Posted inSport

A tribute to the Mkhonto Eleven stars

You couldn’t have asked for a more beautiful day. We drove into Alex and met up with the Mkhonto Eleven under-15 soccer team. Kitted out in black and white and their new boots (sponsored by Friends of Alex), they were happy, excited, and chirpy … yet disciplined, on time and grateful for the taxi that […]

Posted inSport

Blue Bulls batter Chiefs

Jacob Zuma — in the finest tradition of South African presidents confirming the support of a nation for the country’s top athletes — wished the players well and assured them that they had their countrymen behind them. Zuma magic, like that of former president’s Mandela and Mbeki before him, worked wonders at what had been […]

Posted inLifestyleSport

The cost of scoring in 2010

When millions of football fans descend on South Africa in mid-2010, it’s not just the country’s tourism industry that will be welcoming them with open arms. Never slow to miss a trick, practitioners of the world’s oldest profession will be bracing themselves for the inevitable flurry of scoring that goes with an event like the […]

Posted inSport

Fun and games for charity

Spain recently played host to a most wonderful charity sporting initiative: two teams consisting of Spanish sport heroes and captained by Iker Casillas, the national football team goalie, and Rafa Nadal, tennis hero and kryptonite to Roger Federer’s Superman. The teams participated in a number of different events including karting, indoor football and the like […]

Posted inNews/PoliticsSport

Sorry Naas, Springbok emblem goes far deeper than that

Francis Fukuyama, professor of international political economy at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, in an article entitled “The damage to Brand USA needs urgent repair”, submits that the damage to the American brand will be far more costly to the United States than the implosion of its investment banks. www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/article4937563.ece “After 9/11 […]