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Official FIFA 2010 World Cup Discussion

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BigWoof31;1713628; said:
Journalist held up at gunpoint, 2 others robbed - Yahoo! News


The world is slowly starting to realize that even in one of Africa's most western/civilized nations, crime and corruption are totally rapant.

South Africa wasn't even close to being prepared for this event. I hope the Olympic people are watching closely. They should avoid African bids like the plague.
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durban.jpg


Your opinions about South Africa's readiness to host the World Cup are as bad as your spelling :slappy:

One of our colleagues was mugged and had his passport and valuables stolen in broad daylight on the front steps of one of Miami's top hotels. This is not a relatively small time show like the Super Bowl. We expect some 300,000 international visitors. You did realize that there were so many robberies prior to the last World Cup in Germany that they made a movie about it, right? You did read the Atlanta Constitution about the string of home invasions in Atlanta in recent months, right? Or about the crime spikes during the Olympics held there?

Heck, a Google search of "'Columbus, Ohio' and 'armed robbery'" finds more than 8000 links. I guess we better shut down the Ohio State football program and forget about Big Ten expansion. It's all over. Columbus is not ready.

South Africa is approximately the size of Texas. The World Cup dwarfs the Super Bowl. Two days prior to the event, it looks like the number of foreign visitors confirmed for the World Cup will be approximately two to five times higher than the number of international visitors who attended the Sydney Olympics, based on exit statistics published in "Economics of Staging the Olympics".

The United States is providing the largest number of fans and they are everywhere. That support has translated into big kudos for the United States in South Africa. Last night, my daughter's school had a country and western night, complete with square dancing and cowboy attire. I got a chance to relive every nightmare I had as a sixth and seventh grader in Columbus in the eyes of just about every boy in that class! :)

National Geographic are showing two very objective programs about the World Cup this week. They claim that South Africa is very much ready to host the World Cup. Fans will arrive at brand new state of the art airports and drive down freeways that will make many countries blush. They will attend games in some of the world's most advanced stadiums. According to a National Geographic program on TV last night, one stadium has the world's largest span ever built.

Last night, Frans Beckenbauer, the biggest critic of awarding South Africa the World Cup bid, admitted on CNN that he had been terribly wrong and that South Africa was completely ready.

So, sell your woof tickets somewhere else.
 
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Steve19;1713733; said:
Bucklion, if you Google "FIFA world cup game broadcasts online" you'll get plenty of sites that look promising.
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K thanks, wasn't sure if anyone had specific ones they had used before or not. I remember in 06 at my last job we found a radio feed, but I forget where it was from.
 
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Steve19;1713722; said:
South Africa is approximately the size of Texas. The World Cup dwarfs the Super Bowl. Two days prior to the event, it looks like the number of foreign visitors confirmed for the World Cup will be approximately two to five times higher than the number of international visitors who attended the Sydney Olympics, based on exit statistics published in "Economics of Staging the Olympics".

The United States is providing the largest number of fans and they are everywhere. That support has translated into big kudos for the United States in South Africa. Last night, my daughter's school had a country and western night, complete with square dancing and cowboy attire. I got a chance to relive every nightmare I had as a sixth and seventh grader in Columbus in the eyes of just about every boy in that class! :)

National Geographic are showing two very objective programs about the World Cup this week. They claim that South Africa is very much ready to host the World Cup. Fans will arrive at brand new state of the art airports and drive down freeways that will make many countries blush. They will attend games in some of the world's most advanced stadiums. According to a National Geographic program on TV last night, one stadium has the world's largest span ever built.
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I appreciate the facilities review and geographic crash course, but my criticism circulated primarily around the crime in the country during the event.
Are you really comparing the overall safety of the tournament to Germany? Do you really feel confident in comparing the security of S.Africa to a nation that has hosted previous Olympic games?

They flew in 40,000 whores for a month! A MONTH! Assuming that one pimp or "talent manager" is responsible for 10 of them and you're already in trouble.

Sir - it's clear you have strong pride in the country and it's tremendous news about the airport and transportation that have been upgraded (much needed). But national pride isn't going to prevent the waves of armed robberies that are coming in the upcoming month. If the criminals are already stalking foreign journalist in their own hotel rooms, it's horrible news and god help you if radical islam decides to take a road trip down south.
 
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Bucklion;1713736; said:
K thanks, wasn't sure if anyone had specific ones they had used before or not. I remember in 06 at my last job we found a radio feed, but I forget where it was from.
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They're all on ESPN3 (Formerly ESPN360).
 
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BigWoof31;1713802; said:
I appreciate the facilities review and geographic crash course, but my criticism circulated primarily around the crime in the country during the event.
Are you really comparing the overall safety of the tournament to Germany? Do you really feel confident in comparing the security of S.Africa to a nation that has hosted previous Olympic games?

They flew in 40,000 whores for a month! A MONTH! Assuming that one pimp or "talent manager" is responsible for 10 of them and you're already in trouble.

Sir - it's clear you have strong pride in the country and it's tremendous news about the airport and transportation that have been upgraded (much needed). But national pride isn't going to prevent the waves of armed robberies that are coming in the upcoming month. If the criminals are already stalking foreign journalist in their own hotel rooms, it's horrible news and god help you if radical islam decides to take a road trip down south.
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Woof, you raise several issues and, as I think these might cause some insecurity for people planning to attend the World Cup, I am going to answer you in detail. I don't mean to offend but your post reveals that you are not really well informed about South Africa.

There is a substantial Muslim population in several large South African cities, especially Cape Town. You appear to be unaware that al-Quaeda had active operations in Cape Town in 1993-1995, which were mentioned with pride in the first video message to the West from Osama bin Laden. Bombings took place on an almost weekly basis for more than a year. Planet Hollywood closed after two bombings. Through interfaith dialogue, South Africans worked to avoid religious extremism and conflict. Almost immediately after the 9/11 attacks at the World Trade Center, several high ranking Islamic leaders appeared in the press and electronic media to speak against the attacks as being contrary to the teachings of Islam. There has been no evidence of radical religious terrorism for more than a decade.

I'm not saying that there will not be people South Africa during the World Cup who do not sympathize with radical Islamic beliefs or with radical Christian beliefs for that matter. What I'm saying is that my experience of South Africans is that they have great respect for all the major religious traditions and high tolerance for diversity, especially for diversity in religious beliefs. Most people with whom I work are Christians but a large proportion are Muslims and Jews. Everyone works together in perfect harmony and I have never sensed religious conflict . Every year we host dozens of American exchange students and none of them have ever reported any problems except for two who had their laptop computers stolen when they left them unattended.

So, BP'ers coming to South Africa for the World Cup should not expect to encounter religious extremism. They should, however, take the precautions that the American embassy advises, as they would in any country.

The urban myth about South Africa flying in 40,000 sex workers illustrates my point. FIFA advised the South African government that as many as 40,000 sex workers may be recruited internationally for the World Cup. In response, South Africa implemented stringent immigration procedures to stop human trafficking. Several news stories summarized this warning and the urban myth to which you refer then grew.

The threat of violence by soccer hooligans will be much lower than the German World Cup due to the new procedures and multinational cooperation to stop them even boarding flights. I haven't seen anything about stopping Wolverine fans but as soon as President Zuma calls, I intend to ask for his assistance.

As for crime, it is a threat in any large city. Johannesburg metro is approximately 7,500,000 people. In 2007, Columbus experienced 1.15 violent crimes per thousand people the population. Larger American cities, such as Atlanta, are in the region of 2.5-2.7/1000. Given this level of daily crime, we would expect Johannesburg metro to experience between 20 and 55 violent crimes a day. The burglary rate of American cities is approximately 3 times as high as the rate for violent crime.

The journalist to which you refer was not residing in the hotel but rather in a grass roof chalet on a game ranch, which would be open to the game reserve. How did the alleged robbers gain entry into the room while the journalist slept? Did the journalist forget to lock the door to the room or leave windows open? All South African hotels ask visitors to keep doors and windows closed, as you would in any major urban area in the United States. In a game reserve, this is especially necessary because animals such as baboons and snakes can be very dangerous and attack people.

If anyone here is visiting the World Cup, you should not leave valuables such as passports or cash laying around unattended in hotel rooms. Take the precautions that you normally take in foreign countries. Make make sure laptop computers also are locked in safes prior to leaving your hotel room. I follow these practices in the United States as well and feel that they are necessary anywhere in the world.

Why do I think that the three alleged incidents involving journalists say very little about South Africa's readiness for the World Cup or about security in general? Well, for starters, South Africa has deployed 41,000 new police to coincide with the World Cup influx of 350,000 people. For the last four weeks, there has been an all-out assault on crime, with several alleged kingpins caught and locked up.

There's also history. Press reports in the run-up to several large events has made the same kind of breathless allegations. Then South Africa hosted the African Confed Cup, two Rugby World Cups and several other large events without any incidents whatsoever. It does seem odd that three incidents involving journalists (all of whom were not hurt in any way) should occur in such a short period of time while crime rates in South Africa are reported to be way down. After all, journalists are such a small part of the population, even the tourist population, and one would expect by chance that there must have been a much larger proportion of people suffering similar fates who were not journalists. Yet, even the critical local media outlets report that crime, already declining steadily in recent years, is way down in recent weeks.

So, in response to your question, I believe that visitors to the World Cup in South Africa will be every bit as safe, and may enjoy the games even more than visitors to the World Cup in Germany. They will find well-developed infrastructure, world-class stadiums, beautiful beaches, and a compelling spirit that can be felt nowhere but Africa. I admit that I may be biased in my evaluations of this country and its people, but I assure you that every American professor and MBA exchange student to this country whom I have met has expressed similar views.
 
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Steve19;1714378; said:
So, in response to your question, I believe that visitors to the World Cup in South Africa will be every bit as safe, and may enjoy the games even more than visitors to the World Cup in Germany. They will find well-developed infrastructure, world-class stadiums, beautiful beaches, and a compelling spirit that can be felt nowhere but Africa. I admit that I may be biased in my evaluations of this country and its people, but I assure you that every American professor and MBA exchange student to this country whom I have met has expressed similar views.
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Steve - in this situation the proof is going to be in the pudding.
I've lived in a town that hosted a massive event and we thought we were ready too. Turns out, the Olympic Park Bomber had other ideas.

I'll reserve judgement and zip my lips till the end of the tournament. Everyone is hoping that you are right!

Enjoy it! Are you going to see any games?
 
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Steve19;1713722; said:
durban.jpg




Heck, a Google search of "'Columbus, Ohio' and 'armed robbery'" finds more than 8000 links. I guess we better shut down the Ohio State football program and forget about Big Ten expansion. It's all over. Columbus is not ready.
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Easy now, Clarret is a reformed man.
 
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South Africa rocked the entire day. They had a street party in downtown Cape Town and 60,000 people came. My daughter was blowing her vuvuzela in the driveway before 8am this morning. Expectations for Bafana Bafana are so high that they cannot possibly meet them.

Woof, I will be seeing two games and am really looking forward to it. But soccer will not replace rugby for me. South Africa plays France in rugby at Newlands in Cape Town this weekend too. Wow. All this stuff going on in college football in the US. Big week in sports this week!
 
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