South Africa World Cup Organizers Choose an Odd Way of Showing they’re Ready

What about the very latest news Bob, that FIFA is impressed with SA’s progress thus far - that they are even at a more advanced stage than Germany were at this stage of the preparation; how ’bout that Bob?

Posted from  United States

Ask and you shall receive Kahuru

http://www.worldcupblog.org/world-cup-2010/blatter-back-on-the-south-africa-bandwagon.html

Cheers

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Fifa could well have corrupt elements according to the following report in wikipedia with voterigging.

I’ll never forget the buildup to the announcement for 2006 soccer world cup when only the abstention by a Kiwi kept SA from hosting 2006!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sepp_Blatter

I reckon SA should just pull the plug now and save a lot of taxpayers money which would be better spend on education, healthcare and infrastructure (and I don’t mean stadia we have enough of those already!)

Kahuru and Bob you both should know by now that when Sepp speaks you better check his facts. That South Africa is more advanced at this stage than Germany was is plain hogwash. Here are the facts (stadium by stadium):
Dortmund - Westfalenstadion - reconstruction completed in 2003 with back rests added to the seats which didn’t have them in 2005.
Berlin - Olympiastadion - reconstruction completed mid 2004.
Frankfurt - Builting started mid 2002 and completed October 2005.
Gelsenkirchen - new - opened August 2001.
Hamburg - new, completed Sept. 2000.
Hanover - Niedersachsenstadion - reconstruction started March 2003 and completed Dec. 2004.
Kaiserslautern - Felix-Walter Stadion - Reconstruction completed Nov. 2005.
Koeln - Reconstruction started in 2002 and completed in March 2004.
Leipzig - new, opened in December 2003.
Muenchen - Kaiser Franz Beckenbauer laid the cornerstone in October 2002 and the stadium was finished in April 2005.
Nuernberg - Frankenstadion - reconstruction completed April 2005.
Stuttgart - Gottlieb Daimler Stadion - Reconstruction began Jan. 2004 and was completed in late 2005.

Germany used 12 stadiums of which 5 were new and 7 were reconstructions. Of the 5 new stadiums - Hamburg was ready in 2000, Gelsenkirchen in 2001, Leipzig in 2003, Munich in April 2004 and Frankfurt in October 2005. Even the new stadiums were already under construction at this point in 2002 while South Africa hasn’t even started building five of its stadiums. Germany is one of the world leaders when it comes to engineering. Just look at the Elbe canal near Magdeburg where the canal is above the river so that ships and bardges can go North-South and not delay ships and bardges going East-West. In addition, Germany doesn’t have a cement shortage.
Sepp Blatter again made good use of his favorite motto “If you can’t dazzle them with brilliance then baffle them with bulls$#t.

Posted from  United States

Sorry there was a typo. Munich’s Allianzstadion was opened in April 2005. Under the list of stadiums I had it right but in the summation I hit the wrong key.

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Unfortunately, you are taking it the wrong way - 2006 is over and done with. Whether you guys were ahead at this point or not is of no consequence; the argument here is about 2010 NOT the past - kapish? ?

Posted from  United States

One last thing I might add is that this is FIFA’s world cup, and Sepp Blatter just so happens to be the president of this organisation - surely any sensible person would be inclined to believe him than a nonentity like you, because he is in the midst of things whereas someone like you looks from the outside in, and sees things in black and white. Sepp Blatter on the otherhand is the head of the organisation known as FIFA who happen to run the world cup.

Posted from  United States

Kahuru I don’t know what you’re problem is. What is it with this calling me a nonentity? Neither Bob, you, the other Bloggers nor I have anything to say about where and who should hold the world cup. You brought up the point about Sepp Blatter saying that at this point in the preparation of the WC2010 South Africa is ahead of where Germany was at this time 4 years ago. I took time and looked up the preparation of the German Stadiums for World Cup 2006 and with the facts I presented anybody but you would draw the conclusion that Herr Blatter’s remark was incorrect. If you are not interested in having a dialogue here that shows some other view points then I suggest you either do a coup d’etat and get rid of Bob or start your own Kahuru Blog. I myself feel that Bob has done a great job running this blog. Have you ever thought that Joseph Blatter is making statements in support of South Africa because he wants to stop any calls from taking the WC2010 somewhere else? It was Blatter who pushed and pushed to get Africa the world cup and if your country messes up, which is what it is starting to look like, then his term as FIFA president would in all likelyhood come to an end.

Posted from  United States

Well I guess we should return to the real question. Do you think Germany (or any other country on this planet, including Zimbabwe!) would have had the sheer :

(you choose)

(a) audacity
(b) arrogance
(c) incompetence
(d) lack of preparedness

to not pitch up for a Press Briefing?

It doesn’t reflect well on the organisers and doesn’t fill me with much confidence that my tax (I might be a nonentity (sic)
(p but I’m a saffer) is going to be well spent. I’m particularly disappointed in Danny Jordaan. He talks the talk but obviously doesn’t walk it.

Guys, I suspect that Kahuru has learned a new word. Like the 4 year old, who has learned a new word, he likes the sound so much that he has to say it over and over again. That is how kids show they are someone and that they aren’t a nonentity.

Posted from  United States

It was just a press conference, not the end of the world as some of you seem to think, and all this call of sending the world cup somewhere else like you guys wish stating with the Pokingpoops (as in nincompoop Pokemooon, now that’s a new word for you ’cause it means YOU), and the Claudes of the world is motivated by nothing but Afro Persimissism - well tough luck 2010 is staying in South Africa, and in case you were asleep Claude; the decision to take the 2010 WC to SA was FIFA’s not Blatter’s - Blatter recommended and rightly so that it was Africa’s turn. It just boggles the mind why you guys are screaming bloody murder about a missed conference, and foaming from the corners of your mouths when in actual fact nothing you say or do will change that - thus the word nonentity.

Posted from  United States

Kahuru, the draw for the world cup is just three years and a few days away. It would be nice if your country would have the stadiums ready by then. The world has the right to know how things are coming along. Until South Africa makes some real effort to get this off the ground there will be questions on this Blog and also by journalists from around the world if your country is really prepared to get this off the ground. Just a few months ago Blatter and Beckenbauer both voiced concerns about the efforts South Africa has shown so far. All your name calling doesn’t change anything. If South Africa has a great world cup, I will be here (God willing) to congradulate your country. On the other hand if South Africa falls flat on its face and embarrases a whole continent, I don’t think anybody will be able to find the mouse hole you crawled into. Now to quote USMC Mastersgt. Brad - “STFU”.

Posted from  United States

Gerhard you scored a bullseye in my book with your comment. Good Job and way to go.

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Take a chill pill … the stadiums will be ready by 2010 okay? People were saying the same thing about the readiness of the Greek for the 2004 Olympics, and look what happened. So if you guys would just back off for a minute and leave SA 2010 alone for Christsake, and wait to see if your wishes to see it fail would come to pass so you may scram ‘I told you so’ that would be better instead of this judgement calling when 2006 (the year) is hardly over - now that would be the most sensible thing to do.

Posted from  United States

Gerhard definately needs to relax. 2006 is hardly over for goodness’sake. You’re not the only one who pays taxes man. I’m Also a south african tax payer. The only diffence between me and you is that i wanna see my country succeed.

I suspect that the only reason you and your fellow boertjies are mad is that black people are making this country work better than white ppl ever did. So get over your racist issues so we can all cellebrate come 2010.

Hey Thabo. As an African, I can confirm that we love to talk - talk - and talk some more. So face it man, and look around you. All we do is talk. We do not construct. Our transport infrustructure is a total mess. NO public transport (and you can forget the Gouteng train) - no regard for the rule-of-the-road. Our persanal safety is at an all time low - and no honest person would dare to suggest that we can guarantee any type or form of security for international visitors. We cant even protect ourselves! Our roads are totally conjested with no relief in sight. Our air transport cannot cope with increased traffic. So my realistic perception is that whatever happens in 2010, if anything at all, will leave egg on our faces, and it will stay there for years and years to come.

In reponse to Kahuru (posted November 22) “What about the very latest news Bob, that FIFA is impressed with SA’s progress thus far - that they are even at a more advanced stage than Germany were at this stage of the preparation; how ’bout that Bob” - please read the comment from Claude (November 24th, 2006). It should be pointed out that not one single authority in South Africa has been able to post any form of time-table or how-goes-it schedule towards the preparations leading to the 2010 World Cup. I am absolutely convinced that the now infamous press (non) briefing which was to be held by the the local organizing (sic) committee was boycoted by the organisers precisely because they had absolutely nothing to brief the press about, and in particular they had no progress what-so-ever to report on. Billions of Rands of South Africa’s precious tax payer’s money will pour down the drain in the lead up to 2010, as have so many billions of of their wasted non-completed project funding done in the past. FIFA could never have expected the 2010 prospects to be as hopelessly behind as they so patently are, and having nothing to say, they simply blurted out the first thing that came to mind. That’s what politicians traditionaly do when they are in a tight corner. Intersetingly, and more recently, Sepp Blatter, doubtless out of sheer frustration, has offered to send picks and shovels to the South African Organising (SIC) committee at his own expense, if only somebody would begin doing something.

Pedro, what you and your friends need to do is just take a chill pill like I suggested - South Africa will be ready in 2010, all you gys have to worry about is if your country or countries will qualify - leave all the political sheenanigans, the wranglings, the press conferences to the people who are PAID to do the job - as people at the mercy of what other people report (i.e. journalists who mind you have deadlines to keep, stories to print that will pay their mortgages etc..etc..)you will develope ulcers, and for what you ask yourself - whether South Africa will have the five more stadiums ready by 2010??? iS IT REALLY WORTH YOUR HEALTH… RELAXXXX!!!!!

Posted from  United States

Kahuru. You say that I should take a “chill-out pill”. You make me laugh!. For the love of all things good, when will you and the rest of the dreamers in Africa get it into your thick skulls that this “chill-out” attitude is precisely what is wrong. You can’t create stadia and other facilities such as beds to sleep in, public transort, airplane seats, back-up power grids, adequate TV hook-ups, access roads, restaurants, adequate and professional policeing, top quality pitches, airport arrival and departure facilities, crowd control procedures (remember Ellis Park?), by being chilled out. The list of things to organise and facilities to be built is endless. And you talk about chill-out pills? If you want to see what havoc your chill-out attitude can lead to, just take a glance to the north of the Limpopo River. You should rather join the ranks of the rest of us who believe in planning and getting on with the job - people who want to see real progress. People who believe in ridged schedules, people who demand that politicians and paid committee members deliver on their promises. By the way, and on a lighter note, and while I intend no disrespect to chimapanzees, have you ever seen a chimpanzee tea party? It’s a hoot to watch. Oh, and since you brought this up, let’s all join hands and thank God for those hard working mortguage paying press people that you talk about. We need your eyes and ears, so keep up your good work. Best regards to you Kahuru, and please stay off those pills.

Hey guys just thought id throw this in. My brother is over in SA as a consultant for the building works, he was involved in Sydney 2000 and the Commonwealth games. He is back here for christmas and was telling us last night that unofficially SA is at least 24 months behind schedule, and the main reason is labour disputes and a shortage of construction materials. Apparently FIFA is going to loan some money to purchase materials from Europe and they are looking for labour from neighbouring countries. He reckons that 2 stadiums wont be finished in time and they will be forced to have 2 groups playing at the 1 stadium. Also apparently there are huge penalties involved against the constrauction companies involved if they dont finish in time. So the whole thing looks very interesting.

Posted from  Australia

2010 press puzzle

December 16 2006 at 06:07PM

By Roy Barford

For the second time in three weeks, the media has left a 2010 soccer World Cup press conference completely empty-handed and bewildered.

The eThekwini Municipality yesterday called off a media briefing that was scheduled to discuss the awarding of the World Cup preliminary draw to Durban.

Members of the media had arrived at Durban’s International Convention Centre (ICC) at 9am to be told that the conference had been postponed until 2pm.

However, within a few hours it was announced that the conference had been postponed indefinitely.

PS Thabo you are a neurotic puppy assuming all pale males and even ‘boere’ (transl = farmers ) are bigots. Most of those have already packed for Perth and now the govt realises its alienating more with its policies and could head down the same road as its northerly neighbour Zim which would be utterly tragic

Any news on South Africa? Have Kahuru and Thabo picked up their shovels or are they still posting their nonsense on the internet? When the going gets tough, Kahuru and Thabo leave for greener pastures. LOL.

Posted from  United States