While international attention has focused on England’s bid war with Germany for the 2006 soccer World Cup, South Africa is favoured by many, writes Vivek Chaudhary
It was on a dusty pitch surrounded by metal fences and with watchtowers rather than floodlights at each corner that Danny Jordaan learned the art of organising football tournaments.
Saturday afternoon is the traditional time for playing football in many places around the world, and Robben Island was no exception.
Under the gaze of armed sentries up to a dozen teams would trot out of the spartan wings that make up the island prison and, often in a biting Atlantic wind, battle would commence; the African National Congress against the South African Communist Party; the Pan Africanist Congress against the National Sports Council, otherwise referred to as “the ANC in tracksuits”.
The matches were fiercely competitive and the skill level surprisingly high given the conditions (players were not allowed to wear boots). Thanks to Jordaan, the mini- tournaments were pretty well organised.
“Soccer and the struggle, the two went hand in hand,” says Jordaan, leaning back in a leather armchair in his Johannesburg office. “I was responsible for organising the football on Robben Island during my seven years there, but even though we loved the game, we could not forget what we were in prison for.”
After bringing together the various political parties fighting apartheid on the Robben Island football pitch, Jordaan is now trying to go one giant step better by bringing the world’s football nations to South Africa for the 2006 World Cup.
The head of South Africa’s World Cup bid believes that Africa’s time has come at last to be at the centre of world football, particularly as African footballers have had such an impact on the game throughout the world.
Jordaan, who was born in Port Elizabeth and grew up an avid Tottenham fan, has spent the past three years touring the world and pressing the flesh in an attempt to secure the votes of the Fifa executives who decide the venue for the 2006 World Cup.
Written submissions from the five countries bidding for the tournament were handed into Fifa’s Zurich head office last week, and Jordaan believes his country’s is the best by far.
“We have some excellent facilities and some of the best stadiums in the world,” Jordaan says.
“I have been travelling all over the world, talking to football bodies and if I was not getting a positive response I would not be sitting here now.”
Despite the protestations of Tony Banks, who heads up England’s bid, and representatives of the other countries hoping to secure the tournament, South Africa are evens favourites with the bookies and the selection of none other than Fifa president Sepp Blatter, who has declared on several occasions that an African country is the “logical choice”.
In fact, Blatter even announced this outside 10 Downing Street following a meeting with British Prime Minister Tony Blair last year.
Says Jordaan: “There’s no doubt in my mind that people believe the World Cup should come to South Africa. We have had great support from Mr Blatter.
“I know he is only one man, but he has come out very clearly in favour of an African country. Surely, this must mean something; it’s very significant.
“Mr Blatter has been here several times, he’s met Mr [Nelson] Mandela and he knows about our bid. He’s one of our strongest backers.”
South Africa’s bid, which is reckoned to have cost about R50-million, all raised through private sponsorship, is based on harnessing the country’s obsession with football and making the best possible use of existing rugby stadiums.
The country boasts some of the largest and finest rugby stadiums in the world, capable of holding up to 80 000 people, and the South African Rugby Football Union has already agreed to loan them for the staging of World Cup matches.
Two group stages are likely to be played in Johannesburg, as well as the final itself at the FNB stadium near Soweto. This will be revamped to increase its capacity from 80 000 to 120 000, while other groups will be played in Cape Town, Port Elizabeth, Durban, Pretoria and Bloemfontein.
“We have to do very little building and all of our stadiums exceed Fifa requirements,” Jordaan said.
“We have all the facilities and we will not need to spend huge amounts of money on infrastructure.”
The South Africans are partly using the United States model for their World Cup bid, claiming that lower costs on construction can mean more money being invested in grassroots football across the country.
The Americans, who used existing stadiums for the 1994 World Cup, also saw it as an ideal vehicle to promote the game across the country, a project that has produced only limited results, in the men’s game at least.
Football needs little promotion in South Africa, given its huge popularity, above all among the black population.
Jordaan hopes the money generated from the tournament can be used to improve football facilities for the black community, particularly in the townships.
“We need to have a tournament that will have a long-lasting benefit for the people. Our people are mad about football.
“Many walk for miles to the grounds, but the facilities at the grassroots level are appalling.”
Given the controversy over ticket prices at previous World Cup tournaments, Jordaan and his colleagues are well aware of the need for a pricing system that would enable the majority of the population to afford entry. The prices charged at France 98 would be well beyond the means of most South Africans.
“The key issue for us is to make sure that the real South African supporter can get into the stadium,” Jordaan says.
“It’s unthinkable for us to have a tournament where the majority of our people will not be able to afford the tickets.”
South African organisers are already working on a number of promotion and credit schemes, where points may be accumulated at supermarkets and petrol stations for example, and ultimately exchanged for World Cup tickets.
The schemes would run in the years leading up to 2006, allowing poor South Africans the chance to save for tickets.
“We sometimes have huge crowds at matches and fans sometimes sleep outside the ground for days. They travel from miles around and after the match return to poverty. That is the reality of football in this country. We cannot let these people down for the World Cup.”
South Africa’s deteriorating security situation is the major stumbling block to the bid’s acceptance by Fifa. South Africa has one of the highest murder rates in the world.
Jordaan flinches as he approaches the topic, one he has consistently been forced to address over the past few years. If there is one thing that has plagued South Africa’s bid, it is the negative images of the country, particularly in the British press.
Jordaan claims that the organisers of England’s bid in particular have been waging a smear campaign against South Africa and have been exaggerating the security situation in the country.
“I find it difficult to see why people are so negative about South Africa,” he says. “People who have never even been to this country are writing articles about crime, that everything here is misery and chaos.
“The English bid organisers have been the worst. We do not want to embark on a smear campaign as the English have done, we just want to focus on the positive aspects of our bid. But if they carry on like this I will be making some sort of protest.”
However, the statistics still speak for themselves and South Africa’s security situation cannot be overlooked, not even by the organisers of its bid.
Jordaan concedes: “We are not saying there is no crime here. But every country in the bidding has its social problems. Look at England, they have hooligans. Is it safe to stage a World Cup there? Look what happened during the last World Cup.
“The crime in this country is the result of a social and economic reality that comes from our past.
“The problems are being addressed and over the next few years things will improve.”
The South African bid is also in negotiations with a number of high-tech companies to try to establish a smart card system for fans arriving from outside the country. The card, which would be personal to the owner, could be used as a credit card and would also contain tickets for matches.
“You would swipe the card at the grounds to gain entry and this would eradicate ticket touting. Fifa are very interested in this idea and from a security point of view it would also be much better to have fans carrying smart cards rather than lots of cash.”
After Jordaan and his colleagues submitted their bid in Zrich last week, many within world football felt that the smart cards as well as the smart money are on South Africa.