Call for 2010 teams to use Cape as home base
27 November 2009, 10:11
Provincial authorities say they are lobbying hard to convince World Cup football teams to use the Western Cape as their home base during the 2010 tournament.
Provincial World Cup co-ordinator Laurine Platzky said so far Paraguay and Japan had confirmed they would be staying and training in the province, and France had indicated their first preference for Knysna.
Another 12 teams still had to confirm where they would be staying, she said.
But the Western Cape was forced to lobby against two factors over which it had no control: altitude and rainfall.
"Some teams are very determined to be training at altitude because they believe they must if they want to win the World Cup final which is in Johannesburg, even though the two semi-finals will be held at sea level," Platzky said at an investor breakfast in Cape Town on Thursday.
Teams were also favouring upcountry venues where they would enjoy longer rain-free hours during the winter months.
Meanwhile the chief executive of the company contracted by Fifa to handle its ticketing services has said a surprisingly low number of South Africans had applied for tickets for the tournament.
Of the three million tickets available for purchase, 672 000 have been sold and 361 000 have gone to South Africans.
According to Jaime Byrom, chief executive of Match, while 80 percent of ticket sales had "traditionally" been sold to local fans by this stage at previous World Cups, only 60 percent had gone to South Africans.
Briefing journalists on Thursday, he said: "South Africans have to wake up to the fact that every opportunity you have you have to take. You have to be smart."
An affordable ticket category had been set aside exclusively for South Africans with prices ranging between R140 for a group match and R1 050 for the final. These tickets made up about 15 percent of the tickets on sale, although more were likely to become available, Byrom said.
Other Africans made up a very small proportion of ticket sales, even though five teams qualified aside from Bafana Bafana. The tournament would enter its third ticket-sales phase immediately after the draw, running until January 22. Byrom said a big rush was expected from December 5.
Fans could apply for tickets on www.fifa.com or they could make applications at First National Bank outlets.
At a separate press conference at the Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC), Fifa, City of Cape Town and SABC officials showed journalists the nearly completed final draw set where the opening pools for the 32 qualifying teams would be set on Thursday.
The impressive-looking set had taken 5 000 hours of work to complete, said the draw's executive producer, George Mazarakis. Equipment was transported to the CTICC from throughout the country using seven pantechnicon trucks and three more loads on eight-ton trucks, he said.
The approximately 2 000 seats, a bank of kiosks for 1 000 journalists and positions for 18 cameramen were fronted by a stage 40 metres wide, 30m deep and 8m tall.
Provincial World Cup co-ordinator Laurine Platzky said so far Paraguay and Japan had confirmed they would be staying and training in the province, and France had indicated their first preference for Knysna.
Another 12 teams still had to confirm where they would be staying, she said.
But the Western Cape was forced to lobby against two factors over which it had no control: altitude and rainfall.
"Some teams are very determined to be training at altitude because they believe they must if they want to win the World Cup final which is in Johannesburg, even though the two semi-finals will be held at sea level," Platzky said at an investor breakfast in Cape Town on Thursday.
Teams were also favouring upcountry venues where they would enjoy longer rain-free hours during the winter months.
Meanwhile the chief executive of the company contracted by Fifa to handle its ticketing services has said a surprisingly low number of South Africans had applied for tickets for the tournament.
Of the three million tickets available for purchase, 672 000 have been sold and 361 000 have gone to South Africans.
According to Jaime Byrom, chief executive of Match, while 80 percent of ticket sales had "traditionally" been sold to local fans by this stage at previous World Cups, only 60 percent had gone to South Africans.
Briefing journalists on Thursday, he said: "South Africans have to wake up to the fact that every opportunity you have you have to take. You have to be smart."
An affordable ticket category had been set aside exclusively for South Africans with prices ranging between R140 for a group match and R1 050 for the final. These tickets made up about 15 percent of the tickets on sale, although more were likely to become available, Byrom said.
Other Africans made up a very small proportion of ticket sales, even though five teams qualified aside from Bafana Bafana. The tournament would enter its third ticket-sales phase immediately after the draw, running until January 22. Byrom said a big rush was expected from December 5.
Fans could apply for tickets on www.fifa.com or they could make applications at First National Bank outlets.
At a separate press conference at the Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC), Fifa, City of Cape Town and SABC officials showed journalists the nearly completed final draw set where the opening pools for the 32 qualifying teams would be set on Thursday.
The impressive-looking set had taken 5 000 hours of work to complete, said the draw's executive producer, George Mazarakis. Equipment was transported to the CTICC from throughout the country using seven pantechnicon trucks and three more loads on eight-ton trucks, he said.
The approximately 2 000 seats, a bank of kiosks for 1 000 journalists and positions for 18 cameramen were fronted by a stage 40 metres wide, 30m deep and 8m tall.
- This article was originally published on page 1 of The Cape Times on November 27, 2009
Pretoria
