CAPE TOWN WILL MAKE ITS POINT

YOU CAN understand the BBC’s decision to base its World Cup operations in Cape Town, even if it is difficult to justify.

Despite being nearly 1,000 miles from the hub of the action in Johannesburg, the backdrop here is breathtaking; Table Mountain, Table Bay, Robben Island off in the distance and, below, the new Green Point Stadium with its fibreglass mesh wraparound which changes colour as the sun rises and sets.

How often the views will be picked out through the rain and mist of a Cape Town winter remains to be seen. Maybe Gary Lineker and Co will get lucky, like I did visiting Green Point last week. The new stadium sparkled in sunshine as the final preparations were made for handing it over to FIFA for the tournament.

Casting an experienced eye over the process is Cape Town’s 2010 spokesman Pieter Cronje. He does not pretend to be a football expert but is a man with answers when it comes to a city he loves.

“People have asked, ‘Why here, why Green Point?’,” he said.

“At first, we talked about upgrading an existing stadium, Newlands or Athlone, but when it came down to it, everybody agreed the tournament needed a Cape Town semi-final. It meant a new stadium to get us up to the 68,000 capacity FIFA demand for that match. It’s a multi-purpose stadium, close to the city centre and the waterfront; a real international venue for Cape Town.

“This has been a big catalyst for Cape Town, billions of rands’ worth of infrastructure projects – not just soccer-specific ones – are off the drawing board because we had the deadline of 2010.”

Green Point will be one of the World Cup’s “10 hungry stadiums” says Cronje.

With a post-tournament capacity of 55,000, the Springboks are as likely as Bafana Bafana to stage games here in the future.

Football already has its historic home in Cape Flats, the sprawling townships east of the city centre. The Athlone Stadium has had £26million spent on improvements and it will be used as a training venue for teams at the World Cup.

Athlone bills itself proudly as ‘The True Home of Soccer in the Cape’. Built just after the Second World War, it has long been a focus for the townships it looks out over. I am met by Blamo Brooks, whose job for the city is delivering sport out to the Cape Flats. “Back in the apartheid days, Virginia League soccer was played here by clubs like Glenville, Cape Town Spurs and Glendene,” he said. “Now our PSL clubs, Santos and Ajax play here.

“Athlone, though, was always about more than soccer; music, athletics, and minstrel carnivals. Football matches were often staged as a cover for anti-apartheid political rallies. There used to be a huge graffiti on the side of the grandstand here: Vorster Is A Joster. That was the people of Cape Flats calling the then prime minister a clown.”

Around the corner on the Johnson Road is the small Vygieskraal Stadium, which will be one of three fan parks in townships across the Cape. Jols – meaning ‘big parties’ – will also be set up in Mitchells Plain and Khayelitsha to show Green Point fixtures. And then there are the acres of worn-out grass at the heart of the township, scattered with goalposts and games going on as far as the eye can see.

Anyone who has ever played on Hackney Marshes will recognise the scene. It gladdens the heart of anyone who cares about football.

“Here’s just a little thing from the World Cup,” said Blamo. “During the tournament, this area will be used for car parking for the Fan Jol across the street.

“The city are putting lights in and that means, once the World Cup is finished, we’ll have floodlights here on Johnson Road for the first time.”

Benni McCarthy, who grew up a couple of miles away in Hanover Park, recently told me: “The World Cup is going to be the most inspirational thing ever to hit the streets in South Africa.

“OK, not many of the boys in the townships will be able to go to watch the games. But think about the excitement; the biggest players, from all over the world, will be playing football in a stadium just around the corner from home.”

The “boys” Benni was talking about are the ones who are chasing around the pitches in front of me now.

Green Point is the World Cup face of football in Cape Town, while Athlone Stadium is the historic home of the game here.

But if you want a feel for the soul of South African soccer, you need to find your way down Johnson Road.‘We will have floodlights for the first time here’

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If you are keen to stay in Cape Town and see the Green Point Stadium for yourself check out this Cape Town Guest House.