Facts and Fallacies
Sometimes living at the tip of Africa is funny thing. Because of modern technology, television and globalization, we forget just how far we are from the rest of the world, and how far away they are from us. There are so many perceptions and theories about different places, that we all take as fact many things we read, hear or see on TV.
Over the past three years I have been researching, moderating, writing and editing in the global soccer arena, with my main focus ultimately being on the South African game. My work has predominantly been done for international companies, so while I was focussing on my own country, I also had to adapt to many outsiders' points of view. And what I soon discovered was that they didn't really care or know about anything South African, other than the World Cup - Kaizer Chiefs were a rock band, Orlando Pirates was a Disneyland ride and Mamelodi Sundowns sounded like a drink.
The World Cup
This was, for some, the first chance people got to see South Africa in the soccer world. We heard all the stories beforehand - "will they be able to host it?", "The reserve nation saga", "The stadiums won't be ready", "High crime rate", "Africa is not ready", "No footballing history", "Weak national team", etc. But the World Cup ran smoothly, all the stadiums were world class, and there was hardly any crime. Of course that didn't change many of the perceptions, as perhaps we never really seized the opportunity to do it.