Riaan Wolmarans
‘Anybody who watches three games of football in a row should be declared brain-dead,”said author and satirist Erma Bombeck of gridiron soccer in the United States. If this were true the mortality rate in South Africa would rise drastically when the 2002 soccer World Cup, to be held in Korea and Japan, hits our television screens.
The World Cup broadcast rights inSouth Africa have been scooped by e.tv and the channel is already broadcasting a range of programmes to whet fans’ appetites.
Already on air is the Morkels Soccer Challenge, which runs on Saturday nights at 6.05pm. It’s a local game show presented by Drum journalist Buyile T Mdladla alongside soccer coach Roger de Sa and former Bafana Bafana player Harold “Jazzy Queen” Legodi. Categories include questions about a specific soccer celebrity and matching personalities to countries and teams. Couch potatoes who consider themselves masters of soccer trivia can call Tel: 083 123 7000 to apply for a chance to appear on the show.
Road to Asia, also on Saturdays, starts at 6.30pm and is an international series about the build-up to the World Cup. It has weekly features on all the participating countries and interviews with and comments from the main players, such as Thierry Henry and Zinedine Zidane, and even looks at the Asian host countries’ cultures, stadiums, geography and demographics.
A fascinating series that started on March 2 is The Fifa World Cup Film Collection, which is broadcast every Saturday at 2pm. It’s a series of 10 documentaries, each focusing on a past WorldCup with archival footage of those historical matches. Because of cricket coverage it will continue on Saturday March 23 with a focus on the 1958 WorldCup, held in Sweden, which saw the emergence of young superstar Pele. That year he led Brazil to a 5-2 triumph over the host nation. Also look out for the episode about the 1966 WorldCup, which is the only full-colour record of that event. Later episodes will be narrated by celebrities such as SeanConnery, Michael Caine and Edward Woodward.
Starting this week on Friday March 8 at 6.05pm is another local show, titled e-Shibobo. It’s a South African soccer lifestyle show hosted by the lively Tsepo Mabona, who brings fans current information on soccer, profiles on all the Bafana Bafana players and behind-the-scenes footage of the team preparing for the World Cup. Overseas players, coaches and teams will also be on the line-up. Local journalists and South African Football Association officials will be guests on the show to talk about a variety of soccer topics.
Lastly, starting on March 10 is The History of Football:The Beautiful Game. It is a 13-part, in-depth documentary series produced by Guy Oliver, author of the Guinness Book of World Soccer. The production team visited 38 countries, including SouthAfrica, to interview players, officials, celebrities and fans about their favourite sport. The first episode, titled Superstars, features interviews with LucienLaurent, the French player who scored the first goal in the history of the World Cup, and star players such as Pele, Ronaldo, Alfredo di Stefano, Zinedine Zidane and Paolo Rossi. Other episodes look at the game’s origins, Brazil’s dominance as a footballing nation, the evolution of the game in Europe, the potential of African teams, the changing role of the media and soccer disasters.
When the World Cup arrives, soccer fans or the brain-dead will be glued to the screen all day with at least three matches on e.tv during the day and repeats of the most important matches in the evening.