to be said for this,
but we've just kind of gone with what
we know. And we managed to get
home in decent time with Martin last
week. Post-match, once you leave the
stadium area, it's a clear run.
There were some South African
Indians who were parked in the same
place and they offered us a beer. It
was a nice gesture and I agreed.
Adam isn't a big drinker, but he went
along with it and we had a good chat
with these guys. I was also given some
rum and felt very happy all of a sudden. Fortunately, Adam was fine to
drive home after the game. These
guys were genuinely warm and it is
nice that football can create situations
where you end up spending time getting on with complete strangers that
you would never talk to under normal
circumstances. There was even talk of
them inviting us round for a curry if we
had the opportunity, but our schedule
in this city just doesn't leave time for it.
As it is, there are lots of things Martin
would like to take us to see, but our
evenings are at football stadiums and
daytime he's working.
Having stopped for some chat, we only
had 30 minutes to use the internet in
the place near the stadium we killed
time in last Tuesday. This time, the
door was open rather than locked, so
they were evidently feeling a bit more
relaxed. It was nice not to enter the
stadium quite so early, although we'd
paid the price by taking a couple of
hours to travel from Martin's to the stadium area. At least we could listen to
Chile beat Switzerland on the radio in
the car. A trick I think FIFA always miss
is to show the matches from elsewhere in the stadiums for people that
arrive early.
20
Ellis Park was in better shape for our
second visit. No powercuts, and
screens at both ends working. Our
seats were close to the halfway line
and we anticipated a few goals from
the Spaniards. It was a decent enough
game, although I think the 2-0 victory
was a little lower than the Iberians
would have hoped for, especially after
Portugal showed the way earlier in the
day with their demolition of North
Korea. That game is the last one that
will be played at 1.30 (12.30 in the UK)
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18:09
Page 21
as tomorrow the final set of matches
begin with games at 4 and 8.30. We
only attended a single early game in
the flesh, Honduras v Chile in
Nelspruit. It was nice to have a decent
chunk of the day after the match, and
the weather was sunny to boot.
Back to Ellis Park, and fortunately the
cold snap seems to have passed. The
sub zero temperatures of last week
have passed and, although not warm,
it was certainly bearable. Cesc
Fabregas made his first appearance at
the tournament. The beard certainly
makes him look older. It was strange to
think that there is every chance I will
never see him play in an Arsenal shirt
again. I thought he made a decent
contribution and certainly seems to
have recovered from his late-season
injury. However, his influence did not
add to the goals tally. What the permutations are for Spain to progress I am
not certain of beyond being fairly certain they have to beat Chile.
Switzerland will surely beat Honduras
and end with six points.
After the game, we planned a quick
getaway. I have to say that the phenomenon of early leavers is not
restricted to Arsenal. What we tend to
do is head to the exit in the stand we
are in and grab a couple of empty
seats when injury time begins, legging
it the moment the final whistle is
blown. The empty seats are there
because a lot of others leave before
the game is over, the exodus sometimes beginning before the 80th
minute. I guess people want to beat
the traffic or get on one of the first
shuttle buses to the park and rides. I
think if you delay, the getaway probably takes a lot longer, and in fairness,
Ellis Park is situated in an area you
wouldn't want to hang around too long
for after 11 at night.
However, our plans to get moving
were curtailed by our parkers having
put a vehicle right in front of our hire
car. The guy parked next to us managed to get out, leaving room for us to
make an exit, but we were delayed by
20 minutes. The Indian guys we spoke
to before the game told us the form
was 50 rand before the game and 50
after when you return to the car and it
is as it was when parked. I gave the
people there 20 due to the hassle of
our not being able to make a clean getaway. Fortunately it didn't create an
incident, but our doors were quickly
locked from the inside just in case.
We got back to Martin's at about 11.30,
the road obviously much clearer than
when we had made the journey to the
stadium. I've one more visit there, next
Monday when the winners of Brazil's
group - either them or Portugal, barring a miracle for Ivory Coast - will play
the team finishing second in Spain's
group. Having seen both Brazil and
Spain play in this stadium, it would be
an absolutely cracking affair if the two
pre-tournament favourites were to
meet in the first knockout round.
Part 13 Rustenburg
- Not the
nightmare
we feared
R
Tuesday 22 June
ustenburg is the ninth of the ten
stadiums we will see matches at
in our attempt to catch a game
at every venue being used in this
World Cup. I'd read horror stories
about the organisation for fans getting
away from the venue. It's where
England drew with the USA in their
opening encounter. The problem was
confirmed by a local sitting next to me
at the Brazil match last Sunday. I overheard him mention he'd seen a game
at Rustenburg and asked him what
time he thought we'd get back to
Johannesburg after a 6pm finish. He
21
said about 11.30. It took him an hour
and a half to get out of the car park
and the traffic on the road was slow
moving as well. We travelled in trepidation, our hopes hardly lifted when
the park and ride on the Jo'burg side of
Rustenburg wasn't admitting any further cars and we were directed to a
site on the other side of town. I posited
the idea of just parking up near the car
park to avoid the hassle of getting out
of it, but Adam relayed the tale of having a car towed away in Cape Town for
parking illegally and had no desire for
a repeat. As it later turned out, many
did park outside the car park, without
anyone being towed.
As we caught the bus to the stadium, it
was clear that the Mexican fans
seemed to be in the majority by quite
some distance. It gave hope that the
team might feel duty bound to perform
rather than just play out a draw that
would suit both them and their opponents today, group leaders Uruguay.
The simultaneous match in the group
between South Africa and the shambolic French saw both teams needing
a positive result in this game along
with a convincing win in their own. The
host nation were hoping for a miracle,
and at one stage it actually looked on.
That was at half time, when Uruguay
were 1-0 up and the Bafana 2-0
ahead. If things stayed the way they
were in Rustenburg, the French needed to win 4-0.
There was a prat in front of us who signalled the Bafana had taken a three
goal lead during the second half. It
looked on. However, what actually
happened was that the French had
pulled one back. Uruguay were certainly content with 1-0, given that even
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18:09
Page 22
a draw would see them top the group,
and Mexico tried to equalise, but surely got wind that it wasn't integral as the
clock wound down. Not that they took
defeat well, with a few fights breaking
out at the final whistle, followed by the
police intervening to arrest a few
Mexicans, who were evidently the
aggressors. They are a very vocal
support, and Adam's least favourite
fans. At the Soccer City game last
Sunday, four Mexicans were in front of
Martin and wife Sue and spent the
whole game standing up, making a
racket and not actually watching the
game at all.
I was aware of the rumpus at full time
because by that time, I was amidst the
small bunch of Uruguayans in category 1 seats trying to sell two top price
spares I had for the Port Elizabeth last
16 game - the winners of Group A v the
runners up in Group B (one of South
Korea, Greece or Nigeria). Given the
far flung nature of the venue, it was
going to be hard work selling my ticket
at the stadium on the day, so I thought
that this was my best chance. One guy
would have taken them but didn't have
the 2800 rand on him, so took my
phone number. I wasn't optimistic he'd
be in touch as tickets for this game will
be plentiful. Oh well. It was the reason
I had hoped for a Mexico win! There
must have been 50 Mexicans for every
Uruguayan fan in the stadium. Or at
least it felt like it. It would have been
much easier to find a buyer if Mexico
were playing in Port Elizabeth.
Adam declared Rustenburg his least
favourite of the stadiums we've seen
games in. Port Elizabeth - the one we
haven't done yet - looks pretty decent
on the box, so I doubt that will change
his opinion. I have to concur with him.
One of three upgraded (as opposed to
new) venues, the running track surrounding the pitch is what makes it a
lesser place to watch a football match.
Fortunately, our seats were in the second tier, so we had a decent enough
view, but one suspects the real
upgrading was to the main stand
opposite us as there were no obvious
signs of anything new where we were.
The sun shone brightly and I had not
anticipated how warm it would be. We
spent the first half with it shining into
our eyes, so most of the crowd used
their hands to protect their vision. I had
brought the woolly hat I'd bought at
Ellis Park but not the pork pie one with
a brim that I'd packed in my luggage.
So I was in salute mode with everyone
else.
There was one supporter near us with
an Ireland shirt bearing Robbie
Keane's name, a kilt, dreadlocked hair
(he was white), a vuvuzela with
Greece markings, a South African flag
and face paint in Mexico's colours. So,
six countries represented and three of
them actually at the finals. Hmmm.
There are a good number of fans here
from countries that didn't qualify. I
spotted some Poles, Swedes and
Scots at this game for example. If
Scotland waited until they qualified
again, their supporters might never
attend another finals in my lifetime.
There was a great buzz in the crowd
during the opening 45 minutes when
news of South Africa's actual (as
opposed to fictitious) goals came
through. It wasn't to be, but what the
people of this country wanted at the
very least was to go out with some
pride, and it was felt that victory over
22
the French provided that. Ultimately,
they finished with the same number of
points as Mexico, but were undone by
goal difference. So no disgrace, unlike
the French. The enthusiasm for the
competition will still remain. The fact
that South Africa are hosting means a
lot to the people here, and that in turn,
will see continued enthusiasm for the
tournament, especially if most of the
bigger names progress. Of course it
would have been different had the
Bafana made the last 16, even more
intense, but their elimination does not
mean the tournament is going to fall
flat. Some of the football could have
been better, but this has been a great
World Cup. Those that have been here
will confirm that.
Our getaway was much better than
anticipated. We didn't hang around too
long once I'd given up trying to flog my
tickets to the small band of
Uruguayans and were out of the car
park without significant delay. The
road was a little bit of a crawl, but noth-
10/8/10
18:09
Page 23
ing disastrous. We were back in
Jo'burg by 9, a three hour journey. It
would have been two and a half had
we got in the first car park, but such is
life. Certainly far better than we feared
and we were able to catch the Nigeria
v South Korea second half including
the miss of the tournament from
Nigeria and surely the farewell World
Cup performance of Kanu.
Tomorrow is our last day of this relaxing stretch in Jo'burg, before we hit the
road again. It's another trip to Soccer
City to see Germany face Ghana.
Then a day without a match as we
drive back to Durban. This time next
week, I will be attending my final
match in Pretoria.
Part 14 The second
and final
visit to
Soccer City
after
England get
through
O
Wednesday 23 June
ur last full day in Jo'burg before
hitting the road again. It's been
good to just put roots of some
kind down for a few days, although
Adam today discovered that, had we
been staying here without a hire car,
our visit would have been even more
costly. Attempting to catch a cab from
Sandton City to Martin's in Bryanston,
a succession of cabbies refused to
take him on the meter and quoted him
a price of 250 rand (£25). Finally, he
found a female cab driver who was
prepared to take him on the meter. The
cost of the journey was 90 rand. For
fans relying on cabs to get around, it
must be an expensive trip. I guess if
there are four passengers, it's more
manageable. Still, there's no doubt
that some here are using the opportunity the tournament provides to cash in
at the expense of visitors.
I had to drop off a ticket for Sunday's
game between Argentina and Mexico
at a hotel for a fellow Gooner flying out
here at the weekend. The hotel was in
the centre of town, although the junctions off the M1 road that runs through
it were unfamiliar and I missed my
turning. Still, it was educational driving
around the city's grid system. The
Indian locals we spoke to before
Spain's game over a can of beer said
that the Central Business District notorious as a no go zone not long ago
- was being reclaimed as the city
attempts to attract visitors in large
numbers and that businesses are
moving back in. I remember watching
a documentary by Louis Theroux
about a year ago where he ventured
round some of the more dangerous
parts of the area at night, accompanied by a local who ran his own private
security firm. There are undoubtedly
still places to avoid, and the fear when
trying to navigate the city in a newish
hire car is that you'll drive into them.
Carjacking is a problem here.
However, I managed to find my way
around thanks to a Hertz provided
map which gave me just enough detail
and the digital compass built into the
rear view mirror.
There is always some hard up local
patrolling to offer you the services of
keeping an eye on your car. I parked
outside the hotel and told him to come
back in five minutes. Once I'd dropped
off the envelope, I took a photo of a
Tower Block which has an image of
Robinho all down one side. On the
other side, Cristiano Ronaldo is visible
from the M1, but it's not the kind of
road where you can stop to grab a
photo. It's an impressive sight though.
The idea of getting my camera out in
this area before I arrived here for the
finals would have seemed like an
23
absolute no no. You could say the
same for getting out of your car.
Undoubtedly sh*t happens, but the
reputation for the place as being one
of the most dangerous places in the
world is somewhat exaggerated. I
think that basically if you don't walk
around giving out body language that
you are in mortal fear and treat people
with respect, then in most places,
that's fine. If you live in fear, it seems
to me you can attract it. This applies to
many things in life, not just wondering
around the capital of South Africa.
Self-fulfilling prophecy I think they call
it. I gave the car 'minder' 2 rand 50
cents and he was happy enough.
Before our evening game, there was
the small matter of England's final
group match against Slovenia. We had
originally considered watching the
game in a Soweto Fan Park, leaving
us a short journey to Soccer City to
catch the Germany v Ghana match.
However, with two and a half hours
between the matches and having done
the route to the stadium before, we
realised we could make it comfortably
in time if we just relaxed and watched
the game at Martin's. We needed to
pre-book the park and walk car park
near to the stadium at a cost of 50
rand. Johannesburg is the only city
that charges for football parking, but
for a fiver, it's worth it parking near the
stadium for the quick getaway.
As we have tickets for the last 16
game in Bloemfontein, Adam was in
the position of desperately hoping that
England finished second in the group
so we could see their next match in the
flesh. With USA v Algeria at 0-0 as the
final whistle went in Bloemfontein, it
looked like we would be watching
Slovenia on Sunday evening instead.
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Part 15 Return to
Durban
We turned over and it was evident that
the States had just scored, or at least
they were showing a replay of a goal
scored by Landon Donovan. It became
apparent that the US had indeed just
scored, deep into injury time, and that
the score was 1-0. Seconds later, the
final whistle blew and the States had
topped the group. As it turned out, it
meant an easier run for them in the
knockout stages, but Adam didn't care.
We would be seeing England before
he returned home. As a member of
Englandfans, he has tickets for the
semi final and final if England do get
that far, although a quarter final with
Argentina awaits even if they win
against the winners of group D...
Which brings us to our in the flesh
game. The journey to Soccer City was
not bad at all. Sure, there was some
traffic getting onto the N1 ring road
around Jo'burg, and then a bit of a
queue to get off it at Junction 71 to get
to the Shareworld Park and Walk. As
on Sunday, the place threw up a hell of
a lot of dust from the ground as cars
drove in to park. There are many people selling earplugs outside the stadiums on the basis that the vuvuzelas
are deafening - they are not, so I've
never felt the need to purchase,
although I did bring earplugs from the
UK on recommendation in case the
volume was painful. A classic example
of unused luggage, along with the
insect repellent my doctor advised to
avoid the chances of malaria. Anyhow,
to return to the point, never mind
earplugs, if anyone had had the foresight to sell dust masks they'd have
made a killing.
It took us an hour and a half to get
from in front of a TV watching the
England game in Bryanston to our
seats in the stadium. Once again we
were high up, but the view was fantastic. This really is a theatre of football
and a stunning stadium. It is too big to
match the intimacy of a stadium like
those that Barcelona and Real Madrid
play in - grounds which basically just
go up and up, but nevertheless it is a
pleasure to watch a game of football in
such a venue. The game didn't really
live up to the setting, although there
were a fair few chances and a cracker
of a goal when it came. We heard
Australia had gone two up in the second half, meaning Serbia would pay
the price for Vidic's handball in the
game against Ghana with elimination.
So, as yesterday, both teams we were
watching qualified. With Germany finishing top it means the Bloemfontein
fixture on Sunday is potentially the tie
of the round, although Brazil or
Portugal might meet Spain which is
equally tasty.
The getaway was as rapid as we could
have hoped for, as we were back at
the house by 11. Just as well considering we will be headed almost 600 kilometres to Durban tomorrow. On the
way to the game I mentioned to Adam
that I couldn't recall seeing a single
person riding a bicycle in Jo'burg.
Rather surreally, leaving the N1 to
head down to Bryanston on heading
back to Martin's, we nearly mowed one
down. It's been a pleasant six days in
Johannesburg, with the chance to
relax a bit and become accustomed to
the place.
24
T
Thursday 24 June
he road from Jo'burg to Durban
is a fairly decent one. Always at
least two lanes and sometimes
four. For this reason, without stops, it
can be done in a little over five hours.
It's about 600 kilometres from memory.
We left from Martin's just after 9am.
Adam won't be returning there as
Monday sees me drop him at the airport en route back to Bryanston, as I
head back to the UK two days later. It
has been a great stay in the capital, in
no small part thanks to our hosts, not
least Martin's better half Susie.
However, today, being a Thursday,
means two weeks of my three week
trip have passed. I've seen 11 matches in nine stadiums and have five
more to attend - four of those being
knockout games.
More stats - as Adam flew to Cape
Town last Friday to see England held
by Algeria, it meant he did eleven
matches in eleven days. No break. I've
mentioned before his desire to have
done two games in a day last
Saturday, which would have made it
12 matches in 11 days. Sepp Blatter
could have done it with his police
escort, but Rustenburg and Pretoria
on the same day proved too much with
only two and a half hours in between.
That his flight was delayed meant
even if we could have made it between
the grounds, we would not have got to
Rustenburg until about the 75th
minute of Australia v Ghana. So, today
was his first day without a match since
we flew to Durban from Cape Town on
Saturday 12th July. He admitted he
would probably never repeat such a
run in his lifetime. It's the first time he's
done a tournament with this kind of
intensity, a situation driven by my own
desire to sample every stadium. He
has enjoyed it though, and has no
regrets, including the detour to the
England v Algeria match, in spite of the
quality of football witnessed. He plans
to go to Brazil in 2014, but is more likely to base himself in one location,
given the likely large distances
between the host cities and the difficulty travelling around. South Africa is big
10/8/10
18:09
Page 25
enough, but Brazil is a huge country in
comparison. I can't see myself going
there in all honesty, but never say
never.
There are different ways of experiencing tournaments. At home in front to
the television, basing yourself in one
area and catching the games in the
flesh there, following your team
around the country and just travelling
around the country watching any feasible game you can. And variations on
all of those of course. The way we are
doing it of course means there is little
time to appreciate the non-footballing
aspect of your location. Sure, there are
the places you eat, the roads you travel and the places you stay, but ultimately you are passing by a lot of stuff
that demands attention simply through
lack of time. For example, Adam wanted to see Rourke's Drift today, a
famous battlefield. However, it's the
kind of place (I imagine) that is only
worth going to if you are going to have
a tour with a guide who explains everything about the location. So at least a
couple of hours and probably more, on
top of the time it takes to reach the
location. As with so much else, one for
the next visit.
And yet, both teams deserved to go
home, having failed to play to the obvious potential their line-ups promised.
On one level, it is fine for the top teams
to make it through to the latter stages
as they can provide classic match ups
in the vein of England v Germany.
However, that isn't going to happen too
often this time around and there will be
some unpredictable names in the last
eight. Yet they can still provide some
memorable matches. This tournament
will be remembered for some surprise
results, but some decent knockout
round viewing will enhance the memory of it even more. I'm not very familiar
with the Slovakian side outside of
Martin Skrtl, but if they provide as
much entertainment as they did
against Italy, we are in for some
drama. One thing is certain. One of the
semi finalists will come from the quartet of Uruguay, South Korea, USA and
Ghana. My prediction is Uruguay due
to the strength of their defence, which
works hard and seems highly organised. Surprises are good if the tournament is to remain interesting. And let's
face it, England were only a goal from
going out in their final group game.
Argentina guesting.
Whether it is fatigue or lack of motivation that is doing for the European
sides is a question that only those
closer to the teams could answer.
Possibly it might be a bit of both, but
few of them have shone out. Holland
have proved resilient, their defensive
ability surprising a few, including
myself. At some point I will have to
count up the number of former Arsenal
players that have performed at these
finals, but there seem to be a hatful. If
Gio van Bronckhorst lifts the trophy on
July 11, it will be surreal. Another one
that was released a little too soon. I
didn't see Portugal's goalless draw
with Ivory Coast, but their 7-0 stuffing
of North Korea did hint that they might
also go a long way. Aside from that
though, I am looking outside of Europe
for the winners.
Brazil have not surprisingly been
favoured by many, and there's been little evidence to contradict that.
Argentina though, are far less of a
shambles than was predicted, and
some feel they too are a decent bet to
win the trophy. I still maintain that
defensively, they are not quite good
enough, so I am sticking with Dunga's
men as my pick. There's no great
insight there, and it may be shaped by
my having seen every minute they
have played at this tournament in the
flesh. However, they really do look to
me to combine the solidity and attacking ability to survive their knockout
games. Dare I say that the manager's
decision not to bring Ronaldinho looks
fully justified?
As I write, Japan are leading Denmark
After a couple of stops and a Martin 2-0 with 17 minutes remaining.
suggested detour at Harrismith to take Another shock. Two Asian teams will
in a more scenic route via Bergville - make it to the last sixteen compared to
which included a number of baboons only one from Africa, in spite of the
in the road at one point and the tournament's location. Chile play
impressive Sterkfontein Dam, we tomorrow, but four other South
reached Ian's near Durban about ten American sides have already made it
minutes before the 4pm game kicked through, and if you added Mexico to
off. I thought the early pair of games them it wouldn't trouble me. So
would be the Group E closers already, less than half the teams that
(Holland's group), but I soon discov- will make the last 16 will be European.
ered it was Group F (Italy's). You do And that can only be a good thing in a Tomorrow, we head back into Durban
kind of lose track here. It was nice to World Cup, otherwise it's just like a re- itself to see Brazil play Portugal.
see Ian and Annie again. We chose to run of the Euros with Brazil and Winning the group means a potential
quarter final with Holland.
watch Italy v Slovakia
Coming second pits that
instead of Paraguay v
team in the same half of the
New Zealand. It was a
draw
as
Argentina,
wise choice, as, after the
Germany and England
first half, we witnessed a
(although none will be faced
cracker of a game. No
until the semis). No-one
point in doing match
knows where Spain will finanalysis here, but overish, but if they qualify, they
all, there is little question
will face either Brazil or
that this tournament has
Portugal in the next round. I
thrown up enough surthink Brazil will go for the
prises to keep it very
win, although a draw will still
interesting. Both the
see them top the group.
finalists from the previLet's hope for a cracker
ous tournament in 2006
before we fly to Port
ending bottom of their
Elizabeth on Saturday
group is something you'd
Sterkfontein Dam - Scenic Detour on road to Durban
morning.
have got large odds for.
25
10/8/10
18:09
Page 26
Part 16 Brazil and
Portugal
play a game
o f c o n v e nience
D
Friday 25 June
urban is probably my favourite
city in this country because of
the weather and the beach.
England may have been enjoying temperatures close to 30 degrees, but
Durban was a respectable 25, and this
is winter here remember. Freezing our
bollocks off at Ellis Park ten days previously when we first caught Brazil
seems a distant memory now.
A leisurely morning at Ian's was followed by our departure for the stadium. Our hosts employ a gardener and
a cleaner, and gave them the afternoon off when South Africa played
France on Tuesday. I did not have the
chance to say more than hello to the
gardener, so have no idea of his name.
However, the cleaning lady was called
Joyce. I knew this was not her real
name and asked her what her African
name was. She'll have to forgive my
memory, but it was something like
Tsembile. There is a phenomenon of
employees from the indigenous population having English names here. I
guess it is a hangover from past times
when those paying the wages couldn't
get their heads round African names. I
can't see it having come from those
who acquired the alternative names,
but I could be wrong. I don't know
enough about it to really go into depth
on this, but in the modern day, given all
the changes in this society, it seems a
bit odd. I guess old habits die hard.
We left at noon for Durban proper, our
game kicking off at 4. It was a little
more complicated parking up in the
casino car park than on our previous
visit. For some reason they had
blocked off the slip road we had used
to access the beach road leading to
the casino complex. We found another
way in and at one point bribed one of
the traffic attendants 10 rand to let us
through some cones and avoid queu-
ing an extra few minutes. At times,
bribery is what makes this country tick.
It ain't right, but when in Rome and all
that.
Once parked, we took a stroll down the
promenade on the beach. There was a
rock climbing wall which we had
watched people clambouring up on
our last visit. At the side of it was a wire
that ran to another rock climbing wall
fifty metres away and about 100 feet
above the ground which you could
slide along, attached by a harness.
There was no queue to speak of today
and the big kid in me demanded I have
a go. It was a buzz. We then had lunch
in an Indian restaurant facing the
beach before I had a much needed
haircut in a barber shop next door. We
were packing in a fair bit before the
game.
We strolled back to the stadium and
entered about 30 minutes before kickoff. Kaka was suspended, Elano
injured and Robinho presumably rested, allowing Dani Alves, Nilmar and
Julio 'The Beast' Baptista to start. I am
scratching my head at how Baptista
gets in the squad, and he did little to
change my mind on this performance.
His poor display provided Adam with
some entertainment though as he
remembered old times at Arsenal.
During the first half I found myself feeling very tired and having to concentrate hard to follow the game. I looked
at Adam and he was rubbing his eyes.
We were both feeling it. I wouldn't say
we were footballed out, but we weren't
too far off it. I remember when I did the
whole tournament in Japan eight years
ago with a similar intensity of how
good it was to have a bit of a break
when there were two days without
games before the quarter finals. This
time around I will be flying back home
to experience the tournament's final
26
eight matches on the television at
home.
There was hope that the game could
be a bit competitive with a flurry of
early bookings. But a draw suited both
sides. Maybe if Portugal knew that the
evening matches would give them a
game against Spain rather than Chile,
they might have gone for the win with
a little more vigour. As it was, chances
were few and at the end of the game
there were boos from many of the
crowd. I saw a similar game in
Germany four years ago. A three day
trip started with England v Sweden
and concluded with Brazil v Japan, two
games for which I had tickets and both
cracking games. In between, I travelled to Frankfurt to catch Holland v
Argentina - supposedly the game of
the first round. I paid something like
£200 for a ticket outside the stadium. It
was a great place to watch a game,
but it was no classic. Both teams had
already qualified, played slightly weakened sides (although for Argentina,
this mean Messi and Tevez up front)
and drew 0-0. My main memory is the
Kaizer Franz Beckenbauer arriving by
helicopter and striding across the pitch
from an entrance near the corner flag.
On the way to the access the directors'
box area, Gio van Bronckhorst
engaged him in a minute's chat. I
thought this might be an early marker
for a later future in football politics from
our former player. Time will tell.
We were in the middle tier for this
game, behind the goal at the end
where the stadium is open to the elements, although being a pleasant
warm day, there was no issue there. At
the Germany v Australia game at this
venue, we had been unable to see the
goal-line at our end from our seats in
the lower tier. We could see it okay
from where we were today, but I
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realised that probably no-one in the
lower tier could. We were only in row
12 downstairs, but the rows go back a
fair way and all would have had the
advertising hoardings obscuring their
view. In this day and age, you'd think
there was some way around this so
that everyone in the stadium gets a
complete view of the pitch.
There are invariably two big videoscreens at the stadiums. Depending
on the age of the stadium, the quality
varies, so for example the ones at
Rustenburg aren't great but those in
Durban are bigger and clearer. Before
the game and during half time they
always show the official song for the
tournament, which I imagine is called
'It's Time for Africa' and is sung by
Shakira. Maybe it's a hit back home, I
have no idea. Anyway, aside from the
stadiums, we hear it at places like airports and it's become ingrained in my
subconscious. It's an ok pop song, but
if I never hear it again, it won't mourn.
You can have too much of a good
thing. Having seen her face so often
on huge videoscreens, I have to say
she is a good-looking girl, and that's
from a man who doesn't normally go
for blondes. It is a shame that such a
song isn't being performed by a South
African, but the optimum commercial
option is one thing that FIFA will
always favour.
Around the Jo'burg area, some of the
stadiums play the song at half-time,
but forego the normal video to show a
collection of teenage girls called the
McDonald's dancers strutting their
stuff pitchside. Think the Hammerettes
but with more ethnic diversity. They
wear red outfits and some of these
teenagers (I am guessing they are
about 16 and those I refer to are invariably black) have the kind of figures
that suggest they could as easily get
work in a lapdancing bar. Somehow, I
find the vision of them utterly compelling. I think I've been away from
home a bit too long.
On this theme, Adam strolled back
down the beach area after the game to
find something to eat and described it
as something like Bigg Market on a
Saturday evening (for those familiar
with Newcastle nightlife). I didn't have
the energy to walk that far and settled
for burger and chips and a bottle of
water for 30 rand (£3) at the first place
we came to. It was a pleasure to sit
down in the warm evening (it gets dark
about 5 pm in Durban at this time of
the year) and listen to the sound of the
sea. Durban has marketed itself at
these finals as 'the warmest place to
be' and there's no lie there. A lovely
place.
We drove back to Ian's just in
time to catch the start of the
Spain v Chile game on the
box. We checked on the
Switzerland v Honduras score
periodically and I have to say
I was shocked the Swiss
falied to score, meaning their
elimination. Spain's win
meant that I will not see the
dream game of Brazil v the
Spanish on Monday night as
Ellis Park, but at least we
have England v Germany on
Sunday. It will be up at 5.30 in
the morning as we have to be
on an 8am flight to Port
Elizabeth. We've got used to
driving the Kia Sportage and
it will be a shame to drop it off
at Durban. Something more
modest will be picked up at
Port Elizabeth airport on
arrival.
27
It is our last night at Ian's, and we have
stayed there for four nights in total on
this trip. He and Annie have a lovely
home and it has been a pleasure being
in such a relaxing environment. Ian is
a rare book dealer these days and it is
fascinating to browse the shelves in
the room where he works. It is a
shame to move on, but move on we
must, but with many thanks to our
hosts for their kindness. I hope to see
them again on a more orthodox visit
before too long. As we leave Durban,
we are on the final stretch. Adam has
two more matches to attend, while I
hang around a bit longer and have
four. A reader of this very website,
Mark, got in touch when I mentioned I
had spares for the final two days of my
trip. He is flying out over the weekend
and I sorted him a ticket for the
Sunday night Soccer City match
between Argentina and Mexico, so he
will see three games altogether.
Certainly enough to get a real flavour
of this tournament. Whether my words
about how great it was over here had
any influence on his decision to come
I'll find out when I meet him, but I am
sure he won't regret his visit. Having
done a similar thing in Germany four
years ago, I know that three games in
three days is a great way to dip your
toe into an event like this and feel
you've been a part of it. It will be
strange attending my final two matches with a different companion, but I am
sure his enthusiasm for being here will
be a boost.
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Part 17 Port
Elizabeth The
Friendly
City
T
Saturday 26 June
he first of two mornings when we
have to rise at the ungodly hour
of 5.30am. Ian and Annie both
rose to see us off, although they normally get up early, so our struggle to
attempt consciousness probably
amused them. We'd forgotten how far
it was to the new King Shaka
International airport built in time for this
tournament, but had allowed ourselves
plenty of time. It's certainly a hell of a
long way out of Durban.
Adam - as an englandfans member,
had bought a ticket for England's last
16 game in the event they made it
through the group stage, and picked it
up at the FIFA ticketing booth at the
airport. Later in the day he would sell it
to another England fan in search of a
ticket, as we have tickets for the game
in Bloemfontein already. Our flight to
Port Elizabeth was delayed for an
hour, but we were in no rush, so the
delay did not create any real problems
for us. I think it was a 52 seater plane
- certainly quite small, but definitely
full, with most people travelling being
involved with the World Cup either as
spectators or working for the media.
There were a good number of laminate
passes of the style sported by the
managers on the touchline.
At PE (as everyone here calls it), we
collected our next hire car - another
Honda Jazz. Our host for one night
only here is Earl, a golfing mate of
Martin's, who also works in the motor
trade as does our host in Jo'burg.
Martin had told me that Earl was quite
a character and he did not disappoint.
It was quite easy finding his place from
the airport, and after a welcome drink,
he took us on a drive round the city. A
lot of it is on the beach and the sun
was shining bright. Another beautiful
day. Not for everyone though. At one
point we passed some emergency
vehicles and a mangled wreck of a car.
Protruding from under some heavy
duty large foil sheeting were a pair of
feet wearing white socks. Obviously
the victim of the accident - now
deceased. Earl said that the vast
majority of road deaths in the country
are as a result of two things. Drunk
driving and speeding, often combined.
The road we are on did not look like a
tricky one to drive, but I guess if you
lose control, then the consequences
can be as fatal as we witnessed.
A braai followed back at Earl's home another stunning open plan affair with
a fine outdoor space that overlooked a
farm where the two family dogs were
taken for their walk. We met wife
Elaine, kids Lee and Candy, Candy's
husband Brian and friend Tony. The
latter settled here over thirty years ago
and, hailing from Dartford, had been in
the same class at school as Mick
Jagger. it was ironic to spot the
Stones' singer later on in the day on
TV watching the USA v Ghana match
in Rustenburg, chumming up to Bill
28
Clinton.
We had a couple of spares for the
Uruguay v South Korea match which I
knew we would never sell in a month
of Sundays, so Tony and Lee used
them to come to the game with everyone else. Eight of us crammed into
Earl's people mover and we headed to
a park and ride and caught a taxi bus
to the stadium. The tenth and final stadium on this trip, it was a fitting end on
that score. It looks good from the outside and even better in. It holds around
45,000, and feels quite intimate in
spite of the tall stands. The pitch is
sunken, so from the outside, it is
deceptive. Adam and I had decent
seats in the uppermost tier, but the one
below presented a sea of empty seats,
so we moved down a level and sat
near the halfway line. We had paid for
category 1 seats anyway, so why not
get the best view in the house.
The sun shone brightly and I was glad
I remembered my brimmed hat as it
was pointing right in our faces. The
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game was a decent enough one,
especially in the second half. At least
now we are no longer watching matches where one result could suit both
sides. At halftime, the weather turned
and it started absolutely lashing down.
It reminded me a bit of Uruguay's
match with Argentina in the Mexico
1986 finals at this stage. It started in
bright sunshine there before the heavens opened.
South Korea gave a decent account of
themselves but Uruguay proved more
clinical in front of goal. We were hoping for extra time to give the rain time
to stop, but South Korea missed an
excellent chance at 2-1 down and that
was it. We met up with Earl and the
others and got a bit wet waiting for the
shuttle bus back to where we were
parked. We then drove back to Earl's
to watch the evening game between
USA and Ghana. Earl enjoys a drop or
two of alcohol and encourages guests
to join him. This may have influenced
my falling asleep during the second
half of the match, not helped by the
early start this morning. I awoke in
time to see Ghana triumph, and was
pleased that Africa will have a representative in the last eight.
It is a regret that we cannot stay longer
at Earl's. The man is a genial host and
a real character. However, tomorrow
sees us head for Bloemfontein for the
England game, and another early
start...
Part 18 England: The
predictable
exit
W
Sunday 27 June
hen I have to get up early, I
invariably do not sleep so
well, constantly checking the
phone to see the time in the couple of
hours before rising. However, I was
obviously so shattered this morning
that I did not stir until actually woken
by the alarm at 5.30. Earl arose shortly after to make us a coffee and open
the electronic gate to allow us to get
the car out. We were away by 6 and
Adam admitted that, were it not for us
seeing England this afternoon, he
would have left later and chanced
missing the start of the game. It was
only the second time we have had to
depart in the dark - the previous occasion only the day before to catch our
flight to Port Elizabeth. So we haven't
really done too badly.
It was over 600 kilometres to
Bloemfontein. We passed monkeys on
the road a few times and there were
29
two or three that had met their end
after having been hit by vehicles. They
seemed very lackadaisical about getting off the road when cars came.
There seemed no urgency, no instinct
to avoid danger. We passed a good
number of ostriches too, although at
least these were behind fencing, presumably belonging to farmers. Driving
north, the weather changed from the
grey, squally rain of PE to bright sunshine. Adam did the first half of the
journey before I took over. I managed
to lose a 20 year old pair of ray ban
sunglasses with a fair bit of sentimental value, but a text established I'd left
them at Earl's. He will send them to
Jo'burg and, assuming they don't
arrive before I depart, I am sure I will
see Martin and Suzie when they visit
family in London, so will retrieve them
then. I could have used them on the
second half of this drive though, such
was the brightness of the South
African winter sunshine.
We were low on petrol at one point and
with a lack of service stations on the
main road, took a detour into a place
called Edenburg. On the way in, I
could see how poor the area was looking at the settlement structures - made
from corrugated iron rather than brick.
The place was later described as a
one horse town by our guesthouse
owners in Bloemfontein. It was a little
like stepping back in time. Aside from
the petrol station, there was a shop
which Adam ventured into. He said
that all they sold was knives, drinks
and confectionary. When I tried to find
him, it looked like it was shut, so I
thought he must have gone somewhere else. Even though the petrol
station was doing a little business, it
was all eerily quiet, even for a Sunday
morning.
There were about three stops for roadworks, but we got to Bloemfontein in a
little over seven hours and checked in
to our guesthouse - the one we'd
stayed in almost a fortnight ago after
driving from Durban to see Japan beat
Cameroon. We had done a lot since
then, and seeing our host Henning
symbolised a kind of full circle. It was
Adam's last full day here and final
match before he heads home tomorrow. We didn't hang around too long
and headed for the park and ride we
used the previous time, which was
very efficient. On the way we played
New Order's 1990 World Cup song,
'World In Motion' on the CD player and
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all felt right with the world. It being
Sunday, a lot of the businesses in town
were closed, even food places which
could have made a killing if they had
chosen to open. I later read that alcohol sales were normally banned on
Sundays, but the rules relaxed for
today. I had some lunch in a Chinese
Restaurant, whilst Adam tried to sell
the spare ticket he thought he had
found a buyer for yesterday (who
pulled out after getting one elsewhere).
There were a lot of spares floating
around, which surprised me a bit. I
guess Bloemfontein isn't too easy to
get to, being at least three hours from
Jo'burg by car and having a very small
airport. It's not especially geared up for
visitors. The other problem was
accommodation. Our guesthouse had
received 300 enquiries about staying
tonight. I'm glad we had booked back
before Christmas, as the alternative
was an evening drive to Jo'burg. I
would have happily done this after
both games here, but Adam did not
want to do that after such long prematch drives on both days, so fair
enough. He managed to sell his spare
for below face value, getting 600 rand
for a 1050 rand ticket. The locals were
offering 100 rand and I suspect that
some were successful such were the
number of tickets going. This has definitely been the tournament of spares.
So, England v Germany. All the history
and all that. Basically, England had the
players to win this game, but, as
everyone will have seen, they failed to
perform. The 'equaliser' when the
scores were 2-1 was clearly over the
line, but I guess the linesman wasn't
concentrating on the ball at that
moment. It was payback for 1966.
Who knows whether it might have
Mick Jagger - Albatross
changed the game. However, England
went gung ho a little too early after the
interval and paid the price. It was difficult to believe I was watching a team
coached
by
Fabio
Capello.
Defensively, they reminded Adam of
watching Arsenal.
Mick Jagger was in the crowd, as we
suspected he would be after seeing
him at the Rustenburg game last night.
He was there when England lost to
Argentina at this stage in the 1998
finals, and we feared he might be an
albatross. So it proved. We didn't hang
around and were back at the guesthouse within half an hour of the final
whistle. I imagine the traffic to get on
the main road to Jo'burg got pretty bad
as it was already queuing when we
passed the junction.
Our guesthouse owners did a braai, so
our evening meal was taken care of.
The others at the guesthouse were a
mix of people. There were a mother
and son who were England fans from
Sheffield. The son got a bit drunk and
30
I can't claim to have enjoyed his company too much. There were some
Germans too, but they were fine and
kept themselves to themselves. Also
some friends of our hosts. I didn't feel
like making small talk for longer than
necessary and after watching the first
half of the Argentina v Mexico game
whilst eating, sloped off to our room to
catch the second half. Argentina are
certainly looking the part and if they
get past Germany, will face Uruguay or
Ghana in the semi. You would have to
fancy them for the final.
Tomorrow, after dropping Adam at the
airport, I will meet up with Mark, the
Gooner who got in touch to claim my
spares for the final two matches. He
was in attendance at Soccer City to
see the Argentina game. Four goals
from your first match is a decent
return, so let's hope he can keep up
his average. Certainly, in the four
knockout games so far, there have
been a lot more goals than we have
seen in the group matches. Long may
it continue.
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Part 19 Brazil at
Ellis Park
again - but
above zero
degrees this
time
T
Monday 28 June
he long open road. The view
from the front seats of our hire
car is frequently a wide expanse
of horizon with a road running through
the middle of it. The sky here always
seems more dramatic than back
home. The trip from Bloemfontein to
Jo'burg might seem a short hop in
comparison with some we've made,
but it is still not far short of 400km and,
with a stop, took us over four hours to
cover. A key memory of this three
week trip will certainly be the driving
and the roads. Outside of the cities,
there is rarely a great volume of traffic
and on the main routes, often single
lane roads. They work quite well
because there is usually a hard shoulder, which slower vehicles will use to
allow faster ones to pass. We've done
that ourselves to allow those in a serious rush to get by once we learned it
is an acceptable use of the road here.
Once we reach Johannesburg, it is a
different story regarding the driving.
The main ring road around the city is a
four lane highway where it is every
man for himself. Think 'Whacky Races'
if you are of a certain age or maybe
Super Mario Kart for those of a
younger persuasion. Undertaking is
par for the course when you have slow
vehicles refusing to budge from the
middle lanes (Martin says they are
paranoid about having an accident
and might not always have insurance).
It is no wonder that South Africa's
roads are amongst the most dangerous on the planet. The media have
wrongly given a very negative perception of some aspects of this country,
but if they were to say you are taking
your life in your hands driving on the
N1, N2 and N3 roads, I could not
argue. You just have to be aware
(especially of your blind spot) and
ready to react. So far, so good.
It being the day of Adam's return
home, I dropped him at Oliver Tambo
airport. It will be weird doing my final
48 hours and two matches with him
not around. He's done 15 matches in
17 days and seen every stadium Soccer City, Ellis Park, Durban, Cape
Town and Pretoria twice. The most
remarkable aspect of the trip is that,
despite living out of each others' pockets for such a long time, we've not had
a fallout. I could not envisage at the
start of the trip that we would get
through it without a disagreement or
two, but I guess we are both tolerant
people who will compromise when
required. It is certainly the best solution when you have a common goal.
Enough energy is used up doing what
needs doing without getting worked
up.
Having said our goodbyes, I drove to
Martin's and was welcomed by Susie.
It seems like a long time since I last
saw her and yet it was only Thursday
morning. Surreal. After she gave me
some lunch I headed down to the centre and a meet up with Mark, who has
travelled over for three matches in
31
three days, using spare tickets I have
for the last two. His trip to Soccer City
last night was painless, as it turned out
the park and ride buses left from very
close to his hotel. He said it had been
very cold at his game, and Susie had
loaned me one of Martin's winter jackets as insurance against a repeat this
evening. It was good to meet Mark and
get news about how the tournament
was being portrayed back home, and
of how poor some of the pundits are,
although ITV new boy Adrian Chiles
received a positive review. We
watched the Holland v Slovakia game
on his hotel room TV. I nipped out at
one point to check on the car, as I had
a sudden fear I had parked in a stretch
where you had to feed a parking metre
without realising it. I was okay, but took
the opportunity to visit a cheap looking
corner store in search of a cheap
holdall.
I've a little too much to take back as
hand luggage, so the idea is to buy
something I can put the valuable stuff
in and put my small suitcase with stuff
that shouldn't interest a discerning
Johannesburg luggage handler in the
hold. This store had a selection of
bags, although mostly sold packaged
food of various types. The bags were
all on the top shelf and most of them
were broken in some way - such as the
zip not working or the strap being broken. One had suffered a bit of mould
and it was obvious that no one ever
really looked at these items. They
were just kind of filling shelf space in a
big shop with more shelving than it
needed. One of the staff had a look at
the back of the store and dug out a
reasonably intact one which I paid 30
rand for. One less thing to take care of.
The feel of the shop kind of reflected
the poverty of the area. There are
attempts to reclaim the Central
Business District (CBD), and Mark's
hotel - The Ashanti on Anderson Street
- is certainly high spec and very modern, but there are still many many poor
people living here, and it makes for a
strange experience to see the contrast.
I returned to see the end of the Holland
game and then we drove towards Ellis
Park. Unlike my previous two visits,
this time we were approaching from
the west rather than the north with the
intention of parking on the south side
of the stadium. Driving through the
east side of the CBD, the lack of street
lighting was positively sinister.
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Part 20 Full circle
M
Tuesday 29 June
Crossing the Nelson Mandela Bridge in Johannesburg
However, we managed to find our way
to the roadblocks near the stadium,
and knowing this was as close as we
could get a car took the offer of a local
to park us up in a street that, although
also somewhat pitch black, was being
used by other fans and had housing
that looked positively respectable by
the standards of others in the area. We
headed to the ground and killed some
time in the stadium fan zone where all
the sponsors pitch up and provide prematch entertainment.
We had pretty decent seats, four rows
from the front of the upper tier and
about halfway between the penalty
area and the centre circle. We took our
places a little before the teams came
out, although the cold was not as bad
as was feared. It was just under two
weeks ago that I first caught Brazil
(officially the coldest game at this tournament so far) at this very stadium on
our first stop in the capital. This was
the fourth time I have seen them having, by luck of the draw, not missed a
single game of theirs. At previous tournaments, I have always caught at least
one Argentina game, but this time
around have not. When you apply for
tickets before the draw is made, it can
be pot luck who you end up seeing.
The 'big' teams I have not caught at
this tournament have been Argentina,
Holland and Italy. So it goes. The stadiums were the priority when the trip
was planned.
The game itself exposed why Chile
had reached this stage due to victories
over Honduras and Switzerland. They
were simply not good enough to
threaten Brazil, who looked imperious
to these eyes. Howard Webb was the
referee and had a decent enough
game, although he had balls to book
Kaka so early in the game. It's difficult
to see beyond a Brazil v Argentina
final, although if any of their matches
go to a penalty shoot-out, then elimination is entirely possible. Certainly
Holland will provide a stiffer test to
Dunga's men and a semi against
either Spain or Portugal seems likely.
These are matches I will be watching
back in England on the TV. One imagines if Argentina get past Germany
they should win a semi against Ghana
or Uruguay, although the latter might
not concur.
Tomorrow is my last full day here, and
my final match. Number 16. As I have
had three days without games since
my first one on June 11th, it means I
will have done those matches in 19
days. By the time I dropped Adam off
at the airport, we had covered approximately 5000 kilometres in the trio of
hire cars we have had. Pretoria will
host Paraguay v Japan for my in the
flesh farewell to this tournament. As
time online might be tricky to come by
on Wednesday, there is every chance
the news of my final full day here will
not be relayed until I get the chance to
post it back in the UK. So for those
mad fools that are following my
account of this tournament on any kind
of regular basis, please bear with me.
32
y final full day. My final game.
At the end of it, 56 matches will
have been played in this tournament, with only eight remaining. I
will have caught a quarter of all 64
games in this World Cup. And I am
pretty much all footballed out. Close to
exhaustion. The game today is in
Pretoria between Paraguay and
Japan. When I first organised this trip,
I planned to finish on Sunday with the
match in Bloemfontein (which saw
England eliminated), but when booking my return, thought I would like to
catch the last four first round knockout
games on the television rather than be
in mid-air while a couple of them were
going on. I subsequently realised that,
being based in Jo'burg, I would be
able to attend a couple of them, so
bought tickets. A kind of addiction
takes over as you fill gaps in the
schedule with more matches. Totally
unnecessary as I'd seen games at Ellis
Park and Pretoria, but when you book
the thing you just can't imagine how
tired you are going to be.
Of course, my co-attendee Mark, out
here for only three games, is still fresh
as a daisy and enjoying his brief time
based in Jo'burg to the max. I picked
him up at noon and we made good
time reaching Pretoria, although I
managed to go into the city a different
way from my previous visit and had
trouble finding the spot where I wanted
to park, near some restaurants and an
internet cafe where we could kill time
before the game. I think I did a complete circuit of the area around the
Loftus Versfeld stadium before recognising the road and parking up pretty
much where I wanted to, courtesy of
the inevitable local 'parking assistant'
who made 40 rand in total for his trouble. 20 before the match and 20 after.
In fairness, when we have paid a local
to ensure no damage is done to our
car, we have returned to it and it has
been fine.
Pretoria seems like a massive place to
me. Almost as big as Jo'burg. The stadium is some distance from the centre
in one of the suburbs, whilst the fan
park that serves this city is about half
an hour's drive from the stadium, and
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Page 33
some of that on the N1 motorway. It
seemed so far out on a limb to me that
I couldn't see anyone using it, although
maybe the area near it is heavily populated. The fan parks have been criticised here, mainly because you cannot - as in the stadiums themselves bring in your own food and drink.
Granted they are free, but once inside,
your only options are the overpriced
fare that you find in the stadiums. The
only beer is Budweiser (give me the
original Budvar any day). So little
choice and significant expense. South
Africa's matches saw the fan parks
packed, but who wants to sit in a field
with about a dozen other people to
watch Slovenia play Algeria? At least
the one in Durban was on the beach,
and as the only one I ever saw a game
at, I am only going by what has been
reported here regarding the fan parks
elsewhere. There have been some
gatherings not organised by FIFA
and/or the local organising committee
and they have in some cases proved
successful, not least because they
only open for games people actually
care about in significant number. I am
sure they will all open for the semis
and final and get decent numbers, the
food and drink on offer being far more
varied and reasonably priced. What I
now perceive the official fan park idea
as being is an opportunity for FIFA and
their sponsors to fleece non-stadium
attending fans for money by creating a
captive market. As if they are not making enough profit already.
Mark and I were talking about his goal
average - seven in two games is pretty good going in comparison to mine and we were optimistic we would see
some goals today. How wrong we
were. The sky was fairly overcast, but
at least, with a 4pm kick off, it was not
too chilly. I think I have described the
stadium in Pretoria before, but Mark -
who likes rugby too - had an interesting comment in saying that both Ellis
Park and Loftus Versfeld felt very
much like traditional rugby stadiums,
which is of course exactly what they
are, but I had not really perceived
them as such. I have heard that some
of the bigger rugby internationals will
be transferred to Soccer City from Ellis
Park for the obvious reason that bigger
attendances equals greater income. I
wonder if they will re-brand the stadium name for such occasions.
I doubt that Pretoria has seen many
rugby games as dull as the entertainment Paraguay and Japan gave us.
Chances were pretty rare. The two
defences played well, but the paucity
of ability in either side's attack had me
thinking that whoever managed to triumph in this tie would be eliminated in
the next round by either Spain or
Portugal, depending who came
through that game later. There was little surprise when extra time finished
without any score. On the principle
that it is difficult for me to watch a
game without favouring one of the
teams, I plumped for Paraguay to win.
I think this was because I am aware
that they are capable of playing decent
football and was hopeful of a watch-
McDonalds Fan Dancers: We’ll always have the memories...
33
able quarter final if they did get
through. Mind you, I was hardly passionate about the result and before
long in the first half was just hopeful of
a goal from either team, just to open
things up a bit. Of course the penalty
shoot out provides some drama, but it
sure wasn't worth the two hours we
endured to see it. The highlight of the
match before the shoot out was my
last sighting of the McDonald's fan
dancers at half time. One of them
looks suspiciously like Melanie Slade so perhaps the Walcott household did
infiltrate this tournament after all.
Once Paraguay had won the shoot-out
we didn't hang around. I had a farewell
dinner waiting for me at Martin's and
wanted to get back to catch Spain play
Portugal on the box. On the way to the
car, Mark was able to pick up three
vuvuzelas for people back home from
a street trader. This was the last game
in Pretoria, South Africa are out of the
tournament and there are a lot of
unsold vuvuzelas. These were quite
nice ones that I could not haggle below
50 rand a week ago, but we got him
down to 30 rand each. There have
been a lot of people selling World Cup
related stuff in the streets - mainly
national flags, scarves, vuvuzelas and
decorated mining helmets. Some are
lined up on the approach to the stadium, many just work the junctions in the
traffic. There is a phenomenon of people (invariably black, but there are
obvious reasons for that) selling stuff
at traffic light junctions (or robots, as
they call them) here. Newspapers, bin
liners, football ephemera, ornaments,
oranges and more I don't care to
remember. Some give out publicity flyers and some just carry a bin liner
offering it for you to dispose of rubbish
in your car. It's a step up from begging
I guess.
10/8/10
18:09
Page 34
The journey back to Jo'burg was a
good one. We made a decent getaway
and I was able to drop Mark back at
his hotel. The traffic in the centre is
almost non-existent once it gets dark.
What a contrast to my journey to pick
him up at about 4pm yesterday. We
said our farewells after a brief panic
when I could not get the keys out of
the hire car ignition, nor start it. It
turned out I had neglected to put the
gear in park. It is strange to think I didn't encounter him until gone 4pm yesterday, and only 28 hours later was
bidding him goodbye. He said he had
enjoyed dipping his toe in the water of
this tournament and is glad he came.
It's a shame his final game - and
indeed mine - was such a damp squib,
but as we all know, when you buy the
ticket, there are no guarantees.
I think this was the third 0-0 I have
seen in my 16 matches. The others
were France v Uruguay (the very first
game on this trip) and Brazil v Portugal
(the final group phase game I caught).
None of them have been particularly
good to watch, as some 0-0 games
actually are. I will give my overall
thoughts on the tournament back in
the UK when it is all done and dusted,
but at this stage, all I can say is that it
is crying out for some good matches at
its climax to salvage it from a football
point of view. Unfortunately, there have
been simply too many dull games, too
many poor sides and not enough
drama. Being here, I've seen the best
of it as the atmosphere has been
superb. Back home, I suspect there is
disappointment for a number of reasons, one of those obviously being
England's below par displays.
I got back to Martin's in time for a fish
and chip supper and the Spain v
Portugal match. No doubt the best
team won there as Ronaldo's mob
were hardly at the races. It has been a
wonderful stay in Bryanston and I will
miss my hosts. At the same time, on
arriving back after my final excursion, I
admitted to them that I was demob
happy and ready to go home. Reality
and a huge pile of things to attend to
await there, but I have largely been
able to put that stuff out of my mind
while I have been here.
It has been an exhausting trip and I
suspect I will sleep well on the plane
journey home and indeed for the first
few nights back in the UK. I will probably do a couple more entries of this
diary - one maybe reflecting on the
contrast of watching the quarter finals
back home and another one with some
overall conclusions on the tournament
after the final. But for South Africa, this
is it. I have written at length about this
place and the situation the country
finds itself in. I have attempted to relay
something of the feeling of being here.
There are a few reasons I started this
diary. Arsenal content for the website
is certainly thin on the ground at the
moment, although a couple of writers
that have submitted stuff will have to
forgive me and believe I will be posting
their pieces soon. Working time (especially online) has not been easy. I also
felt it would be a good aide memoir for
me of the trip, so please excuse the
self-indulgence. Finally, if anyone asks
what the trip was like, I can just point
them to the website and they can read
it at their leisure.
I've had some very positive feedback
from both those I know and others I do
not, including a couple of Gooners in
South Africa. Many thanks to all that
have emailed to offer encouragement.
I am aware that those who have no
interest probably just stopped reading
and don't feel the need to relay their
views, but I am just pleased to hear
that some have enjoyed my offerings
and even feel that, vicariously, they
are experiencing the tournament in a
slightly wider way than that portrayed
by the media back home.
One thing that you should always
remember about the media at these
tournaments is that they are largely
cosseted from reality, billeted up in
their hotels and ferried to and from
matches and press conferences without having to deal with the everyday
stuff that travelling supporters do.
They never have to endure the sheer
hassle of getting into a stadium that
you cannot park anywhere near, and
34
needing to stop in the middle of
nowhere to get some petrol in places
no-one would ever know if you disappeared. I've taken a few chances, and
had Adam not been my travelling companion, I am certain I would have
taken more. Doubtless the family back
home are grateful I didn't. We've met
some very hospitable and entertaining
individuals and been treated like royalty. To all those who have helped us
out, the hope is I can reciprocate the
favour in London sometime.
South Africa has opened its arms and
embraced the influx of visitors.
Granted, some have used the opportunity to make a little more money, but
overall, the impression I get is one of
pride rather than cynicism. Welcome
to our country. The people here are
tremendously proud just to be hosting
this event, and making a decent fist of
it in terms of organisation and a party
atmosphere, to the extent that the
memories I take will not be the lack of
exciting football matches, but discovering this country and its people. Yes
there are dangers, as in any society,
but I am confident that the anecdotal
evidence of those who have been here
will encourage people to either return
to South Africa, or visit for the first
time. There is work to do after the
party's over, not least addressing the
huge unemployment problem. But for
the most part, the worries and fears
have been put on hold while the
world's football fans are in town, and
everyone has been determined to
make the most of this month. Even the
school holidays have been shifted so
that kids are off for the five weeks of
the tournament. That, in a nutshell,
symbolises what the World Cup
means to the country.
It's been a unique event here, and I
shall miss this place.
10/8/10
18:09
Page 35
Part 21 Back Home
O
Friday 3 July
kay, I am back in the UK and
for the most part, the remainder
of this World Cup diary will be
about the football. I’ve left South Africa
behind, but as the tournament continues, I’ll wrap things up with this entry
and a concluding one after the final
next weekend.
Before discussing the quarter finals, a
little detail about the journey back, as
regulars have lived the rest of the trip
with me, it would be churlish to neglect
its conclusion. Also, there is a wrong to
be righted in the name of balance.
I was full of praise for Ethiopian
Airlines when I flew out here. However,
I did make a pact with the devil before
I left. Having paid £475 for a return to
Johannesburg, changing planes in
Addis Ababa, I knew there was a
decent chance that any delay on the
outward journey would mean I missed
the start of the tournament and possibly my only chance to see a game in
Cape Town's Green Point Stadium. So
I said, just get me out there in time,
and I will suffer any delays on the way
back. I was surprised to discover the
wait at Addis Ababa before catching
the connecting flight going back was
only three and a half hours. This might
be to do with different time zones or
our taking off late from Jo'burg.
Whatever, able to kill two hours in an
internet cafe at the airport, the time
soon went by.
But at half past midnight I learned that
my 1am flight had been cancelled, and
that along with my fellow passengers I
would be put on another at 10am the
following morning. It meant being ferried to a hotel with the necessary
organisation and visa paperwork
meaning I got my head down a little
after 2am. I have to admit though that
the upside of this was seeing the parts
of the Ethiopian capital that the tourist
brochures don't show you - if indeed
there is a tourist industry in this country. We passed prostitutes, shops
made from corrugated iron, poorly lit
streets and more mud than the worst
Glastonbury on record. Oh and stray
dogs aplenty. There seemed to be a lot
of neon in use, some of it looking like
fairy lights on a Christmas tree. It was
an odd image amongst all the squalor,
and I didn't get why the lighting was
turned on for businesses that had
closed for the night. Electricity is presumably not free, but maybe nobody
pays their bills. At least it provided
street lighting of a sort.
I had felt a little ill on the flight from
Jo'burg and was feeling dehydrated. I
chanced drinking the hotel tap water.
Big mistake. No details required, but
the following morning saw activity in
the hotel bathroom that wouldn't be in
the brochure. Thank the stars for
The World Game: Football pitch spotted from Addis Ababa hotel
35
immodium that's all I will say. As the
coach taking us to the airport left at
7am, I managed to get four hours' kip.
I regard the first four hours of a night's
sleep as the essential bit. I often wake
up after that and for the rest of the
night sleep in fits and starts. This time,
I was so knackered that there was no
chance of my waking up naturally in
time for the bus, so I set the alarm on
my phone giving me time for a much
needed, but unexciting hotel breakfast.
I hadn't eaten since the meal on the
flight at about 3.30pm the previous
day.
The flight left a little after 10, but the
bonus was that we flew direct to
London rather than stopping off in
Rome, as scheduled. Hallelujah. I sat
next to an England fan who was flying
home. He had been out at the tournament with mates, but once Fabio
Capello's side were eliminated, he just
wanted to get back to England. He had
a ticket for the final, but has left it with
his friends to sell. I could not believe
he would pass up a chance to see the
final, but he then told me he had done
exactly the same in Germany four
years previously. I asked how he had
been fortunate enough to get tickets in
the ballot and he told me he and his
pals had made multiple applications 'about a thousand' he said, doubtless
exaggerating - and that between them
they had a large number of spares for
other games in the tournament, which
they had in the main managed to shift
for face value. I certainly put in three
different applications, as buyers were
limited to seven matches each. It was
the only way I could see a match in
every stadium. I tried try a similar strategy in Germany for 2006, but was far
less successful, presumably due to
greater demand.
At the airport in Jo'burg, I had a final
opportunity to check the stores for
World Cup merchandise. The only
licenced item I have bought at this
tournament has been the programme.
T-shirts are from £20 and baseball
caps the same. Replica team shirts
are around £75. Vuvuzelas are a tenner. What is most astonishing of all is
that some people are actually buying
the licensed products at these prices.
However, I predict the mother of all
sales in a multitude of outlets after
11th July as there is no way on earth
they are going to sell all of the stuff on
offer at these prices. There simply
aren't enough mugs in the country.
10/8/10
18:09
Page 36
What is particularly galling is that the
stuff is doubtless produced very cheap
in South East Asian sweatshops.
FIFA's profiteering is unethical in several ways, but they have a monopoly
and nothing's going to change. It is
certainly one of the most corrupt
organisations on the planet, possibly
the most corrupt in world sport. Mind
you, the South African government are
hardly a shining light, having spent millions on match tickets for their staff.
Incidentally, as Russia is in the running
for the 2018 World Cup, the nature of
FIFA means England haven’t got a
chance of winning enough votes.
Russia will stage it, with backhanders
ensuring their success. That’s one
tournament I seriously cannot envisage attending in the flesh.
I got to my front door some 31 hours
after my plane left the runway at Oliver
Tambo airport. The connection was a
pain, but in fact the most painful part of
the journey was Heathrow to home via
underground and overground trains.
The following day saw the first pair of
quarter finals – Brazil v Holland in Port
Elizabeth and Ghana v Uruguay in
Soccer City. I was genuinely shocked
to see Brazil eliminated as I really did
not expect them to defend as badly as
they did for Holland’s goals. The Dutch
have played some workmanlike football with just enough flair to win their
matches. Their progression through
the tournament has been smooth, but
I simply felt like Brazil would be a
tougher test for them and one too
great. But that’s the magic of knockout
football. It’s interesting that you can
have a duff defeat in the group stage
(think Germany and Spain) but still
progress. If your bad day at the office
comes a bit later, then you’re on the
plane home. Fair play to Holland
though. Their defence was questioned
before the start of the finals, and is far
from stuffed with big reputations. But
they limited Brazil to one goal, which is
no mean feat.
For some reason, I was under the
impression that the winner of this
game would meet Spain or Paraguay.
The other semi-final being between
Germany/Argentina
and
Ghana/Uruguay. I think I probably
worked this out from a newspaper during a long drive when I was simultaneously trying to figure out the route. At
least that’s my excuse. I was probably
at the wheel at the time to boot.
However, reality has dawned and I settled down for the Ghana v Uruguay
knowing that the winner would be facing the Dutch in a semi-final in Cape
Town for which my first host on the trip,
Harv, would be in attendance. On the
basis that it is Africa’s tournament and
I have found Uruguay generally workmanlike, I favoured Ghana to win.
However, as everyone will have seen
they blew it in remarkable style.
Arsenal fans will remember Dennis
Bergkamp’s miss in that 1999 FA Cup
semi-final replay at Villa Park. This
was worse in the sense of the timing.
From memory, the Iceman never took
another penalty, but at least Asamoah
Gyan took another straight away in the
shoot out. Two of his team-mates also
missed, but I suspect Gyan will not
sleep well for a few nights as he had
the best chance of sending his country
into the last four and failed to seize the
moment. Penalty shoot outs provide
drama, but ultimately, they are not far
short of a lottery. It is especially unsatisfactory for finals themselves to be
settled this way, such as happened in
1994.
ITV covered both matches on the
Friday and I have to say I don’t feel like
I have missed much from not being
here where they are concerned. I don’t
really feel like many of these pundits
SA2010 Mascot - Subject of no
end of of overpriced
FIFA licenced tat
36
give any real analysis that the viewer
can’t work out for themselves. Jimmy
Greaves may have been an alcoholic
idiot, but at least he was entertaining.
Punditry has largely become bland
and safe. An easy buck for ex pros. I
think I’ve relayed the story about
Messrs Shearer, Hansen and Dixon
being driven for a round of golf near
Cape Town. If not, the long and short
of it is that they are by and large pretty arrogant and ignorant. And I know I
have stated that the media by and
large are not seeing anything of the
real South Africa. From watching
BBC’s Saturday coverage of the finals,
it appears they have elected to base
the studio presenters and pundits in
Cape Town. Interesting decision. Why
not Johannesburg? A far more central
point for all the stadiums with the
Gauteng region being very much the
heart of the tournament. Possibly
because a studio with Soccer City in
the background is not such a pleasant
place to work. Sod that. I want Lineker
and company sweating it in Soweto if
my licence fee is funding their sojourn.
Anyway, Germany’s demolition of
Argentina put England’s collapse last
weekend in a slightly more positive
light. The question about Argentina
has always been their defence. Tested
seriously for the first time, it collapsed.
Maradona’s team have certainly
looked good in this tournament up to
now, but football basics must eventually catch up with you. Normally, they
would rely on outscoring the opposition, but Germany were as good at the
back as they were executing counterattacks. Spain were expected to beat
Paraguay but made hard work of it. It
was a fantastic last 30 minutes for
drama, but the hour we had to endure
before was fairly tortuous. Spain
against Germany in Durban next
Wednesday will be quite a semi-final.
It’s interesting to see that, although
only three European sides made it to
the last eight, all three have progressed further. Only one of the four
South American sides in the last eight
have joined them, and Uruguay needed a penalty shoot out to do that.
There has been a fair dose of drama in
the quarter final rounds, and let us
hope for more of the same in the
remaining matches.
I’ll next write after the final, just to give
some concluding thoughts on the tournament as a whole.
10/8/10
18:09
Page 37
Part 22 It’s All Over
Now
M
Monday 12 July
y decision to root for Spain in
the final was based ultimately
on the belief that a player as
cynical as Mark van Bommel should
not be rewarded with a World Cup winner’s medal. Little in the 120 minutes
of last night’s match did anything to
convince me I had made the wrong
decision. I had a feeling that Germany
had played their best football already
before Wednesday evening’s semifinal defeat to Spain. Also that
Uruguay had not really met any top
class teams until their elimination by
Holland the night before. So, although
a Germany v Holland final would have
been tasty for historical reasons, it was
only right that Spain made it. They
have dominated the matches they
have played – including their defeat by
Switzerland - even if the goals tally has
not been particularly remarkable.
World Cup Finals are rarely classic
matches these days. The stakes are
so high that caution inevitably rules the
day for much of the encounter. The
last really classic final I can remember
was in 1986. The 2010 final was similar to many recent ones for the paucity
of clear cut chances, although eventually fatigue meant that things opened
up and if the game had started at 45
minutes, I think I’d have a very different view on it. Ultimately, the best
team won, although the Dutch will
recall Arjen Robben’s chance early in
the second half as the moment the trophy slipped away. I was convinced
he’d score, but the moment proved
why Manuel Almunia has never been
mentioned as even a remote contender for an international cap for his
country. If Arsene Wenger needed evidence of what a difference a top class
keeper can make, then he need look
no further than this game.
Regarding Arsenal, the club were represented by a player on each side.
Robin van Persie was largely starved
of decent service, as Holland’s main
tactic seemed to be for Robben to beat
the offside trap. Cesc Fabregas came
on five minutes before the end of nor-
mal time, could have scored himself,
and ultimately provided the assist for
the winning goal. He will be a big loss
if Barcelona do find the money to fulfil
his desire to move. It was an irony that
the Dutch were complaining about a
foul that wasn’t given in the build-up to
the Spanish goal, given that they had
flouted with the rules for much of the
game.
Anyway, enough of the final, I intend to
use this last offering to take a more
general looks at the month of football
in South Africa. I was interested to
hear that one of the criticisms of the
tournament from Mark Bright on the
BBC was that not enough black faces
were in the crowds. He estimated that
about 10% of those present were
black South Africans. I would have to
say that this was not my experience,
and that they formed maybe 20% of
the attendees. He felt that more tickets
could have been given away to locals
for matches that had failed to sell out.
In fact this did actually happen, judging
by the number of schoolchildren I saw
in uniform at some of the group
games, specifically in Nelspruit and
Rustenburg. It is an example of the
media not always getting the full picture because they experience the tournament in a different way. Granted the
ticket prices were more than most
could afford, but the category four tick-
37
ets reserved for South African applicants were as cheap as any World
Cup ticket is ever going to be.
It has been said by a friend who wanted to attend the tournament but was
unable to for financial reasons that he
felt my view of the country was a little
rose tinted. He highlighted the fact that
people living in the most basic of
squats in areas where visitors might
see them were moved out for the duration of the tournament, so that the
depravity of their lifestyles would not be
witnessed. Although this is undoubtedly true, I think that the last thing the
South African population wanted was
for the more negative side of their
country to be highlighted. There are
certainly a lot of problems in the society, but the prevailing mood was that the
place was hosting a month long football party and they wanted guests to
have a good time. And in the spirit of
positivity I found, I am not going to be
the party pooper. I really feel that
unless you were actually there, you
cannot really get the full picture of the
significance of this sporting event to
the host country and why it mattered so
much to South Africans that visitors
formed a positive impression.
There is talk of what kind of legacy the
tournament will leave. Certainly, some
big stadiums that will rarely be full. But
10/8/10
18:09
Page 38
legged Weymouth-born expert. The
latter would certainly provide greater
insight.
I started this diary to give those not
there a flavour of the tournament first
hand. It’s the reason the entries dried
up after my return at the beginning of
July, before the quarter finals. Many
thanks to all those who have emailed
to say they enjoyed my offerings, and I
can’t miss this chance to express my
gratitude to the South African Gooners
who were good enough to provide
hospitality in their fine country – Harv,
Ian, Martin and Earl.
more significantly, internally, the
improvements in infrastructure will
benefit many – not least with the
widening of some of the traffic choked
roads. Externally, the reputation of the
country as a place where danger is a
constant should now be reviewed.
Crime was certainly not the story of
this tournament, as many feared.
There are a number of aspects of
South Africa 2010 that will live in the
memory. Chief of all is the vuvuzelas.
You either love them or hate them, but
as an in the flesh spectator, they certainly livened up some of the less
entertaining clashes, of which there
were a few. On occasion, the blowing
became quite organized, producing a
sound that cut across language barriers as visitors and locals alike blew
together. It was communal and magnificent. The atmosphere created by
the fans carried the tournament
through many undramatic group stage
matches, with a paucity of goals.
Viewed from the UK on television, I am
certain it was overall a disappointing
finals.
The fact that there were very few high
scoring matches and a prevailing attitude of caution in too many of the
sides made for some turgid viewing.
Many big name players failed to perform. You definitely got the feeling that
for many, club football was more
important. Certainly, the standard of
football is higher in the bigger leagues
than that which was witnessed in
South Africa.
Although the early exits of France and
Italy were a shock, the biggest surprise for me was the collapse of Brazil
in the game against Holland. I was
convinced Dunga’s side were the full
package, but football’s ability to spring
unpredictable results is what makes
the game so compelling.
And of course, there was Paul the
octopus. How I’d love Sky TV to
announce they are ditching Jamie
Redknapp and drafting in the eight-
38
While watching the final, my son asked
me if there would be a final in 2084. I
think he was trying to get his head
round the final being held every four
years or something. I worked out that
2082 and 2086 would be the actual
dates nearest. It also gave me the
chance to reflect that you can measure
your life out by World Cup finals. There
is no way I will be around for the 2082
tournament and a fair chance my son
won’t be either. The first I remember
watching was in 1974, so I’ve notched
up ten finals now, being fortunate
enough to physically attend matches
in five of them. I doubt I will see another ten finals. Maybe six or seven. And
that is one of the reasons I am always
slightly mournful when another one
ends. It is a marker of the years passing. The least we can ask for is for
each World Cup final tournament to
leave us with some great memories. I
am pleased I went to South Africa as
being there has left some great memories for me. South Africa 2010 might
not have been a classic finals, but for
me, it was a great experience, the kind
that makes a life worth the living.

clicking here - Online Gooner

Transcription

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