Lusaka, Zambia – 1 January 2010

Happy New Year from Why Sport Matters!

It has been a summer, holiday season these past 2 weeks in South Africa, which has allowed Why Sport Matters to take in some warm weather sports. In Durban, we took in the beach culture along the Indian Ocean – the warm water a stark contrast to the chilly Atlantic over in Cape Town. This region is also known as the land of 1,000 hills with its rolling landscape and green countryside. The city skyline has been enhanced with the addition of the new stadium to be used to host the FIFA World Cup matches in June this year. The sleek design of the stadium also offers a unique elevator ride to the very top directly over the pitch (see photo), with sweeping views of the city, countryside and ocean. The hosting of next year’s FIFA World Cup will bring the spotlight of the world to this country, and the citizens are excited to show off its passion for great sport.

Back in Johannesburg, Why Sport Matters headed to cricket grounds in Pretoria to catch Day 4 of England’s first of four tests with South Africa. It was a brilliant summer day down here in the southern hemisphere, with the spectators making their own BBQ (braai to the locals) in the lawn while the players break for “tea” at midday to refuel for the afternoon! We took the occasion to speak with Jeremy Fredericks, a prominent cricket and rugby TV broadcaster, who gave Why Sport Matters more insight into this game and what it means to South African culture.

It was great to spend some time with old friend Clay Smith and his wife Isabelle, who have been in Joburg working on World Cup projects. On Christmas Eve, we spent the day on the golf course at the famous Wanderers sports club in Johannesburg. For the first time in his life, John actually had a caddie with him, as is the custom here. Check out the video with Chilli, the caddie who once carried the bag of Nick Price, but watched in vain as John played his usual erratic golf. In the clubhouse (and in the newspapers), the Tiger Woods scandal has been the talk of the town, as the whole world is following this story with keen interest. It will be interesting to see how the game will be affected by this human drama.
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Durban, South Africa – 16 December 2009

The countdown is on for next year’s FIFA World Cup — and the country of South Africa is feeling the attention. Why Sport Matters is dedicating a longer time than usual to explore this great country, and discover more about what sport means as well as the impact that the football World Cup is having here. We are down at the southern end of Africa for the entire month of December and spending time in Cape Town, Durban and Johannesburg.

In order to understand South Africa, you must begin to appreciate the social and historical complexities of race relations and the impact of the apartheid era. The sport culture here is extremely rich and it is an interesting reflection and commentary of South African society. The big three sports are football, rugby and cricket. Having already hosted world cups in rugby (1995) and cricket (2003), the biggest tournament of all is coming here in 2010 as South Africa plays host to the FIFA football World Cup in June.

The impact of next year’s football world cup can be felt everywhere. Upon arriving in Johannesburg, John went straight to SoccerEx, the annual football convention for world football. Plenty of other FIFA Master alumni were in attendance at the conference and it was great to see so many having an impact in the football industry. Our good friend Renata Roth is on the organising team for SoccerEx and helped put on a great event. As Brazil will host the next World Cup (as well as the next few SoccerEx conventions and 2016 Olympic Games), the Brazilians were out in force, which gave a taste of things to come in 2014.

Many of the conference attendees (including ourselves) then made the trip to Cape Town to take part in the FIFA World Cup draw on 4th December. It was the first real flavour of the World Cup as it was a major VIP event and the city exploded into a big party and street festival. Why Sport Matters took in the atmosphere of the street happenings, as downtown’s main boulevard (Long Street) was closed to cars and hosted a wonderful (and safe) party. Check out the video that shows a Brazilian TV reporter trying to film a spot from amongst the throng of partiers.
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