iSporter Anmol Singh Didan presents his thoughts on why he believes that the FIFA World Cup 2010 being held in South Africa provides an opportunity to the African continent to revive itself and move into a new direction.
The FIFA World Cup is a piece of history that repeats itself every four years. It is a sporting extravaganza which is unmatched by any other. I personally feel that the tournament is bigger than even the Olympics.
Africa is one continent in the world that is still marred by problems ranging from housing the poorest in the world to terrorism to disease to civil mutinies. This is Africa’s moment indeed and this is a moment that presents change on a platter.
As the world cup draws even closer, some scaring reports of teams feeling unsafe in South Africa are coming out. To compound the problems, early morning on June 9th, a resort that housed photographers who were covering Spain and Portugal were robbed at gunpoint in Magaliesburg near Johannesburg.
Stray incidents always happen but the challenge that lies for South Africa and Africa indeed, is preventing an embarrassment akin to the African Cup of Nations earlier this year. The Togo team bus was attacked by militants upon their arrival in Angola, which led to their withdrawal from the tournament. The attack sadly claimed the lives of Togo’s assistant coach and press officer.
South Africa is of course a much more accomplished and proven country in terms of them hosting world sporting events. They have already hosted the Cricket and Rugby world cups highly successfully.
FIFA is definitely doing its best for the development of the game in Africa. It has already appointed a committee that will look into the maintenance of the facilities that were built for the World Cup 2010. The committee will ensure that the facilities are put to their rightful uses post the World Cup. With this, they look to set in motion a wheel that will keep churning out top-level African footballers.
FIFA also has plans to acquire young talent from across Africa and bring them to these facilities to help them gain better exposure.
All these efforts provide for more than just a ray of hope for Africa’s revival. There have been millions of dollars pumped into the World Cup and it is now up to Africa to make full use of them.
Even people like Nelson Mandela and Jimmy Carter accept the opportunity that the tournament presents. We all know what Mandela made of the opportunity that the Rugby World Cup 1995 presented. He united a nation through a sport and fostered a spirit that revived South Africa. This time it is Africa’s turn. Pele had predicted that an African nation would win a World Cup before 2000. This might just be Africa’s year in its entirety.
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