South Africa’s Bafana Bafana play Mexico in the opening match of the FIFA World Cup 2010 on June 11, kick-off will trigger a collective sigh of relief which can be heard from Soweto to the South Pole.
This edition of the World Cup will be the most lucrative ever staged and the world has been promised that the host nation will provide a carnival environment in which to enjoy the best teams and best players on the planet.
But it is also a tournament which has staggered across the finishing line, plagued by industrial strife, massive fallings-out among senior members of the Organising Committee and the scepticism among the international media about South Africa’s ability to deliver on its Bid Book promises.
Irvin Khoza, Chairman of the Organising Committee, has been at the centre of South Africa 2010 since the notion of a bid was first floated in the mid-1990s and he will take massive satisfaction from the fact that, when push came to shove, his country was ready to welcome the world.
South Africa’s ability to stage major international sports events was unquestioned. After all, it has famously hosted - and won - the IRB Rugby World Cup and staged the ICC Cricket World Cup and the IPL, among other events. But the FIFA World Cup was different. While rugby and cricket had been the chosen sports of the white minority under the apartheid regime, soccer is the game - some would say the obsession - of the Black majority. This World Cup was always about more than a football competition. It is positioned as a symbol of the birth of a new nation, of hope and of unity.
“First and foremost hosting the World Cup means Unity,” Khoza says. “We are a great country which for years had its energies working against itself. A lot of talent and resources were devoted to divisive courses.
“The 2010 FIFA World Cup is a big event that further cements the great era that ushered in South Africa’s inclusive democracy in 1994, an era personified by Nelson Mandela and referred to by South Africans as the Madiba Magic.”
And the positive impact, Khoza says, will not be restricted to South Africa itself: “Hosting an event of the magnitude of a FIFA World Cup in Africa goes a long way in the positive inclusion and consideration of Africa amongst the nations of the world. It will serve as a counter-balance against the immediate, non-positive thoughts that rush to people’s heads when Africa is mentioned.”
Khoza’s journey to the World Cup started back in the 1990s when, inspired by Nelson Mandela, they began their campaign to host the 2006 edition of the tournament. The campaign ended in glorious failure, losing a marginal decision to Germany after the New Zealand executive committee member decided to withhold his vote.
It was a bitter blow to the South African bid team and to FIFA president Sepp Blatter who had talked about his desire to see an African nation host the World Cup. Blatter has never been one to stand back and see his ambitions thwarted decided on affirmative action; he garnered sufficient support for a change in FIFA’s regulations which saw the introduction of a rotation system which would ensure the 2010 tournament would be held in Africa.
At a stroke, the field had been narrowed and South Africa’s chances of success significantly enhanced. After all, this was a country with a first-world transport infrastructure, a well-developed sports economy and a significant existing stadia stock. Above all it had a back-story which resonated with the world and, in Mandela, one of the most empathetic figures on the planet as a figurehead.
It was Mandela who urged Khoza to “go back and fight” following their initial disappointment although he was not the only one urging them on.
“Looking back, the failed bid to host the 2006 FIFA World Cup turned out to be a blessing in disguise,” Khoza explains. “Somehow it did not turn into the dampener I suspected it would be, South Africans seemed to believe we would succeed second time around, which is hardly surprising because the new South Africa is borne out of perseverance.
“The lessons of this journey are the lessons of life. Things are not always what they seem. Never take anybody’s support or lack thereof for granted. Dot the is and cross the ts because the crux of the matter is in the details.”
For the full interview see the latest edition of SportBusiness International published June 1.
