Tags
2010 World Cup, Adebayor, AFCON 2013, CAF, Danny Jordaan, Issa Hayatou, Mbombela Stadium, Opening Ceremony, South Africa
2010: WORLD CUP
The 2010 World Cup in South Africa is remembered for many things; some are historic: it was the first ever World Cup tournament on African soil.It also produced Spain’s first ever World Cup triumph:some are novelty-related: it introduced the world to vuvuzelas. And there was some heartbreak too: who can forget the penalty miss by Ghana in the dying minutes of their quarter-final game against Uruguay? But most of all, it is widely remembered for a flawless spectacle. Sepp Blatter, who has presided over 4 World Cup events awarded South Africa 9 out of 10 points for successfully staging the games. He told the nation “You have shown the world that you can achieve anything and its time now that you show the rest of Africa that it can achieve anything..”.This exceptional organisational capability- demonstrated by Africans- is the enduring legacy of the 2010 World Cup. So exceptional was this achievement that emerging economies like Brazil now seek counsel from Danny Joodaan, CEO of the 2010 World Cup Organising Committee to help fine-tune preparations for hosting the 2014 World Cup. In essence, South Africa has become a source of Global best practice.
I was fortunate to experience the World Cup on African soil and completely agree with Mr Blatter’s assessment. What high standards were on display during the period! The organising team put in place a superb logistics infrastructure to guarantee a memorable experience; from transport arrangements for soccer fans, hospitality services for the c.500,000 tourists and the visible security apparatus deployed town to ensure a crime-free environment. The newly built stadia –many of which are iconic architectural masterpieces- were simply mesmeric ! I visited 3 of them (Loftus, Rustenberg and Soccer City) and at each stadium the commitment towards excellence was re-enforced. It felt great to experience a truly World Class event brewed in the African pot. Not only did “we” prove many sceptics wrong, but even more important was the immense psychological impact the experience produced across the continent. From Soweto to Sikasso, Durban to Dar-es Salam, Polokwane to Paga, KwaMashu to Kibera, the flame of self-belief was re-ignited and the words of the great visionary Dr Kwame Nkrumah… that we as Africans are “capable of managing our own affairs” echoed through the mountains and valleys of the continent.
2013: AFCON
Fast forward to 2013, and once again I find myself at the heart of another soccer fiesta in South Africa: the 2013 Orange African Cup of Nations tournament, dubbed “The beat at Africa’s feet” .As we get ready for the final game today, I am reflecting on the past 3 weeks and I have come to the conclusion that not only has this year’s beat not reverberated with the ferocious passion and rhythmic consistency of 2010, but even more worrying for me is the relative decline I have witnessed in the organisational standards since the 2010 event. Across the entire “end to end soccer experience chain” there have been several instances of declining standards
FALLING STANDARDS
It all began with the limp pre-tournament publicity campaign. The only major piece of communication by the host nation was a series of “last -minute adverts” on SuperSport ( satellite TV) 2 weeks to the start of the biggest soccer tournament on our continent! Then, there was the complex ticketing system which ironically ended up stifling accessibility of tickets in spite of the relatively affordable nature of the tickets. I was shocked to hear the Minister of Sports explain that “they are (now) trying to take learnings from 2010” into account in dealing with these challenges! One would have expected this to have been done earlier!
The other disappointment was at the Opening Ceremony. In my view, it failed to live up to the promise of a dazzling music and dance spectacle. Played out under a canopy of rain showers to a sparse crowd, the African-themed event offered little inspiration. On more than one occasion, one could even spot signs of disharmony /incoherence in some of the choreographies. I couldn’t help wondering whether it was a case of lack of attention to detail or not having enough time to practice as a group.
But perhaps one of the most visible areas where standards have dropped is the quality of some of the pitches used in the tournament. Not too long ago, the honour of “the most talked about stadium” in the world belonged to Maracana(Brazil) or Wembley(UK), but over the past two weeks, that title has been usurped by the Mbombela Stadium in Nelspruit .Once a well manicured pitch used during the 2010 World Cup, the stadium (which hosted 1 AFCON semi-final game) has degenerated into a sandy ,bumpy pitch –reminiscent of “parks” I played on as a kid. It was shocking to see some of our global football superstars scampering around on a pitch of that quality in the full view of billions of TV viewers. Emmanuel Adebayor had this to say about the pitch “It’s a disgrace to our continent, we can do better .And he is right ! Why should such a pitch be used for a tournament of this stature, let alone a semi-final game? Even worse has been the quality of some of the officiating over the last two weeks. We have been treated to some of the most bizzare officiating in a major tournament. Referees are either in the news for issuing yellow cards to the wrong culprits( a case of mistaken identity), awarding extremely soft penalties or ignoring blatant infringements. A Tunisian referee has already been suspended for a “below par” performance in the semi-final game involving Ghana and Burkina Faso
The public has also not been spared the epidemic of falling standards; some of the fan parks which used to blaze with energy in 2010 have also suffered the same dreary fate. There is little vibe at these places and stimulating on-site activities are virtually absent. A colleague recounted his experience on a recent visit to the Durban North Beach Fan park. “There used to be a real vibe at these places ; a series of giant screens, throngs of people and even facilities catering for the kids. “You could use this trip as a family treat”.
The above list may not be exhaustive, but I certainly think it’s wide-ranging enough to beg a fundamental question: do we have 2 sets of Standards ? One(a higher one) for hosting a World tournament and another(lower one) for hosting an African tournament ? I know it is an uncomfortable assertion, or perhaps even too harsh a thought for consideration , but this is indeed the perception(whether fair or not) held by those who have had the opportunity of experiencing both tournaments in South Africa.
Let me state upfront that I am not ignorant of some of the potential contributing factors: For one, South Africa stepped in as a late replacement to take over the hosting of the tournament from a crisis-mired Libya-the original hosts. Also it does not take a genius to recognise that the AFCON 2013 budget will pale in comparison to the gargantuan budget allocated to the World Cup. But any attempt to sweep this issue of falling standards under the carpet of inadequate funding misses the point. The two words:“Standards” and “Budget” are not siamese twins. The former is part of a “value set”/mindset and the latter a “resource”. Whilst a big budget is certainly an enabler to delivering World Class standards, absence of it must not be used as a licence to “drop standards”. There are many instances ( in the football world and beyond) where teams and organisations with limited resource have still delivered very high standards of excellence.
The fundamental question remains: Is it ok for African footballers to use a “lower grade” pitch -something which would probably not even qualify for use as a training ground during a World Cup tournament? How come so many of our African referees are under-performing on the biggest stage ? Should African fans have to endure poorer quality Fan parks?
The African may live in a so called “3rd world”, but is certainly not a 2nd Class/ 3rd class citizen and should not under any circumstances be subjected to a different/ lower standard. There is only one standard-World Class: which South Africa spectacularly demonstrated to the world when they staged the biggest football fiesta in 2010 .This standard is the only one that should continuously be applied to every other event ( Regional or World). Any gravitation towards compromise or lowering of standards should therefore be aggressively resisted .
The truth is by setting a World Class Standard in 2010, South Africa raised the bar for ourselves and gave others the right (and rightly so) to demand nothing but the best from us. That is the self-fullfilling prophecy of success; it breeds further expectations of success. It is undoubtedly an arduous challenge but nevertheless a noble –and achievable one.
My hope is that when the AFCON 2013 organising team finally bids the world good bye today(Feb 10 2013), and they re-convene to do some “collective introspection” and appraisal they will arrive at a similar conclusion. Hopefully that conclusion will in turn lead to a commitment to re-calibrate the standards back to the high point of excellence which the 2010 World Cup bequeathed to the nation/ continent.
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As I write, CAF(Confederation of African Football ) has just released a favourable report on the tournament . The Sec -Gen told the media “We are greatly satisfied with the hosting of this tournament” . The boss Issa Hayatou is reported to have said that the tournament has been of the highest quality and a huge success
I REST MY CASE AS ISSA HAYATOU AND MYSELF DO NOT SEEM TO BE WATCHING THE TOURNAMENT FROM THE SAME “BOX” .