Tuesday, June 19, 2007

The World will be watching

With all the hype about backup plans to the World Cup, and FIFA may take it away from SA rumors, the 2010 World Cup is still quite a hot topic among the masses, as it is among the office here. I think working next to the changing Durban stadium helps keep that conversation alive.

Well it’s quite disappointing when you hear fellow South Africans, saying they should take the World Cup away from SA. “That SA will never manage it.” “Crime is too high.” “They’ll never have the stadiums ready in time.” And whatever other hundreds of reasons that are put forward.

Yes crime is quite high in SA, and maybe most South Africans don’t exactly have the best work ethic in the world, but it seems that people are neglecting to consider what the World Cup event itself means for the SA.

The recent speed up in stadium and other developments have caused our Rates to be increased, as we near 2010 food and other essential prices will probably rise, and traveling the streets will be a lot more difficult with all the construction. These are all things a guy I know brought up with me, and said he’d rather pay less rates and not have the World Cup here. These are things that I will experience along with all the other South Africans, yet I still maintain that the World Cup will be great for SA, and it’s not just about me being a football supporter.

The opportunity to host the world cup has created some 150000 jobs, opened up great opportunities for local businesses (big and small), and come Tournament month and the few weeks surrounding it, the local economy will boom. The country will be full of international visitors. The new stadium plans look quite wondrous and should be taking shape soon. What’s not to be excited about?

We've hosted major international events, but the Football World Cup is in a class of its own. Come June 2010, the eyes of millions of visitors and billions of TV viewers will be focused on the southern tip of Africa. I really believe SA will not disappoint.

Ok that’s basically me trying to convince the few out there that the World Cup 2010 is something to be excited about. I just don’t understand the people that don’t want the World Cup here, how is the country to progress if we don’t make the effort?

In a mere three years the worlds eyes will be on our country, and they will come to know what a Vuvuzela does, that Lions don’t walk our streets, and what a great place it would be to visit.


9 comments:

SingleGuy said...

Many blogs are themed, I know mine is. So this is a blog about soccer?

Shiraz said...

No singleguy it's not - it's a blog like most other blogs I've seen, a place for me to vent, write thoughts and ideas.

And no theme really.

Waseem said...

Theres only so much you write about soccer anyway. Fernando Torres -> Liverpool 25 mill. Let us hope.

I tagged you now properly.

r said...

LoL shiraz you're working in the wrong field. tourism is callin your name!

waseem: torres is the hot spaniard right? blonde spiky hair? yes i know im being a chick but i give a rats ass abt the game. the playeRS on the other hand.... ;)

ZK said...

yes r its him its him the same you wanted at WC to spank hahahahah
shiraz dude i wrote an article about this for an international paper and while doing research i found out that crime in any country is an issue...
relatively (yes relatively to some other countries who may have been hosting the 2010) we are not really that bad in terms of crime....wat irritates me the most is the South African's complain we not on the map we dnt get events and so on and now they dnt want the 2010 here...go figure...me i think its an excellent opportunity...yah sure things go up inflation goes up but focus is on SA and so far we also had amazing funding being put into development projects with the youth...we (ages between 18-35) missed out on sum bril ops because we fell in the era after apartheid (well kinda but you know wat i mean) we never 'experienced' it to the full but neither did we have the ops that these fundings and the 2010 will bring to the country...
okay enuf with the rambling
laters
Peace

r said...

hey hey.. this friday 29june, 8pm, 2Go..
see you there!

Shiraz said...

Well theres no news on Torres, aka Hot spaniard, yet, what are they waiting for?

I get what you're saying Zahira, but I'm quite glad to be born out of the whole Apartheid thing. Well we can all hope that these people will see the error of their ways when the world cup succeeds.

R - yup Friday...

KerBear said...

i agree with you 100%...SA needs this, i aint a soccer fan but i will be in 2010...hehhehe. Personally i am excited for our beautiful country. There is always a light at the end of all dark tunnels. 2010 is hopefully SA's light.

Hasina Suliman said...

hey,
nice post.

What south africans don't realise is building up to 2010... SA is exactly on target with regards to plans surrounding the world cup.
The crime factor will decrease... but it'll up post 2010.

The soccor world is viewing SA as a poor host with regards to infrastructure. Stadiums are being improved, renovated or built. Every industry is benefiting from the spin offs of 2010... From clothing to tourism and even building materials. Cement is being imported coz SA can't keep up with the demand to fit the stadiums.

There's just so much... going on. And ppl in their narrow-mindedness...don't see the bigger picture:P

If it counts for anything... i got a nice cheque for an article on why 2010 is gonna be a success:P and its going to FIFA in our publication :)

2010!!! for the win yeah!!!