Monday, April 30, 2007

I worry...

I have in the past been convinced by South Africa's rhetoric about being able to host the World Cup in 2010. I hope my faith isn't misplaced.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I am sure they learnt alot whilst hosting the 1995 rugby world cup.
It was deemed successful
Though you can not compare the magnitude of football to Rugby.

The question is will the UK be able to host the 2012 Olympics?

Anonymous said...

Just returning from SA after 4 and 2 months I am pretty convinced that they are not ready and will not be ready for the World Cup. But really that is not the issue. The fact that a country in which the mass of people live in dire poverty, where there is a serious housing shortage, high unemployment, HIV is rampant, etc etc is spending huge sums of money (distributed amongst the elite) on hosting the world cup is obscene to say the least. No one has any faith that it will bring benefit to the ordinary people on the street and already people are being displaced as a result of World Cup "development" - How this came to be I will never understand

Nkem said...

Sokari, I see your point. But I don't necessarily think there's anything wrong with South Africa hosting the World Cup. The key thing is legacy. As you'll know, when Barcelona hosted the Olympics in 1992, that was the spark for the rejuvenation of the city. And it's the same idea being used by Ken Livingstone offering his support for London 2012 - that East London will be regenerated in the process. So, it's all about legacy.