One of the biggest sporting events in the world begun this week: the FIFA world cup 2010 in the Republic of South Africa.

On Friday June 11 the tournament opened in South Africa in a spectacular combination of energy, colour, warmth and jubilation characteristic of the rainbow nation.

In the stadia and different locations in South African and the reaches of the different media, the event was truly awesome. The sight of people of all ages singing, dancing and ululating accompanied by blaring vuvuzelas was one of a proud people relishing their success as a nation.

For many people FIFA World Cup Finals are a chance to do what they should have done as children: paint their bodies in different colours, remove their shirts, dance bare-chested and shout themselves hoarse to no one in particular but the whole world.

To others it is an opportunity to break from their demanding or super-gluing spouses who cannot stand watching men running after a ball for the durations of the matches.

The ability of football to unite people separated for different reasons is amazing. The poor and the rich, those on different political divides and the tribal leaders were united in their support of football.

In fact football should replace African politics because of its ability to unite people. People who may never have heard of the Presidents of Ivory Coast, Cameroon, Ghana and Nigeria can name some of the best footballers in these countries. Whereas African rulers divide Africans for their selfish interests, Football unites them. The power of football can only get stronger. 

According to Sporting Intelligence, the 2010 World Cup matches will be watched by average audiences of around 125 million people per match; with an average audience will probably be between 330 million and 350 million people for the final match.

It is estimated that the number of viewers of   the tournament will compete with those of the 2002 World cup final for the second most watched event behind the Beijing Olympics opening ceremony which had an average TV audience of 593 million and a reach of 984 million viewers.

It is reported that in South Africa the opening game between the hosts and Mexico was watched by over 10 million television viewers, almost one in every five people with access to television in the former watched the opening the match while in China an average of nearly 24 million people watched the game between South Korea and Greece.

The success in organizing FIFA World Cup 2010 did not come easy and the sights and sounds on Friday 6th June vindicated the people of the Rainbow nation. South Africa should have hosted the 2006 World Cup Finals, had Oceania’s (New Zealand) delegate Charlie Dempsey not faced "intolerable pressure” and abstained, thereby giving Germany the opportunity to host it.

When South Africa was voted to host the event, there followed a barrage of criticism of delays in construction of stadia, inadequate facilities, insecurity and crime, corruption and even suggestions that the host nation should be changed.

There was such criticism and cynicism aimed at the Republic of South Africa and its government that even the most optimistic believer in the country and its people must have had second thoughts about the success of the tournament hosted by the nation.

The success of the opening ceremony and opening matches should give South Africans wherever they are reason to be proud. The warmth and jubilation of the fans from all from all corners of the globe with no report of the much hyped crime and violence should make South Africans proud, indeed. 

It was at a time when media reports about delays in construction of stadia, crime, corruption, the murder of a racist Afrikaner and the predicted concomitant racial fallout that would ensue, that the phrase "African World Cup” was coined.

In face of seemingly daunting challenges, the FIFA World Cup Finals changed to "African World Cup” to highlight the "problems associated with Africa”.  France, Italy Germany and Mexico have hosted the FIFA World Cup Finals on two occasions each but the tournament was never referred to as the "European World Cup” or "South American World Cup”.

To many people, an African country hosting the FIFA World Cup Finals was one too many and the failures would show. The venue of the FIFA finals should be relocated to another continent far away from Africa, they seemed to suggest.  

If a collection of rocks like Switzerland or peninsula like Italy and South Korea which could fit into Africa over a hundred times each, could host the tournament, why could not an African country?

There are several reasons why some people tagged the FIFA World Cup Finals the "African World Cup” and they are varied. Some were driven by ignorance; Africa is one "dark country” synonymous with failure, they believed.

The fact that the continent is made of 53 independent countries is nothing to them. To others nothing right comes out of Africa and FIFA’s policy of rotating hosts by continent is doomed to fail; at least they (prophets of doom) had foreseen it and said it.

To others it was prejudice against Africa and Africans with dark skins.
The fact that South Africans have staged the "most spectacular FIFA World Cup Finals” therefore has not vindicated the people of the Rainbow nation alone but people in developing nations and the prejudice directed against them. The arrogance of some nations and their nationals has been put to shame by the success of South Africans.

The FIFA World Cup Finals 2010 are not "Africa’s World Cup”; they remain FIFA World Cup Finals 2010 successfully organized and hosted by the people of the Republic of South Africa.

Whereas many Africans are proud of the success of South Africans, they can only draw inspiration to host the tournament in the future.

There should be FIFA World Cup Finals hosted by many other African countries and they should not be "African World Cups” but FIFA World Cup Finals.

kaba2002@yahoo.com