Someone once said, “In Africa, football is not a religion, but it is everything a religion should be.”
Every day we wake up to the sound of vuvuzelas in the streets. It is like a clarion call for all football fans to wake up to another day of electrifying games. South Africa has been swept away by the vuvuzela tide. Always the radical, I promised myself that I would not conform to popular culture. I detested these vile, offensive noise makers. But eventually, I let my hair down and puckered up. Still, many shops here now advertise great deals on ear plugs or “anti-vuvuzela devices”.
There is a lot of excitement in the air well before the games kick off. While everyone would like their team to win, it’s seems as though most people are just happy to have made it to South Africa to watch the football games.
The Coca Cola Fifa fan fests in South Africa give everyone a chance to party themselves hoarse while supporting their teams and meeting people from around the world, even if they do not have tickets to watch the games in the stadiums. The mega screens and surround sound coupled with live performances provide a concert like atmosphere.
In Cape Town even the chilly weather does not take away from the carnival atmosphere at the fan park. There is so much joy and excitement that one hardly notices that they’ve been on their feet for several hours in the freezing cold. Cape Town is currently experiencing mild winter with temperatures dropping to about 4 degrees at night. But with thousands of football crazy fans and great music preceding most games, who has the time to think about chattering teeth?
In the Mother City as Cape Town is popularly known, the fan park is located at one of the most historic places in South Africa; the City Hall. Table Mountain, a flat-topped mountain forming a prominent landmark overlooking the city of Cape Town is very visible from the park.
The fan park here has a capacity of 17,000 fans and on the day when South Africa was meeting France, doors closed more than an hour before kick off because the park had reached capacity. But even though Bafana Bafana is no longer in the running for the World Cup, thousands still throng into the park to watch football and enjoy the festive atmosphere. And many times the fans do get close to the 17000 limit.
In the fan park, everyone dances. Whether or not you have the rhythm to do so is of no concern. The beats of the drums and the blaring sounds of the vuvuzelas together create an inexplicably beautiful sound of music, which makes everyone sway and clap and dance and for those ninety minutes as the games go on, it is not about country or tribe or age. It is all about having fun watching football.
The warmth and friendliness at the fun park is amazing. There are no inhibitions. We all celebrate football in our own languages, silently or out loud and when that goal is scored we high five each other or hug each other or beat our drums harder or sing louder. But it is not always happy times at the fan park. Football takes you through such a range of emotions from disbelief to anger. But when the person in front of you turns back, and begins to splatter all over your face, egging you on in a mix of adrenaline and excitement, you soon forget that you are three goals down and continue to cheer on.
The mood at the fan park is extremely intoxicating and with the freedom of moving from one side of the park to another, we are exposed to different types of celebrations and cultures. It is not every day that you get the opportunity to dance with Germans and then with Ghanaians in the span of a few minutes! There are so many nationalities represented; so many interesting personalities. While we may not understand the words to these different songs, we definitely understand the beats and what the beats say is that it is time to dance our hearts away as we make feeble attempts at the waka waka dance or the diski dance.
Football has no doubt repositioned Africa in a positive light with people from all nationalities coming to South Africa and feeling happy and safe. There are other ways to watch the game other than going to the stadium. The games are shown live on the local channels, you can watch them in 3D at the local cinemas, but I think that the fan fest is by far the best option. Absolutely no entrance fee and brilliant company, not to mention great artists like Freshly Ground and Ladysmith Black Mambazo! Brings a whole new definition to the term cheap thrill.
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These are awesome pics and such a comprehensive article that makes me feel like am living the Fifa world cup right here in Kenya! good stuff Kweli pips!