Back on the ropes, but it’s not all bad

The 2010 Local Organising Committee (LOC) is back on the ropes — this time over its failure to promote the 2009 Confederations Cup which will be staged in just three months. Visiting Fifa secretary-general Jerome Valcke lashed out at the lack of signage for the key 2010 curtain-raiser.
Fair comment, perhaps, but once again it’s not the whole story. LOC marketing boss Derek Carstens argues that this is all just a matter of timing, with campaigns planned to become more visible towards the end of the month when the impact will be strongest.

Either way, this is an opportune time to gauge the effectiveness of the marketing for both tournaments. The good news is that every southern African state (including floundering Zimbabwe) has 2010 task teams and plans in place to capitalise on the showpiece of international football.

Shortly after South Africa was awarded the rights to host the tournament, Fifa got the ball rolling with various initiatives including the “Win in Africa, With Africa” that now reaches most corners of the continent. So far, 42 of the planned 53 state-of-the-art synthetic pitches have already been built.
Other initiatives of the legacy projects for Africa include “Silencing the Guns” which is aimed at facilitating the replacement of guns with radios and “My Game is Fair Play”, an initiative to mobilise politicians to sign an undertaking based on fair-play principles.

Next week, Bafana legends Phil Masinga and Mark Fish will join a “2010 Peace Africa caravan” to mobilise support in several African countries for both tournaments. In Berlin, South Africa’s World Cup preparations are under the spotlight at this week’s Internationale Tourismus Börse, the global industry’s leading trade show, where SA Tourism is hosting the “SA — Wired for 2010” stand.

Back home, the “My 2010 School Adventure” roadshow, which aims to promote both education and participation in football, visits Mafikeng this week. And, of course, there are thousands of other development initiatives that are quietly taking root that don’t receive any media coverage.
The critical issue is that the 2010 revolution will envelop the entire country and the rest of the continent and ensure that Africa is viewed in an entirely different light when the world’s biggest party leaves these shores in 16 months.