Those magnificent new stadiums built in South Africa for the 2010 World Cup appear to be heading for a catastrophe, as the reality of keeping their financial heads above water looms ever closer. The ongoing use of the stadia should have been decided before the first brick was laid, but this seems to have been a bit of an afterthought. The run up to a World Cup can be a bit headstrong for a lot of people, and decisions made then can be regretted later and will continue for a generation or more.
The recent Tri Nations match held at Soccer City appeared to be a success, despite an All Blacks victory securing the Tri Nations trophy. However this is a lone swallow in a very long summer. The Cape Town stadium has been offered to Western Province Rugby as a proposed move and a bid had been made by them to run the stadium in partnership with Sail StadeFrance. Despite the willingness on the part of Western Province unsatisfactory council conditions coupled with the financial aspect has led them to remain at Newlands.
Each of the new stadiums needs to host between 12 and 15 sell out venues annually with tickets costing between R200 and R250 each to be able to balance the books. This is looking increasingly unlikely as they are not multi purpose stadiums, but were designed for sole use, under strict FIFA guidance. One of the main problems is size, as they cannot, in their existing format, host international cricket matches. Without input from these major sports, all more commercially successful than football (soccer), the long term future is very bleak and that hefty R16 billion investment appears a poor choice.
Tuesday 21 September 2010
Wednesday 15 September 2010
Wednesday 8 September 2010
Basel info
a few bits of interesting ( or not ) info / stats on Basle ( Basel )
it's Switzerlands second largest city ( 188,000 population )
it's on the banks of the River Rhein
it's Switzerland link with the sea ( via the Rhein )
it's close to both France ( 2kms ) and Germany ( 3kms )
it's effin expensive
it's the "cultural capital of Switzerland "
it has 40 museums ( and 40 cinema screens ! )
the ground ( St Jakob Park ) is Switzerland's largest ( 42,500 capacity )
the ground has it's own old peoples home , which overlooks the pitch
this info has been pinched from the freelions
it's Switzerlands second largest city ( 188,000 population )
it's on the banks of the River Rhein
it's Switzerland link with the sea ( via the Rhein )
it's close to both France ( 2kms ) and Germany ( 3kms )
it's effin expensive
it's the "cultural capital of Switzerland "
it has 40 museums ( and 40 cinema screens ! )
the ground ( St Jakob Park ) is Switzerland's largest ( 42,500 capacity )
the ground has it's own old peoples home , which overlooks the pitch
this info has been pinched from the freelions
Swiss stROLL
back on the road after the disappointments of the summer and a visit to the picturesque (?) rainy city of Basle ( or Basil as our Jet2 trolley dolly called it ) .The atmosphere around the city seemed pretty low key until about 1 - 1.1/2 hours before the kick off but the game was never going to have an edge.
a visibly older looking crowd were then treated to the best 1st half of football from England probably since the Croatia away win way back , the only downsides were the injury to Theo in the build up to the overdue goal from the media shy Mr Rooney and the fact we only went in one nil up.
the second half started with us on the back foot for 15-20 minutes but with us still creating chances on the break but a flurry of action with a sending off , another well taken goal from the impressive Adam Johnson and a screamer from their hobbit like no23 meant we were in for a good last 15 minutes .
For once England took control of the game and killed the game off with a late Bent goal followed by a few minutes of keep ball.
A good solid performance with Gerrard back to his best , Rooney keeping up Fridays form , Cole outstanding bombing down the wing and Johnson sparkling with some old fashioned tricky wing play ... these were my stand outs but everyone can come away with their heads held high after 2 good team performances..... oh and by the way can someone tell Hart i have high blood pressure and him playing chicken with onrushing centre forwards does nothing to help this !!!!
a visibly older looking crowd were then treated to the best 1st half of football from England probably since the Croatia away win way back , the only downsides were the injury to Theo in the build up to the overdue goal from the media shy Mr Rooney and the fact we only went in one nil up.
the second half started with us on the back foot for 15-20 minutes but with us still creating chances on the break but a flurry of action with a sending off , another well taken goal from the impressive Adam Johnson and a screamer from their hobbit like no23 meant we were in for a good last 15 minutes .
For once England took control of the game and killed the game off with a late Bent goal followed by a few minutes of keep ball.
A good solid performance with Gerrard back to his best , Rooney keeping up Fridays form , Cole outstanding bombing down the wing and Johnson sparkling with some old fashioned tricky wing play ... these were my stand outs but everyone can come away with their heads held high after 2 good team performances..... oh and by the way can someone tell Hart i have high blood pressure and him playing chicken with onrushing centre forwards does nothing to help this !!!!
Sunday 5 September 2010
are you bothered ?
if Rooney has slept with a hooker or the fact he can't score for England
if Terry had an affair with Bridge's wife or isn't the player he was 2-3 years ago
if Crouch slept with a hooker or can't get on the pitch in front of Heskey
if Gerrard punches someone in a bar or can't reproduce his club form for Country
if Ferdinand misses a routine drugs test or hasn't been fit for 2 years
if Capello is a tax cheat in Italy or loses the plot in the finals
if all these had been on top of their game in South Africa would we have won it ??
if Terry had an affair with Bridge's wife or isn't the player he was 2-3 years ago
if Crouch slept with a hooker or can't get on the pitch in front of Heskey
if Gerrard punches someone in a bar or can't reproduce his club form for Country
if Ferdinand misses a routine drugs test or hasn't been fit for 2 years
if Capello is a tax cheat in Italy or loses the plot in the finals
if all these had been on top of their game in South Africa would we have won it ??
Bulgaria
well what can you say about the game ? a comfortable win against a second rate team or a professional performance knowing we have a trickier game in 4 days time in Switzerland.
It was good to see Hart given his chance in goal , albeit 4 months too late and the inclusion of Walcott and Jags .... but would either have been playing if Lampard and Terry had been fit ?
The atmosphere seemed a little low key at the start but the expected smaller crowd was soon lifted by Defoe's early strike after good link up play between Rooney and Cole .The early goal didn't kick start the game into life and the match lulled with some poor play from both teams and it wasn't really until well into the second half after a period of Bulgarian pressure that England broke the length of the pitch and Defoe notched his second goal of the evening after being played in from Rooney.
Late srikes from Johnson and Defoe's hat trick goal gave the scoreline a more flattering look but England were never pushed and they will have far more sterner tests in the coming 14 months .
Roll on Tuesday and the Swiss game !!!
It was good to see Hart given his chance in goal , albeit 4 months too late and the inclusion of Walcott and Jags .... but would either have been playing if Lampard and Terry had been fit ?
The atmosphere seemed a little low key at the start but the expected smaller crowd was soon lifted by Defoe's early strike after good link up play between Rooney and Cole .The early goal didn't kick start the game into life and the match lulled with some poor play from both teams and it wasn't really until well into the second half after a period of Bulgarian pressure that England broke the length of the pitch and Defoe notched his second goal of the evening after being played in from Rooney.
Late srikes from Johnson and Defoe's hat trick goal gave the scoreline a more flattering look but England were never pushed and they will have far more sterner tests in the coming 14 months .
Roll on Tuesday and the Swiss game !!!
its all new !!
well its all new ...new season , new league ( for some ) ,new qualifying campaign and another NEW England kit.
only realised we were getting a new kit when i got an email asking me to pre-order it....so i click on the link to see and look in amazement , it looks like a bland copy of the women's version a couple of shirts ago ......but wait we have coloured crosses on the back and shoulders to symbolise multi culturism ....nice touch for another £50 !!!
only realised we were getting a new kit when i got an email asking me to pre-order it....so i click on the link to see and look in amazement , it looks like a bland copy of the women's version a couple of shirts ago ......but wait we have coloured crosses on the back and shoulders to symbolise multi culturism ....nice touch for another £50 !!!
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