I have caught Bafana Bafana fever. I need to go buy a vuvuzela. Don’t worry, it’s not some tropical disease that will cause my tongue to swell up to the size of a football. But it has to do with football. And by that, I mean soccer to you Americans. The rest of the world calls it football. The World Cup is being held in South Africa in 33 days. Bafana Bafana is the South African team. A vuvuzela is the brightly colored plastic horn that sounds like an elephant – it is a mandatory fan accessory. I would love to go to one of the games but none of my coworkers have any interest in it. They loooove their rugby and cricket, but seem to be oblivious to the World Cup mania surrounding them. I want to wear a green and yellow jersey and wave the South African flag and be a part of the roaring crowd.
So far, the best part about the World Cup coming here – the commercials! I wish this country was as jolly and unified as the commercials portray. Racial harmony and national pride oozes from the TV screen. I love to watch them, they make me feel all warm and fuzzy, like a Hallmark commercial. There is an ad with Nelson Mandela and tells of how it was his dream to host the World Cup. (by Mandela: "If there is one thing in this planet that has the power to bind people together it is soccer.") Another ad shows a scruffy little boy from a village playing soccer in the dirt and dreaming of growing up to be a soccer star and then now he is here, playing in the World Cup. Another shows different crowds huddling around TV screens watching a game: in multi-racial bars, rundown township halls, a living room with 20 people crammed into it and a tiny black and white TV – and all the crowds are cheering at the same moment, when Bafana Bafana scores! This one is most poignant, as that is how the majority of South Africans will see the games being played in their own backyard - on TV. The ticket prices are so high that they cannot afford them.
Soccer is the main sport of the shanty towns. The little boys dig through the garbage to find plastic bags, plastic wrap, little bits they can wrap into a ball and keep adding to it until it is big enough to be a soccer ball. The people that love the sport the most will not be able to attend, and will be lucky if they get to watch it on TV. Many villages and shanty towns do not have electricity. And there are parts of the country to which TV does not reach. SABC is the South African Broadcasting Company, the main TV station and the one that will be broadcasting the World Cup. According to their commercials, SABC vows that every South African will be able to watch the World Cup on TV. They state they are using their own money to put in new transmitters so the signal can reach all regions. Municipalities are buying TVs so those that can’t afford TV can come to a community center to watch.
I love this, not because it is important that the idiot box (a.k.a. TV) reaches all areas of a country, but I love the national pride it is instilling. Not just to get behind our team, we have little hope that Bafana Bafana will go very far in the world cup, but to be a good host to the world. The commercials aren’t just about trying to sell tickets to the game, they are aimed at all of us in South Africa, telling us to be welcoming and put our best foot forward so the rest of the world will know that South Africa has come a long way since Apartheid ended. After years of being banned from playing due to apartheid, Bafana Bafana was allowed to play in the World Cup again in 1992. South Africa is the first African country to host the World Cup, so the country feels the pressure to put on a great event. New stadiums have been built, new transportation systems installed, roads upgraded, and police and stadium security ramped up so there will be no negative stories to report.
On the news, the head of security for the stadiums in Johannesburg stated, “My main headache is the American president. ‘I am coming, No I am not coming, I am coming, No I’m not.’ I am praying that America does not make it past the first round.” Not that Barack is not welcome, it’s just the security logistics of a head of state attending. You can’t just spring it on a stadium. Oh by the way, Barack might drop in.
Lisa Poll might drop in, if I can still score a ticket, and I’ll be rooting for Bafana Bafana, my new home.
So far, the best part about the World Cup coming here – the commercials! I wish this country was as jolly and unified as the commercials portray. Racial harmony and national pride oozes from the TV screen. I love to watch them, they make me feel all warm and fuzzy, like a Hallmark commercial. There is an ad with Nelson Mandela and tells of how it was his dream to host the World Cup. (by Mandela: "If there is one thing in this planet that has the power to bind people together it is soccer.") Another ad shows a scruffy little boy from a village playing soccer in the dirt and dreaming of growing up to be a soccer star and then now he is here, playing in the World Cup. Another shows different crowds huddling around TV screens watching a game: in multi-racial bars, rundown township halls, a living room with 20 people crammed into it and a tiny black and white TV – and all the crowds are cheering at the same moment, when Bafana Bafana scores! This one is most poignant, as that is how the majority of South Africans will see the games being played in their own backyard - on TV. The ticket prices are so high that they cannot afford them.
Soccer is the main sport of the shanty towns. The little boys dig through the garbage to find plastic bags, plastic wrap, little bits they can wrap into a ball and keep adding to it until it is big enough to be a soccer ball. The people that love the sport the most will not be able to attend, and will be lucky if they get to watch it on TV. Many villages and shanty towns do not have electricity. And there are parts of the country to which TV does not reach. SABC is the South African Broadcasting Company, the main TV station and the one that will be broadcasting the World Cup. According to their commercials, SABC vows that every South African will be able to watch the World Cup on TV. They state they are using their own money to put in new transmitters so the signal can reach all regions. Municipalities are buying TVs so those that can’t afford TV can come to a community center to watch.
I love this, not because it is important that the idiot box (a.k.a. TV) reaches all areas of a country, but I love the national pride it is instilling. Not just to get behind our team, we have little hope that Bafana Bafana will go very far in the world cup, but to be a good host to the world. The commercials aren’t just about trying to sell tickets to the game, they are aimed at all of us in South Africa, telling us to be welcoming and put our best foot forward so the rest of the world will know that South Africa has come a long way since Apartheid ended. After years of being banned from playing due to apartheid, Bafana Bafana was allowed to play in the World Cup again in 1992. South Africa is the first African country to host the World Cup, so the country feels the pressure to put on a great event. New stadiums have been built, new transportation systems installed, roads upgraded, and police and stadium security ramped up so there will be no negative stories to report.
On the news, the head of security for the stadiums in Johannesburg stated, “My main headache is the American president. ‘I am coming, No I am not coming, I am coming, No I’m not.’ I am praying that America does not make it past the first round.” Not that Barack is not welcome, it’s just the security logistics of a head of state attending. You can’t just spring it on a stadium. Oh by the way, Barack might drop in.
Lisa Poll might drop in, if I can still score a ticket, and I’ll be rooting for Bafana Bafana, my new home.
I bought my Bafana Bafana jersey today!!
ReplyDeleteLisa