Craig Urquhart

Four years ago, Project 2010 was launched with the aim of providing a free flow of information relating to the preparations for the 2010 World Cup. In our mission statement, we declared our confidence that South Africa would host the greatest World Cup in history. Since then, this country has experienced extraordinary highs and lows, […]

One of the great successes of the 2010 World Cup — and there have been many — is how the special courts which were set up for the tournament have succeeded in dealing with the criminal activity that is part-and-parcel of hosting an event of this magnitude. And the good news is that South Africans, […]

All of South Africa is now just days away from the party of a lifetime. The signs are there for all to see — the millions of flags, the enormous Word Cup-themed murals draped around buildings, the clatter of helicopters, the droning of vuvuzelas, the scramble for tickets, round-the-clock roadworks and the orderly chaos as […]

With all the concerns about Bafana Bafana’s chances of making it through the first round of the 2010 World Cup, the host nation appears to have been handed a lifeline. It comes in the form of the mighty vuvuzela, a plastic trumpet which emits a noise that has been compared to a swarm of bees, […]

It’s still too early to gauge the impact that the 2010 World Cup will have on international perceptions of South Africa. Nevertheless, it’s safe to say that a great deal of inaccurate and over-the-top foreign media coverage has contributed to the dip in projected foreign visitors for the month-long event. A number of initiatives have […]

Last week’s 50-day countdown to the Soccer World Cup was slightly more subdued than the big ‘100’ back in February, but that’s probably because so many hurdles have been cleared since then. The consensus — according to the government, the 2010 Local Organising Committee and Fifa — is that it’s all systems go for a […]

It’s no secret that South Africa is once again at a crossroads. Racial tensions between black and white South Africans have reached their highest levels since the 1993 assassination of South African Communist Party leader Chris Hani which threatened to derail the country’s first democratic elections. This weekend’s murder of white far-right leader Eugene Terre’Blanche […]

First, the bad news: With an estimated carbon footprint of 2,7 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent, the 2010 World Cup will have the largest carbon footprint of any major international sporting event (nine times higher than the World Cup in Germany in 2006 and more than twice as high as the Beijing Olympics). Fortunately, the […]

Any lingering doubts about South Africa’s ability to host the 2010 Soccer World Cup have surely been laid to rest with this week’s 100-day countdown festivities. And the most pleasing aspect of this important milestone was not the magnificent new stadiums that were unveiled to the international media or the controlled flurry of activity as […]

Six years have now past since that magnificent moment in Zurich when Fifa President Sepp Blatter declared that SA had earned the rights to host the biggest party on the planet. And with just over 100 days remaining before the kick-off to the 2010 World Cup, SA can rightfully stake its claim as being the […]

With less than four months remaining before the 2010 World Cup gets underway, South Africa’s neighbours are finalising their preparations to ensure they are part and parcel of the biggest event of any kind to occur on the continent. Sadly, Zimbabwe has, for the most part, been excluded from the party thanks to years of […]

2009 will be remembered as the year that South Africa staked its claim to hosting a successful 2010 World Cup. Certainly, the past 12 months have marked an extraordinary turnaround in the preparations for this mega sporting event. Just a year ago, the hosts of the tournament were reeling after a series of near catastrophic […]