Outside the site of the draw, Sampson Adama (Nigerian former student of mine who works for FIFA), Mark Shinners, Lizo Sitoto, Chuck Korr, Tony Suze	Convention Centre, note the security fence

If there was any reason to pay attention besides waiting for the next name to be announced, it was the presenter for the program, South Africa’ most notable export Charlize Theron. She was the perfect choice for the job – a combination of stunning beauty, intelligence, and wit. Even if some South Africans may complain that she has an American accent, she’s the essence of the hometown girl made good who never forgot where she came from. Every chance she gets, she reminds the world just how much South Africa has done in the very short time since it became a free country.

Cape Town has a reputation of caring less about football than most other cities in the country. The fact that it went crazy over the draw, one more sign of how much hosting the World Cup means to South Africans. For a day leading up to the draw, there were roadblocks around major streets in the city center and from early morning there were people blowing on vuvuzelas. Get used to them, they will be a part of life throughout the World Cup no matter how much some English journalists and European players might protest.

Charlize Theron and South African television talk show host	Representative of Germany 2006 handing World Cup trophy to President Jacob Zuma and Sepp Blatter

   The city closed one of its major streets so it could construct a huge television monitor to let people watch the event and to party. They expected 15,000 to show up and finally had to block the entrance when they figured that 50,000 were there. No hassles, no fights, just one big open air party on a beautiful night following a 75 degree afternoon. The crowd at the draw saw the event first hand and added to the drama, but the Long Street party was the place to be if you were a local. I got to enjoy some of both, since the partying went on long after the draw ended and my hotel was fifty yards away from Long Street. The BBC World service even had a reporter up on a balcony so he could tape some of the party to broadcast it around the world.

The mention of media reminds me that American t.v. viewers of the World Cup got very lucky a few months ago when ESPN hired Martin Tyler as its lead commentator. He is the best in the business, an English combination of Jack Buck, Vin Scully, and Bob Costas. He’s spent some time in St. Louis, understands how soccer has developed in this country and is even a baseball fan. Don’t expect him ever to call the game “soccer” on the air. It would be phony coming from someone who still plays and coaches “football” in England

But, I digress from the Cape Town journal ….

   Both the city authorities and FIFA officials were taking security very seriously. Credentials and tickets for the event were monitored closely, quite a task when you start with about 1300 international media and add to that the representatives of the various federations, the South African vip’s, and the innumerable other people (myself included) who felt they had a reason to be there. Getting my ticket for the draw was an adventure. Both FIFA and the BBC had set up credentials for me and they each thought the other would take care of it. A FIFA official told me that morning that he would handle the ticket. True to his word, he phoned me to tell me where to pick up the ticket. The only problem was that the ticket was waiting for me inside the security perimeter surrounding the convention centre and its adjacent hotel – a set of steel barriers stretching for blocks. There were quite a few entrances, each of them manned by security people with varying badges. Lots of ways to get to the hotel’s “hospitality desk” (never was something given a more Orwellian name) to get my ticket. The only problem was that you needed either credentials or a ticket to get through the security and into the hotel. I was about to give up after two hours of being turned away, when I met two well dressed men trying to get their tickets. I joined forces with Hassan Abdulla Al-Thawadi, ceo of the QATAR 2022 bid committee for one last try. The security official told us that the front door of the hotel was open and was surprised when I told him that was fine, but the security fence was two blocks in front of it. “That’s ridiculous”, he said and marched us through the back door, through the service area and into the main lobby where there really was a hospitality desk that really had a ticket (actually, two) in my name.

The new Green Point Stadium in Cape Town	At the draw... Jerome Champagne welcoming Tony Suze, Lizo Sitoto, and Mark Shinners

The crowd at the draw was dressed in a style that would have been appropriate for a presidential inauguration party. The elite of world football mingled with the all the leading politicians, business people, and media figures of South Africa. Archbishop Desmond Tutu (probably the person I admire most) was there as were the leadership of every football association bidding for either 2018 or 2022. For a while, center stage was taken by a former number 5 of the Rangers Football Club from the late-1960’s (one of the teams of prisoners on Robben Island), a tough defender named Jacob Zuma. This time, he was there in his new capacity as the President of the Republic of South Africa.

The international nature of the event was evident from the clothing and the accents of the hundreds of people milling around the convention centre before taking their seats. The man sitting next to me was the epitome of what was happening – born in Mozambique with Portuguese parents, educated in Canada and the U. S. and now the chairman of the largest football club in Costa Rica. After telling me how sad his countrymen were about the collapse of their team in the qualifying round, he said how wonderful it would be to hope for a Portugal v U. S. final. He told me that his ticket arrangements had not worked out and that a “very nice man” had given him a spare ticket. Of course, that was my second ticket, the one I had given to my friend, Mark Shinners, in case his ticket was not waiting for him.

No one in the whole convention centre meant more to me or was a better symbol of what makes South Africa so special than those men sitting a few rows away from me – Lizo Sitoto, Mark Shinners, and Tony Suze. There were there as the guests of Sepp Blatter, the President of FIFA and Jerome Champagne, the head of international relations for FIFA. I was there because of my relationship with the three men and could not be more proud of anything than to be grouped with them. What had happened to them the day before the draw was the real reason I went to Cape Town. That was the day that the Makana Football Association returned to Robben Island and FIFA and the world’s media were there to greet it.

More about the dramatic events on Robben Island in the next months newsletter.