The 2010 World Cup and the National Question
The World Cup has rightly captured the country’s imagination, writes Leonard Gentle. Despite Bafana’s anaemic performance against the Uruguayans, there is still a clear sense of relief amongst opinion...
View ArticleSomalia: Risking life and limb for football
"Some people think football is a matter of life and death. I assure you, it's much more serious than that," former Liverpool manager Bill Shankly once said. Uncomfortably close to a bald statement of...
View ArticleSouth Africa: The first Poor People’s World Cup on African soil
On the 13th of June 2010, the Poor People’s World Cup successfully kicked-off their first day of matches at the Avendale soccer fields, next to Athlone stadium in Cape Town. Early in the morning, the...
View Article3 600 security stewards lose their jobs
About 3 600 security stewards - half in Durban and the rest in Cape Town - have lost their jobs at the World Cup stadiums after a wage dispute escalated. Now police have taken over the stewards' duties...
View ArticleWorld Cup strike spreads to half of venues
Security stewards angered over low pay expanded their strike Tuesday to five of the World Cup's 10 stadiums, forcing police to assume their duties in a bitter counterpoint to the generally festive...
View ArticleGlobal: Soccer ball makers in poverty
Asian workers who stitch nearly all the world's soccer balls have seen little improvement in lives dominated by poverty, a report said days before the start of the World Cup tonight. Thirteen years ago...
View Article“At least under Apartheid…..” South Africa on the eve of the World Cup
At long last, soccer fans, the moment is here. On Friday, South Africa took the field against Mexico, the World Cup was officially underway. Nothing attracts the global gaze quite like it. Nothing...
View ArticleWorld Cup in South Africa: Six red cards for FIFA
The soccer World Cup began this weekend here in South Africa, with the home team playing a 1-1 draw with Mexico before 95,000 fans at Johannesburg’s Soccer City stadium. Regardless of whether South...
View Article1st African World Cup: Is qualification a development indicator?
As South Africa hosts the 2010 World Cup what does the competition, football and sport in general have to contribute to development? As the spotlight shines on South Africa there is intense media...
View ArticleSouth Africa: 'Poor People's World Cup' shows exclusion of poor
Leading up to the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, reports have come out alleging that South African authorities had made efforts to hide the homeless population to make areas seem more welcoming...
View ArticleSouth Africa: Labor conditions are 'almost like apartheid'
With World Cup security stewards complaining of poor working conditions and unpaid wages, a labor dispute threatens to overshadow the action on the pitch in South Africa. SPIEGEL spoke to union head...
View ArticleWatching the World Cup in Europe
The FIFA headquarters are nestled into a secluded spot on the hill overlooking Zurich, one of the richest cities in the world. Here a glass of coke will cost you R60 at a restaurant. The city, set...
View ArticleAfrica: "Pilgrimages": 14 writers for 14 cities
“Pilgrimages,” a new project of the Chinua Achebe Center for African Writers and Artists at Bard College and Chimurenga, will send 14 African writers to 13 African cities, and one city in Brazil, for...
View ArticleReconciliation through Sports? The case of South Africa
Can sports—and if so how—serve as a vehicle for reconciliation and increased social cohesion in countries wrecked by civil conflict? This article analyses the case of South Africa and its experiences...
View ArticleSouth Africa: The political economy of mega-stadiums
As South Africa prepares to host the 2010 World Cup finals, public and scholarly discourses have largely overlooked the consequences of interactions between global sport, professional leagues, and...
View ArticleAfrica: Football feminine - development of the African game
Football is by far the most popular sport throughout Africa. More than a sport, football in most African countries has deep political, social and economic ramifications. Yet, the game that garners this...
View ArticleSouth African soccer: For the love of the game?
The sun has almost set on the Soccer World Cup and its seeming suspension of our South African 'normalcy'. No doubt, many will try their best to continue to bask in its positively proclaimed...
View ArticleSouth Africa: What's left after the World Cup?
Attempts to measure the tangible and intangible benefits left by the World Cup suggest that while expenditure on infrastructure and stadiums significantly boosted the economy and had some impact on job...
View ArticleSouth Africa: 'Surprising' cost of running Cape Town stadium
Ratepayers could end up paying for Cape Town stadium's operating costs after Sail Stadefrance walked out on a 30-year lease to manage the property. The city will take over management of the...
View ArticleFifa suspends executive committee members over corruption allegations
FIFA, the world's governing body for football, announced Wednesday that it has provisionally suspended two of its executive committee members who allegedly demanded money in return for their votes in...
View ArticleSouth Africa: World Cup spending puts PE in red
A dire cash flow shortage in Nelson Mandela Bay, the sprawling municipality that includes Port Elizabeth, Despatch and Uitenhage, has resulted in an R800 million cut in spending on key service delivery...
View ArticleSouth Africa: Sex work during the 2010 world cup
Findings of a recent survey do not provide evidence for mass-immigration of foreign sex workers advertising online and in local newspapers, nor a spike in sex work or risk of HIV transmission during...
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