Everyone who works at Grocott’s Mail supports Bafana Bafana. We desperately want our national soccer team to do well, and we will be watching all the matches involving our team.
We will also be watching many of the matches that don’t involve Bafana because this is, after all, the greatest show on earth.
Everyone who works at Grocott’s Mail supports Bafana Bafana. We desperately want our national soccer team to do well, and we will be watching all the matches involving our team.
We will also be watching many of the matches that don’t involve Bafana because this is, after all, the greatest show on earth.
This incredible show involves enormous amounts of money far beyond the comprehension of anyone at a small town newspaper.
Television rights go into the billions of dollars and top players are worth tens of millions while the right to describe your company as a Partner, a Sponsor or a National Supporter will set you back millions.
In other words, the stakes are high. Extraordinarily high. The stakes are so high in fact that a few hundred million here or there will pale into insignificance when we finally assess the worth of this gigantic tournament to the nation.
This value will not be of the monetary sort and cannot be measured in euros. The real benchmark to measure the success of this colossal event is whether or not we can manage the tournament successfully.
If press photographers are robbed at gunpoint in their beds, if uncontrolled mobs gatecrash their way into stadiums and if foreign fans prefer to watch the matches from the safety of their own homes, then the tournament is doomed to failure and this country will be written off as just another African basket case.
But, on the other hand, if foreign visitors are treated like VIP guests and we all behave in an orderly manner, then the future of this country is bright and we shall reap the benefits for decades to come.
These are some very big “ifs” and the future of this country depends on them. We, the staff of Grocott’s Mail wish that Bafana Bafana does well in the tournament, but far more important than our team’s success on the field is our success off the field. We truly hope that there are no more unpleasant incidents during the 2010 Soccer World Cup.
