Is SA ready for its goal?

Keith Wallace, BBC reporter and researcher, writes on his recent visit to South Africa ahead of next year's FIFA World Cup

Is SA ready for its goal?

Keith Wallace, BBC reporter and researcher, writes on his recent visit to South Africa ahead of next year's FIFA World Cup

Football fans go berserk at the match between Santos and Kaiser Cheifs at Pretoria pic 1

Football fans go berserk at the match between Santos and Kaiser Cheifs at Pretoria pic 2

The hours before had been a delight. We drove to the capital to watch a football match Santos against Kaiser Chiefs in the PSL. The chiefs lost 3-1, and the match was far from the graceful spectacle common across Europe. A bad match was cheered from beginning to end by rampantly cheerful fans wearing a variety of elaborate hats, and giant novelty spectacles. They were among the friendliest, most happy-go-lucky supporters I have come across, and the noise they made was deafening and beautiful. The drummers going about their work on the tin walls of the decaying stadium accompanied the dozens of vuvuzela trumpeters and were serenaded by the chorus of properly harmonised Kaiser Chiefs sopranos. The spectators weren't many in number perhaps five thousand in a venue that would hold ten times as many but the Loftus Stadium was pulsating.

Football fans go berserk at the match between Santos and Kaiser Cheifs at Pretoria pic 3

If that is any indication of the excitement we can expect from Bafana Bafana supporters ahead of the 2010 World Cup, a very special tournament lies ahead. What the country lacks in footballing talent and be under no illusion it IS lacking it more than makes up for in enthusiasm. That enthusiasm doesn't stop with the fans though. It is built into the foundations of the new and refurbished stadiums now appearing across the country.

Take Cape Town's Green Point Stadium. With so much steel and glass at their fingertips, the architects have been blending as never before. In a city sprinkled between craggy old Table Mountain and the shimmering South Atlantic, it would not take much to disturb the serenity. Green Point disturbs nothing. The gently undulating roof and unobtrusive colours make the venue submit to rather than compete with the skyline. The lighting inside will be invisible to anyone not standing on the mountaintops. Inside, those same mountaintops are visible to some spectators presumably those willing to pay extra for the view.

Johannesburg's showpiece, Soccer City, also uses the environment as a starting point for its design. The area's Martian landscape gives way to the reds and browns of the exterior cladding, still only half completed as I picked my way through the puddles and tidy stacks of concrete. Where the skeleton was bared, you could see through to the garish orange seating, and as the site manager bounced towards me in his golf buggy, I began to think that Soccer City must have looked prettier on paper than she did in the flesh. Mike Moody convinced me though. "It's designed to look like an African cooking pot," he growled, "and once it's lit up, beams of light from inside will be thrown outwards through the windows. It will be magic at night." And as he went on to tell me about how nervous he will be before the opening ceremony, I looked around again and pictured fans streaming through the turnstiles, music pouring from the state of the art PA system and the butterflies in Mike's considerable stomach.

The outer and inner skeleton of the Soccer City Stadium, still under construction for the FIFA World Cup 2010 pic 1

The outer and inner skeleton of the Soccer City Stadium, still under construction for the FIFA World Cup 2010 pic 2

Not bad.u00a0

Durban's Moses Makhala Stadium is designed to be seen as far and wide as possible whichever way you approach the east coast city. We passed it in our taxi, the silvers and grey of the cladding disappearing into the drizzle, and even the giant arches straddling the pitch seemed to touch the low, brooding clouds that greeted our arrival. Overlooking the Indian Ocean, it is certainly impressive, and the cable car that will carry spectators 100 metres above the pitch will no doubt be worthwhile.

Our taxi let us out in Durban's schizophrenic city centre. We found ourselves between several giant, attractive, conference venues and The Point, where groups of homeless street children huddle on corners in dozens. Crime is an issue in this city. We had been told so when we were standing in the (now comparatively affluent) township of Soweto, where even as tourists we felt safe. However, the gap between rich and poor is as wide in Durban as anywhere else in South Africa, and living within that chasm are the street children.

To visiting tourists they look menacing hunting in packs, high on glue, and interested only in money. That can only mean trouble ahead of 2010, when football fans with loaded wallets and expensive cameras descend on the city in their thousands. To charity workers, these children are orphans who need patience and help. One angelic British man, Tom, who runs a drop-in centre from an old warehouse, told us he had concerns that they would be rounded up ahead of the tournament and dumped outside the city limits. He's working hard to stop that from happening, and trying to win for the children for whom AIDS and violent crime are facts of life a proper childhood where they can play on the streets without prompting looks of revulsion from the population.u00a0

Back in the more affluent part of the city, we had organised to stay at the home of a local family. It's one of several accommodation options open to supporters next year. This homestay usually costs about US$200 for accommodation, food, and transfers. It sounds like good value, and on arrival we were given quite a welcome. The small, modern flat with whitewashed walls, overlooked the sea, which provided us a soundtrack for the evening. Friends and family lined up to meet us and say hello, and a banquet was laid out. The problem came when we came to retire for the evening to find one double bed intended to accommodate both me, and my colleague Simon. We looked at the bed and looked at each other, and after a long, thoughtful pause, Simon said, "So where are you going to sleep?"

The outer and inner skeleton of the Soccer City Stadium, still under construction for the FIFA World Cup 2010 pic 3

Were you to travel with a wife or partner and feel like meeting local people, homestays are an ideal way to go about it. They dot the length and breadth of South Africa, and offer flexibility with transfers and food. Also, there are specialist options available for those who worry about the proximity of Kosher, Halal or even just vegetarian food. A more exciting option though, would be camping in the National Parks alongside all manner of wildlife. This is the first African World Cup after all, so why not take advantage of the continent's phenomenal natural gifts? Or if you're quick, you could bed down in one of the abundant luxury hotels common in all the cities.

Back in Pretoria, we managed to find our car. It was where we left it, right around the next corner. Perhaps South Africa isn't quite as crime-infested as the global media would have us all believe, I thought to myself. I was confident at that moment that the remarkable South African hospitality would leave a longer lasting impression than any isolated crime issues that arise in 2010.

The following day, light fingers rummaged through my bags and removed the shiniest objects.

Keith Wallace is a reporter and researcher on BBC World News' travel programme fast:track

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