Are we ready for the biggest fanfare and festival of football in the world to descend upon South Africa – the 2010 World Cup…….You bet we are!!

2010 World Cup football

All the stadiums are finished; all having staged dress rehearsal matches on their pitches. Airports, roads and infra-structure are finished. So bring on the football games!!

FIFA officals start arriving in the country on 1st May / the teams start arriving from 3rd May and the Football Trophy arrives in South Africa on the 7th May.

First match is on 11th June and the final match is on 11th July.

Even tho’ there have been mixed reports afew months ago of slow ticket sales, expensive flight tickets and over-priced accommodation, there is now thankfully price-cutting in all areas so that a much more realistic pricing structure has appeared. Which is a huge relief, as South Africa is now easily affordable to ALL fans.

Recent reports suggest that the amount of foreign ticket holders is currently 400,000, mainly from USA, UK and Germany, but with 1 million tickets still to be sold, then this could easily increase to the ½ million predicted. This also means that over 2 million tickets have been bought by South Africans who are passionately embracing soccer (some for the very first time).

And it isn’t just the fans who will be here, but also 1000’s of the world’s amassed media, press, journalists, camera teams and TV sports commentators, who will be here for at least 8 whole weeks. The BBC for example, will capture the full effect of WC 2010 on its people across the length and breadth of the country by reporting from as many places as possible. Making this possible is a specially equipped mobile TV studio in a double-decker bus, that the BBC used for the SA elections, which will travel from Cape Town, at the start of the tournament, to Jo’burg for the Final and visiting a diverse selection of places along its 6,000km journey – from townships and special social projects, to sites of cultural and historical significance.

Across the country, 100’s of Fan Parks have been organised, mostly at large indoor halls where massive visual sound systems will broadcast all the games live. I think Hermanus has the potential to organise at least 2 or 3 venues, don’t you think? Are there any empty warehouses in the industrial zones that would make fabulous venues?

These Fan Parks are a fantastic idea, as they allow the non-ticket holders from all social back-grounds of the world to totally soak up the atmosphere and get into the football party fever. Some of the German 2006 Fan Parks had over 100,000 people at each one, that’s more than any stadium could hold.

Today the Hermanus Township has quite afew football leagues, each with 10 to 20 amateur teams, sponsored by many well meaning companies and individuals. These leagues allow for many excellent things to occur – community spirit and keeping people busy and involved; collective companionship and supporting a team, while making a few local heroes too; keeping the players fit and worn-out in equal measures; aspiring to be someone; having a hobby; having a topic of local conversation; and who knows, maybe afew players will climb the football ladder to one day represent your country.

So let the whole country UNITE behind what is going to ultimately be the biggest marketing campaign that this country has ever had, with well over 4 BILLION people on the planet watching 1 whole month of SOUTH AFRICA on their TVs.

Totally enjoy the buzz of it all…..we fully intend to :-))))

For a full run-down of when every single match is happening, go to –

www.fifa.com/worldcup/matches

 
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Authored by - Percy Tours - www.percytours.com
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