It’s probably Fifa’s fault (as usual), but away from the vuvuzela-soaked stands I found Cape Town Stadium slightly eerie.
It is immaculately awe-inspiring as you walk through the gates, a steel behemoth rising where once there was, well, another less impressive stadium. But I wandered around at half-time feeling slightly bereft.
There were interminable queues for the food vendors, yet massive and silent open spaces where other kiosks could have been set up. The concrete felt too clean and grey, like bone. There were no boerewors or ice-cream guys shouting “ ’n sucker te maak jou wakker”. Any laid-back Capetonian joviality was completely absent.
The refreshment tent was busiest where the cooldrinks were sold. There was no queue for the Budweiser on offer. Could vile beer have been another reason the stadium didn’t feel South African?
Forfeiting the queue, I approached a lone Coca-Cola vendor on the outer edge of the Fifa galaxy. The bottle of Coke he gave me was warm enough to heat my hands — his small mobile unit did not have any ice. “We’ve been waiting for hours,” he said in a lugubrious tone, looking rather bored with the evening’s proceedings.
And despite all the gees and merriment on our walk down Somerset Road, the miserable, monosyllabic stewards belied the fact that something wasn’t quite right. I wasn’t surprised by their strike action a few days later.
Of course this was my first live soccer match, so I only have the old Greenpoint Stadium, Wanderers and Newlands stadia as reference points, but each of those had / has a definable character. Obviously years of history leave a vibrant mark that even billions of rands cannot create.
Still, Cape Town Stadium has a solid structure, excellent facilities and great views. Hopefully when it’s released from the Imperial Death Star tractor beam of Fifa regulations, we’ll be able to scuff it up a bit and give it a local heart.
Yes. Absolutely correct. The podium is really large and we need boerie stands and the smell of smoke from different food vendors.
FIFA’s operation of the venue is sterile and cold.
The simplicity of the spaces and design of the venue was always intended so that people, the match, and festivities in general become the colour of the event.
They should stick to calling it Green point imho.
Agree, FIFA owns and runs the World Cup and all things in and around the stadia are Swiss/First World sterile/safe/boring with no local common touch. Hopefully after the cup local will take over the stadia and the surroundings and humanise/liven them all up.
Brent
“Vile beer” is right, not sure how taking away’s peoples choice is supposed to make them like your product. Before the world cup I didn’t really have any strong feelings about Budweiser but now would be against the stuff on principle even if it didn’t taste awful.
I’ll bet it was the Budweiser. That stuff is truly an insult to beer ….
It was never about sport or spectator enjoyment. It was all about making the Comrades and FIFA wealthy.
Now we know how the French, Belgians and Dutch felt in the 1940s – invaded by hostile foreigners intent on domination.
Wonderful article!
Amanda, ‘ apart from the single malt, we do have more than a few ‘things’ in common.
Cape Town has a culture and soul almost second to none.
As does Durban! This is not a ‘comparing the two’ and ‘I’m better than U’ exercise.
(Tho’ your winter truly sucks.. but thats quietly ‘tween U ‘n I… so lets not mention it!)
(Of course ours is considered one of the best…nay…THE’EEE best in the world, and it does’nt need a mountain and island to boost it’s image.It stands glorious in its magnificence in an avenue that has no peer in the world – one which is lined with various sport venues of world class -all in the same street!!!!
Ours is a stand alone creation that photographs like a work of art from any angle. Cold it is not…we save that term for the Cape!
But dear FIFA,thank you for the trigger that launched this world wide awareness of certainly the physical magnificence of our country, the spirit of Ubuntu and warmth that radiates from our people (apart of course from the “so called workers’ who predictably held and continue to hold ‘their’ country to ransom at this crucial time – speaking of which, why do we accept this so called strike season – as cynical and cold and insidious, and ‘sick’ a happening as… the Cape winter?)
No FIFA, thank you but boy we do need our country and its soul returned! Warts ‘n all. Please?
I don’t like stadions (or is it stadia?). Too many people when full, ugly and “troosteloos” when not.
FIFA has managed to take any “couleur locale” to the legal cleaners, including a bunch of orange mini skirt dressed (freezing) girls as the dresses were coming from a non paying Dutch brewery.
Blatter and his “dritter reich” taking over the ANC government ‘by contract’. The DA could take a lesson here.
But we do have the unions to keep everybody on their toes. Security? Only if you pay. FIFA does the same to vendors. You need lights in the stadion? Just tell ESKOM to pay the workers instead of the bosses.
Poor old Blatter, never had such a disobedient customer as the SA public to deal with.
It’s ugly. It looks like a giant bedpan and it’s an eyesore on the Cape Town landscape.
Wonder why they didn’t just use Newlands – Loftus looks every part a major football venue and all they had to spend on was for some oake to paint out the 22 lines and haul down the rukby palle.
“Any laid-back Capetonian joviality was completely absent.”
Well ja, what did you expect? But why blame FIFA when its the decade long gentrification of Cape Town, that has edged out blacks (Africans, Coloureds and Indians) financially and socially. Under Madam Zille – Governor of the Cape Colony, CT now resembles a boring old European city that has lost its true essence, far from the “Mother City” we once knew.
- BRT and rail improvements are constantly stymied – the poor are no longer welcome.
- Real estate prices have made CT largely unfordable except to foreigners, yuppies or the well-heeled Gautengers.
- Recently, informal settlements have been aggressively relocated – the World Cup was used as a great excuse.
- Practically non-existent service delivery in the nearby shantytowns exposes kids to all kinds of environmental pollution on a daily basis! The audacity of a city that builds toilets without walls speaks volumes about their values.
- Land reparations for ex-residents of District Six, Woodstock, Bo-Kaap etc. are always given lip service before elections,is accomplished afterwards.
- Last year our beloved Kaapse Klopse were severely curtailed from marching through downtown streets – a tradition going back many decades- http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=2934&art_id=vn20091230120850794C245148
Yes, the viabrant sights, sounds, colours and smells are gone. What was once arguably the most ethnically and economically diverse cities (even during apartheid!), is turning into an enclave for the rich.
Dont worry Georgina wont be long before it is Africanized
Dont worry Amanda wont be long before it is Africanized
I agree, it is big but soulless. I really like Soccer City Stadium in johannesburg. I really like the pixellations. It looks like fun. I wish we had it in Cape Town.
I feel the same about most of the new stadiums. Supposedly designed to resonate an African feel, they seem like nothing African. Their sterility reminds me of a brand new hospital with no patients.
In Durban, I watched daily as the new stadium went up and roared with laughter when the outer walkways around the stadium were painted orange. Par for the course, I guess.
Still I bet they all look much more South African straight after a match, with all that real SA litter lying about. Doubtless the protesting security guards add to that with their usual zeal.
It really takes so little to make anything high-tech truly South African.
FIFA are a business. there wealthy customers are wathcing the game. We are merely props in a great TV show. Nothing more or nothing less. Their genius is getting us to pay for them to run teh show.
I’ve seen the stadiums in CT and Durban. They look completely out of place, like the monolith in the African section of 2001: A space odyssey.
Even my American friends refer to Budweiser as weasel piss.
Dave Harris, have you spent any time in ordinary suburbs in Cape Town recently, not Camps Bay & Gugs? They’re very ‘diverse’ iro residents and are getting more diverse, not less!
Imo Cape Town, Durban & PE have the most attractive stadiums.
Come to Jozi, it’s here and it’s African!
Dave Harris most of what you talk about regarding the W. Cape happened when the ANC was in power and before the DA took over. The high rolling German and UK property spenders arrived long before Helen and Co took over. If you honestly look at Zille’s history, not what the ANC says about her, you will see she has been a constant SA patriot since exposing the Beko killing cover up.
Brent
What exactly does an African stadium look like? Broken, missing chairs? I am against the grain on this – the new Stadiums all look wonderful and those I have been to in person are incredible contructions. Lets just hope they are put to good use post WC.
Agree on Budweiser…Absolutely disgusting
Wow. What rubbish people write. The article was spot on as FIFA operates the venue as a cold space but the architecture is entirely appropriate.