South Africa's Once in a Lifetime Experience

Having just arrived home after a ten day tour of following the 2010 FIFA World Cup, I feel privileged and proud to have experienced how as South Africans we have hosted the world over this once in a lifetime experience. The atmosphere in Johannesburg, Soweto, Cape Town, Port Elizabeth and Durban has been fantastic.

The times when South Africans have walked together are the times that we have been most successful. By hosting the World Cup we have once again shown this to be true as South Africans from all walks of life have reached out to our visitors and welcomed them to our shores.
Dr Danny Jordaan, CEO of the 2010 FIFA World Cup Organising Committee South Africa, had this to say after our final group stage match against France in Mangaung/Bloemfontein last night.

“Bafana Bafana are out of the World Cup but they won the hearts and minds of all South Africans and the whole world tonight. Yes they did not make it past the group stage but they did what the country asked of them – they played with pride, passion, skill and commitment, they gave their best. They did the national team jersey and every single South African proud and we want to thank them for what they’ve done for this country.

Not Over for South Africa

The passion and enthusiasm we have seen across the length and breadth of South Africa in recent weeks has made this tournament truly come alive for locals and visitors alike. It may be over for Bafana Bafana but it is not over for South Africa. This is still South Africa’s World Cup. We are not going home, the World Cup is happening in our home.

South Africans have already proven their support for Team South Africa. Without millions of them we would not have delivered ten world-class stadiums, opened new airports, highways and train stations in record time or welcomed hundreds of thousands of new visitors to our country. We would not have already hosted more than half of the World Cup matches successfully.

By Di Smith

I remain confident that South Africans will continue to be fantastic hosts for the next two and a half weeks and make the most of this incredible time in our country’s history, which has already seen us achieve so much,” said Jordaan.