South Africa World Cup news

 Things seem to perking up at last  in South Africa as preparations for the nation’s biggest sporting spectacle gathers fresh steam.

Latest news suggests that the six stadiums to be used for the World Cup games are now 80 per cent complete and bang on their respective schedules to be ready for the tournament.

This is certainly soothing news for all the sponsors and advertisers who must have been getting a little hot around the collar as stories in the press about delays in building work, inadequate transport links for fans, and visitor security problems were getting as many column inches of doom-mongering as levels of testosterone in the bloodstream of Caster Semenya.

This week also sees the launch of the latest visitor information centre  in Polokwane, Limpopo. The R 6.7million state-of-the-art building will join similar centres across South Africa, all geared up to cater for the 450, 000 expected visitors to the country for the soccer spectacular. Just one more goal met in the organisers’ plans.

All this splendid news has prompted one key member of that organising plan to refer to the expected 26 billion eyeballs that will be fixed on television sets and South Africa’s reputation as host, as a potential “30-day commercial” for the country.

The sentiment comes from Honorary Doctor of Philosophy Irvin Khoza and Local Organising Committee Chairman for the World Cup. He mused: “Think of the tournament as a 30-day commercial for South Africa – a 30-day television commercial to be watched by many billions of cumulative audience all around the globe – this is the scale of our opportunity for South Africans to present this country effectively and proactively.”

The LOC chairman further philosophised it was up to South Africans to decide what would be their message. With recent research into South African attitudes towards the World Cup showing a more positive reaction than ever before, that “30-day commercial” could have a happy message to it after all.

And finally… with news just breaking that reality television show and World Cup ratings rival  Big Brother will leave Channel 4 next summer, for anyone who cannot stand the thought of watching a pitch or a house of over-hyped, money-hungry, talentless spooks – the World Cup is at least 60 days less to bear.