How can we train if the
pitch isn’t proper?
The Financial Times of London reported on Tuesday that FIFA has added $100 million to its already sizable budget for team training facilities in South Africa. FIFA said the increase was approved in March following complaints from several teams about the quality of World Cup training venues. The one team identified in the report? That’s right, England.
FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke pointed out that the quoted amount is a maximum, not an exact number. He also said that unused money would go toward the development of South African soccer.
“We don’t want to just leave after the World Cup,” Valcke said. “We want to make sure we can continue to support grass roots football in South Africa.”
In a way, FIFA’s decision to give “leftover” funds to deserving South African projects puts organizers--and the English--in a bit of a pickle. Just how plush does the pitch need to be, Fabio? We’re trying to build more fields for kids, here.
British Wags to star in
BBC show about African poverty
Perhaps attempting to make up for all their boyfriends’ complaining, several wives and girlfriends (or “Wags,” as the British press calls them) of famous English soccer players have been shooting a BBC show about poverty in South Africa. The Guardian reported yesterday that Chantelle Tagoe, Ellie Darby, Elen Rivas, Amii Grove, and Imogen Thomas, current or former significant others of Emile Heskey, Matthew Upson, Frank Lampard, Jermaine Pennant and Jermain Defoe, respectively, have been filming the show at children’s hospitals, shanty towns, drug treatment centers and women’s charities around South Africa, with the goal of raising awareness about social injustices.
As one writer for The Guardian put it, “They are better known for their commitment to fake tan than solving developing-world poverty.”
In response to criticisms, a spokesperson for the BBC told The Guardian, “We were making a documentary for our core audience of 16- to 24-year-olds who are probably aware of the World Cup but not of the underbelly of South Africa. Because they are interested in Wags, they might watch and learn something.”
The Sideline bristles at the idea of rich British girlfriends telling us what South Africa is really like. But, hey, if it takes a team of unnaturally bronzed, busty women to get British teens to care about social issues, then we say bring out the orange spray and roll the cameras.
You sink my ship, I take
away your viewing privileges
For the past two tournaments, South Korea has broadcast World Cup games across the border to North Korea—for free, or at very little cost. But following several aggressive incidents between the countries since the last World Cup, that is probably going to change.
According to the Voice of America, North Korea might have to pay a pretty penny for broadcast rights, or might not be allowed to see games at all. That would be a truly sad development for the soccer-loving fans in this tiny, isolated country, particularly since this is their nation’s first World Cup appearance since 1966. And it would be yet another sad example of soccer losing out to politics.
Don’t worry, guys—we’re
not going to run out of beer!
Finally, in what might be the best 2010 World Cup quote yet, Norman Adami, the managing director of South African Breweries, issued the following statement at a recent news conference:
“There’s no need to worry, guys. There will be plenty of our beer for all the fans.”
SAB Miller produces nine out of every ten bottles of beer sold in South Africa. But surprisingly, they expect just a five percent increase in the number of beers purchased during the World Cup.
That could be because most fans are expected to buy beer at the stadiums, or it could be a horrible, horrible miscalculation by SAB Miller. If the latter, Adami might end up eating—or drinking—his words.
