On December 4 the run-up to the 2010 World Cup will begin in earnest as FIFA will conduct the draw for the tournament. South Africa is thus preparing for its long run in the public eye. Danny Jordaan, the CEO of South Africa’s World Cup hosting duties and thus the country’s uber-booster, insists that the 2010 event will be the best ever. Granted, what else is he going to stay? Still, it’s nice to see the country grasping for the brass ring.
One of the big issues that everyone worries about is whether crime will rear its ugly head during the tournament. The answer, of course, is that it will. Just as crime happened in 2006 and 2002 and 1998 and 1994 and . . . But the real issue is how much will it do so and how is South Africa dealing with crime not only for the tournament, but hopefully by developing policies not geared only toward 2010, but toward reducing crime rates in the short- but also long-term. Jordaan insists that the World Cup will be safe. And certainly the short-term palliatives to keep the foreign visitors safe are in the planning process, including the establishment of special “World Cup Courts.” It remains to be seen whether the larger integration of World Cup crime efforts with an overall anti-crime program is also part of the planning.
Jordaan also hopes that fans across the country and the continent will back the African teams. Surely they will, though there is a tendency among African football fans to embrace foreign powers such as England and Brazil (Although it seems like Brazil is just about everyone’s second favorite team in Africa and elsewhere. They are like the anti-ManU or Anti-New York Yankees, teams everyone but their fans love to hate.) This will be easier to do if African teams experience some success (and recent history indicates that at least one of Africa’s entries will make the knockout rounds). And it would help if Bafana Bafana would improve. Right now they are the 86th ranked team in the world, the lowest ranked of any national team that will play in 2010.
The excitement is building. And if all goes well, your faithful FPA Africa correspondent will be reporting live from South Africa next June and July.
