The ubiquitous vuvuzela, the 2010 FIFA World Cup object of passionate love and hatred, is an amazing object.
In many ways it epitomises what the World Cup has been to South Africa, and perhaps many other parts of the world. The subject of a vociferous debate about its relevance, its value and thus its place in this world captivating event, the vuvuzela equally represents what the World Cup meant in South Africa.
Most adults struggled to blow the vuvuzela and yet the young, even six-year-olds, were showing their seniors how to make the contrived bugle work.
It is against this background that the true value of the World Cup’s social benefit will be measured many years hereafter. To all intents and purposes the biggest beneficiaries will have been South Africa’s children and the youth.
Though grown ups have thus far been the ones articulating its benefits, or lack thereof, the youth have been purposeful in defining what they have benefited and look to reap in the future. A recent survey conducted by media publication the media sought the opinion of six experts on what was hot and not in 2010. Half said it was the World Cup, stating that the event was significant to the social milieu of the country.
Journalist and author Gus Silber described the World Cup as the story of the decade, adding: “It was beacon of hope, joy and common cause in the year of murder, madness and bile.”
On the other hand Libby Lloyd, founding CEO of the Media Development and Diversity Agency, explained that the World Cup provided “six weeks of happiness, and even got the cynics smiling.”
Perhaps the comment that best captured the mood was that of Robert Brand, Pearson Chair of Economics Journalism at Rhodes University, who chose the World Cup as the story of the year because “it fired the imagination of South Africa as no other story has since the inauguration of Nelson Mandela, and provided us with a month of joyous celebration and positive vibes.”
The sound bites from the media experts might appear contrite and devoid of emotion, as media practitioners sometimes tend to be, but I read from their comments the varied expression of many of my countrymen with regards to the World Cup.
Sure, it was no magic solution for the complex social challenges we faced as a nation before the event. It certainly did not come without wrangling and haranguing amongst us, the so-called ‘Rainbow Nation’. And now that it is over, the debates have not been any less enthusiastic, though, and it must be said there’s much less acrimony in the tone of voice of the doubters.
Many still argue that the money, all R1 trillion of it, could have been better spent putting several thousands of young people through decent education from primary through to tertiary, or building schools, bursaries and paying teachers better.
There are of course people who were truly hurt by the World Cup. Among these are scores of emerging entrepreneurs, most of them black, who had dreams of generating fortunes in foreign currency from tourists and football-lovers coming to the event. But alas, it was not to be: many of the anticipated visitors did not arrive. Thus the dreams and bank accounts of the makeshift bed and breakfast businesses went up in smoke, while millions around them were celebrating, blasting the high-pitched sound of the inimitable vuvuzela.
Still others point to the “wasted and therefore unnecessary infrastructure” on which the success in hosting the event rode upon. Principal among these being the modern - and by continental standards, perhaps ultra-modern - high-speed Gautrain [linking Johannesburg, Pretoria and the OR Tambo International Airport built for the World Cup].
Surprisingly, some find the beautiful and world-class stadia purpose-built for the World Cup as another waste of taxpayers’ money. They predict - in their blinkered world view, in my opinion - that these stadia will be white elephants as no local clubs have the capability to continually pack them to generate revenues that will offset the biting cost of building them and perhaps, more importantly, maintain them in their pristine condition long into the future.
As in any situation, there were bound to be detractors to the success of the World Cup. But it must be said without any fear of ambiguity, the World Cup was an unqualified success for South Africa and the African continent.
This success registered where it matters most. The psyche of the people.
For the full feature, please see the latest issue of SportBusiness International out February 1.
