The People Of South Africa Are Ready!
Square1 Consulting’s Sports Director, Paul McGoohan, reports from the World Cup in South Africa.
“We are ready” exclaimed my taxi driver with a sense of defiance and pride. The greatest show on earth is coming to South Africa and for one month the eyes of the world will be fixed on this wonderful country and its people.
The fim ‘Invictus’ may have given a Hollywood spin on how the Rugby World Cup in 1995 played a large part in bringing the people of the ‘Rainbow Country’ together, but it is true to say that sport has played a central role in South Africa’s regeneration over the past 20 years. Nelson Mandela, President Jacob Zuma and FIFA will hope the World Cup will deliver a boost to South Africa on many levels.
The pride in the voice of the driver is shared by nearly everybody I have come across since arriving in Johannesburg. The people of South Africa are ready to welcome the football world and prove all their doubters wrong. Getting the country ready for this tournament has not been a smooth process, and many in the media (especially in Northern Europe) have questioned if South Africa would be ready in time. It is – although it must be stated that parts of Johannesburg still resemble a building site.
Legacy remains the buzzword for international sports tournaments and it is clear to see that the FIFA roadshow will leave South Africa in a better place. While it will be the new stadia that will take most of the media attention, the new roads and rail links will leave a longer benefit to the people of South Africa.
The power of the FIFA World Cup to both inspire and be a driver of tangible positive change shows no sign of abating. Anybody who questions why a country should want to host the World Cup, only has to spend a small time listening to the people here in South Africa. The positive impact upon their psyche alone is worth all the hard work undertaken to both win and then put on the World Cup.
I am currently working with Football Federation Australia on their bid to host the tournament in either 2018 or 2022. The next few weeks in South Africa, will only go to reaffirm the desire of the bid team to be successful come the vote in December. Watch out for the Australian fans in Durban – no matter how their team do, the fans will throw the kind of party that will give an insight into how good a World Cup in Australia would be!
The tournament will hopefully be remembered first and foremost for some great football – will anybody get the better of Spain? It will certainly be remembered for its noise! The sound of Vuvuzela’s will resonate across the globe.
Undoubtedly, taking the World Cup to South Africa has been a risk. FIFA and the people of South Africa deserve a tournament fitting of the occasion. This would be just reward for FIFA’s leap of faith and for the hard work of the last 6 years to get the tournament ready. We don’t know yet who will be crowned World Champions, but we can safely say that the long term winners of the FIFA World Cup 2010™ will be the Republic of South Africa.