A Weapon Of Mass Delusion



    

Image courtesy www.zapiro.com

The stadiums have been built, the tickets are issued, the fans are positively foaming at the mouth and the world is expected any day now. And still, I could not give a toss. Why? I’ll tell you why – because the World Cup is a farce and a scam which has brought precious little to the average South African. Well, apart from stress and inconvenience. What’s that you say? ‘But what about the world-class stadia, what about the huge revenue streams, what about job creation?’ Bullshit, bullshit and thrice I tell you – bullshit.

Let’s pick it apart, shall we? For a start, the stadiums have come at an extortionate price which a developing country can ill afford. In Cape Town and Durban the stadia built specifically for this frenzy of marketing and mass consumption were unnecessary, being glamour projects which suited the Local Organising Committee, the local governments and contractors on account of being fantastic opportunities to milk it all the way to the bank. Yes, jobs were created – but what of those jobs, now that the stadia are built? And what of the three-month construction moratoria which FIFA insist on? How many jobs were lost in the process? This, in a country where the ANC’s barefaced lies of 400 000 new jobs being created  by the end of…2009. I call bullshit.

Next up, those ‘huge’ revenue streams. In case you’ve been under a rock, allow me: the initial expectation of some 483 000 fans descending upon South Africa has withered down to 373 000. This has been largely on account of Match (that would be FIFA’s hospitality division, run by none other than FIFA CEO Sepp Blatter’s nephew) charging ridiculous prices for packages which include matches, hospitality suites and hotel bookings. My anonymous source close to the action tells me that in comparison to the previous World Cup, prices are on average three times as much for this little sporting sortie to Africa. That, taken in context alongside the prevailing economic conditions worldwide, has ensured that a great number of diehard fans in Europe are simply in no position to see the action live. Moving on, let’s address the issue of revenue for South African businesses. We are all aware that FIFA’s stringent copyright, branding and merchandising restrictions are designed to guarantee that only officially accredited sponsors and suppliers benefit. This leaves a bad taste in the hundreds of thousands of local entrepreneurs who were sold the dream of making good money from the world’s biggest bullshit circus. This includes traders, previously disadvantaged or otherwise, and those in the hospitality sector (who have been dropped like the proverbial flaming hot spud by Match). Revenue streams? More like a river of broken dreams. Once again, I call a steaming pile of freshly laid bullshit.

Lastly, the ‘legacy’ issue, which bleating sycophants from the halls of government to the chambers of municipalities countrywide trot out when faced with criticism. Certainly, the cities which are hosting games have been spruced up. New pavements, new train stations, new roads, gleaming stadia – all have been frantically put in place in the lead-up to the Greatest Show On Earth.  I have personally seen my hometown, Durban, undergo a massive upheaval in preparation for the Big Event. In fact, it would be fair to say that in the 33 years I lived in Durban, I had never seen anything like the development – nor the hell-for-leather pace at which it was executed – put in place for our dearly beloved visiting football fans. Which brings me to my question: why did it take a World Cup to see our cities developed to world-class standards? Are we not good enough to have had pavements safe enough to walk on (or indeed pavements at all, in some areas) all those years?

Nay, I tell you. It’s a fucking con from stem to stern which fleeces the fans, feeds the fatcats and smells of bovine shite throughout.