By Peter Alegi | March 12th, 2010 | 3 Comments
Thabo Dladla is a highly committed youth coach and former professional player with AmaZulu FC. His weekly ‘Talking Football’ column in a Pietermaritzburg newspaper focuses on the game at the grassroots, not on the 2010 World Cup or the PSL. ‘There is something wrong when a country with over 48 million people and a huge football budget cannot produce good players,’ writes Dladla this week.
‘I still believe that our country has some of the best talent at U12 level but poor leadership is letting the youth down. We have too many politicians and sports leaders who are more interested in the benefits that can be gained for themselves, than the sport itself.
‘Post 2010 South African youth deserve better than what they are getting now. The transformation of football should be felt at the lowest of levels. We can no longer allow a situation where a few get fatter while the players continue to suffer.’
By Peter Alegi | February 20th, 2010 | 2 Comments
FIFA General Secretary Jerome Valcke revealed that tickets prices for South African residents will be slashed to ensure that all World Cup matches will be ’sold out’. Thousands of Category 2 and 3 tickets will be sold at Category 4 prices — twenty US dollars — although details on sales have not yet been released. This announcement came on the heels of news that FIFA expects to make a marginal loss on the tournament. Valcke placed part of the blame on airlines and travel agencies for overcharging foreign football tourists. In South Africa, however, FIFA’s byzantine ticketing process — heavily reliant on internet-based credit card sales — has been criticized. Others say Bafana Bafana’s mediocrity has not helped and that even the lower ticket prices are beyond the reach of most ordinary South Africans.
By Editor | February 2nd, 2010 | No Comments
The Sunday Times reports that Chinese workers earn about $3 a day making the official 2010 World Cup mascot. Trade union federation Cosatu spokesperson said: ‘We are utterly appalled that even Zakumi, the official mascot, is being made, under such appalling conditions, in China.’ The newspaper alleges that ‘a central figure in [the] scandal ‘ is an ANC member of parliament who stated that the deal was sanctioned by FIFA and its product licensing and brand management partner Global Brands Group (GBG). FIFA said it would look into working conditions at the Shanghai factory.
Click here to read the full article.
By David Patrick Lane | January 11th, 2010 | No Comments
CAF have announced Togo will be disqualified if they do not materialize for the kick off of their fixture against Ghana tonight in Cabinda.
Rumours abound whether Botswana, The Republic of the Congo or Namibia will be invited to do a “Denmark”.
Cabinda’s separatist rebels, FLEC, have apologized for the attack, claiming it was a mistake to attack the Togolese, and have presented their condolences to the families of the deceased.
Pessimists supported by hustlers and vultures from the security and shock industry continue to make fear representations to the press about South Africa’s World Cup.
And it now seems Confusão has rubbed off on the Algerian defence, who are being torn to shreds by Malawi.
By David Patrick Lane | January 7th, 2010 | No Comments
The Adidas Puma war slipped into South Africa early in the new year. Skirmishes were expected, though few would have predicted a Zulu Puma alliance. Here’s South African President Jacob Zuma showing he can kick it during his New Year wedding ceremony in the village of Nklandla. His Excellency’s hamstring came through a late fitness test, though his overall match fitness has never been in doubt.
By Peter Alegi | December 28th, 2009 | 4 Comments
It is with immense sadness that we mourn the passing of Dennis Brutus, African activist and award-winning poet. The South African sport boycott owed much to his fierce commitment and relentless organizing, from his founding of the Coordinating Committee for International Recognition in Sport (1955) to the South African Sports Association (1958) and its successor, the South African Nonracial Olympic Committee. Dennis connected sport with the quest for human rights in powerful and probably unprecedented ways. Thanks largely to SANROC and its international allies, racist South Africa was expelled from the Olympics and world football. These global indictments of apartheid were huge and often undervalued milestones in the struggle against apartheid. Rest in peace Dennis. Hamba kahle.
Read Patrick Bond’s obituary here.
By Peter Alegi | December 14th, 2009 | 9 Comments
Stefan Szymanski, Director of the MBA program at Cass Business School in London and co-author of the new book Soccernomics, said on SAfm that the 2010 World Cup may turn out to be a ’shocking waste of South Africa’s resources’ and not the economic ‘bonanza that government and Fifa would have us believe’. According to Szymanski, the only benefit that SA will reap from the tournament is a ‘feel-good factor’.
Read the full story here.
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