RSS
 

Andy in Africa: The Real South Africa

08 Jul

Andy in Africa

Hi, how are you? My name is Andy James and I’m a sports journalist from Munich. I’ll be in Johannesburg for the next six weeks commentating on the 2010 FIFA World Cup. As a contributor to The Munich Times, I’ll be sending regular updates on my progress in South Africa to give those back in Bavaria a flavour of what it’s really like in the Rainbow Nation…

Monday, 5th July: The Real South Africa

I promised in my last blog that I would tell you about my trip to Soweto… so here goes. It was actually a couple of weeks ago now but I wanted to do it properly as it was such a good experience.

For those of you who don’t know, SoWeTo stands for ‘South Western Townships’ and basically it is an area of south-western Johannesburg which was a black township during the apartheid era. It is still extremely poor and supposedly dangerous, but anyone in South Africa will tell you that the people who reside there are the most friendly you’ll ever meet and that you can’t leave Jo’burg without visiting.

Most tourists go to Soweto either in a car or with a walking guide. We managed to find a bike tour, which I think was the best way to do it as it allows you to experience it all in the flesh whilst covering more in one go. Once we arrived via taxi, we kicked off the tour with a quick coffee in a little cafe on the outskirts. Once we’d chosen our bikes (they all had at least one flaw: either no brakes, wonky handle bars, flat tyres… you just had to pick the best of a bad bunch) we headed off one of the dusty roads.

The most important thing to mention about Soweto is of course the people. As soon as we arrived we were treated to a show from a local man who could do all manner of tricks with a bottle of Coca Cola! He juggled it behind his back, caught it on his head, and jigged it around in the small of his back. Sounds strange but it was entertaining – he was just doing the best he could to make us smile with the materials he had – and it set the tone for the rest of the trip.

Next up were a bunch of kids who were desperate to come and welcome us to their town. They were full of smiles and ever so polite, really quite amazing when you look at their surroundings. Further along we bumped into a group of young lads with a football. Soweto seems like the ideal breeding ground for raw talents – they play all day long (obviously they have to go to school too) – and some of these lads’ skills were incredible. We had a kick around with them and you can see how the likes of South Africa international and scorer of the 2010 World Cup’s first goal Siphiwe Tshabalala learned his trade.

Kids in Soweto...

Having heard some of the stories, obviously you’re a bit nervous going around on a bike with minimal protection, but our fears were completely unfounded. I’m not sure whether to view this as a good or a bad thing, but we were treated as celebrities. Every street we went down, people came out of their homes to greet us, sang and danced for us and offered to let us use their facilities. I did use one of their toilets and gave the nice lady a few Rand for the privilege – I’m not sure whether that was the right thing to do or whether it will have come across as patronizing.

Most (not all) of the ‘houses’ are made of corrugated iron and normally contain some kind of bed or sleeping area, most had a TV and a cooking area. Basic stuff. Apparently it’s quite common for residents to pick up and move to another area of town whenever they fancy it, almost like human snails! One guy, who looked fairly well off judging by the trendy clothes he was wearing, invited us in to have a look at his place. He just had a bed and a TV, like a bachelor pad. He was really nice and friendly too of course, and I wasn’t sure whether to give him some money. I’m sure he would have appreciated it but I didn’t want to seem condescending, especially as he was in his late twenties like me.

Moving along, we managed to try some ‘fat cakes’ for breakfast. Hilarious name for any kind of food, and they’re actually quite nice – just like a donut, except you eat them with this salty little block of fish. The fish ruined it for me a bit I must admit, as the donut itself was pretty tasty.

Soon after that we were offered to try the locally-brewed beer. Obviously there is no fully-blown brewery in Soweto – it is brewed in a little shop and contains only natural ingredients. It’s rather pinkish in colour and smells foul, but it tastes almost like beer. The alcohol content is minimal, only about 0.3%, but again it is derived naturally. Interestingly, they told us you had to kneel down as a mark of respect to the beer – I think they may have been pulling our leg but we did it anyway. If I’m going to worship anything, it might as well be beer!

Me trying the local beer.

Of course we did the normal tourist stuff too, but that was less interesting. Not because of the history itself, but because of the swarms of tourists the gather around places like Nelson Mandela’s old house and the Hector Pieterson memorial. Nelson Mandela’s house has been turned into a museum and I’m sure it looks nothing like it did when the man himself actually lived there.

Once we’d finished the bike tour, we were dropped off at a local restaurant where we tried another local delicacy: a ‘Bunny Chow’. This was fantastic. It was all my favourite (unhealthy) foods rolled into one! It consists of an end of a loaf of bread, hollowed out and filled with egg, chips, sausage, sauce, tomato, cheese. You then use the scooped out bread as a lid to pick it up with. You can barely fit it in your mouth, but it was the perfect junk food for after a long bike ride.

A 'Bunny Chow'

Right, I need to get preparing for the semi-final between Uruguay and Netherlands later. I think the Dutch are going to win, but I actually hope the South Americans do. I know they ‘cheated’ Ghana out of a place in the semis, but let’s face it – the Black Stars had their chance and they blew it. It shouldn’t be forgotten that Uruguay have also gone beyond all expectations to reach this stage, and I think it would be great if they reached the final.

Talk to you soon…!

Andy

Email: andy.james@themunichtimes.com

 
No Comments

Posted in World Cup 2010

 

Andy in Africa: How times fly…

02 Jul

Hi, how are you? My name is Andy James and I’m a sports journalist from Munich. I’ll be in Johannesburg for the next six weeks commentating on the 2010 FIFA World Cup. As a contributor to The Munich Times, I’ll be sending regular updates on my progress in South Africa to give those back in Bavaria a flavour of what it’s really like in the Rainbow Nation…

Tuesday, 29th June: How times fly…

Sorry for the big gap in communication. I’ve been very busy so there’s plenty to catch up on!

First thing to mention is that all of a sudden it’s gotten very cold here. I didn’t think this was possible in Africa, naively, and now I’m seeing the papers reporting temperatures of -10 at night. Most of the time it’s quite warm during the day, but if it’s cloudy it can be freezing.

We’re heading into the quarter final stage of the World Cup now and that means I finally get a day off… only one, mind. I’m going on a safari tomorrow which will be good fun I’m sure. Ironically I have to be up even earlier than usual as the guy is picking us up from the hotel at 7am.

Back onto the competition. I’ve been lucky enough to get tickets to a few games. First of all I went to see Brazil vs Korea DPR at Ellis Park. The Koreans did really well to keep them at bay for so long but the South Americans were always going to win it. I just think it’s a shame that the Asian side got battered in their next fixture 7-0 by Portugal having shown so much promise against the five-time world champions.

Korea DPR huddle before the second half kicks off against Brazil at Ellis Park

Obviously one of the first things I was looking out for on my first stadium experience in South Africa was the effect of the much-discussed ‘vuvuzelas’. Now I have to admit that prior to coming out and having heard them on the TV at the Confederations Cup last year, I was sceptical. To put it bluntly, I’ve been converted, although that’s not to say I find it better than chanting, as in England or Germany for example. You have to experience it in stadiums to fully understand the following, but basically it sounds quite different in ‘real life’ compared with on the television.

When broadcast, the microphones around the stadium merge the sound of the crowd from all directions into a general din. Imagine trying to pick out individual chants on Match of the Day. It’s doable, but not easy. The same goes for vuvuzelas. The fans don’t just blow into them randomly (well, quite a few do…), they play tunes and mimic songs. When you’re in the stands, you can pick out the various rhythms – I’m sure you’ll have already heard the collective pulsing whenever there’s a corner kick. So in that respect I think calls from abroad for them to be banned from stadiums are absolutely ridiculous. Imagine them telling us we weren’t allowed to sing at Wembley… It’s the African fan culture and it adds colour to the global game. Matches aren’t going to be played exclusively on his continent in the future, so let’s enjoy it as a the latest addition to stadium atmosphere.

I also went to the Brazil vs Ivory Coast and Germany vs Ghana matches at Soccer City, as well as the Brazil vs Chile second round match at Ellis Park last night. I have to say I prefer Soccer City as a stadium. Obviously there is a lot of history at Ellis Park what with the Springboks having won the 1995 Rugby World Cup there, but I am a sucker for grandeur and Soccer City is just breathtaking with its 94,500 capacity and modern architecture.

View from inside Soccer City during Brazil-Ivory Coast match

Unfortunately I can’t really avoid touching upon the monstrosity that was the England national team at South Africa 2010. I’ll try and stay brief. First match against the USA, we were arguably the better side although there wasn’t much in it. Rob Green had a stinker – enough said. Algeria was the worst of the lot. We were so unbelievably boring that even I resorted to messing around with the other commentators with a miniature football in the booths. No ideas, no creativity, no passion. Heading into the Slovenia game I was full of pessimism. For me it had 0-0 written all over it, and I was almost right but for Jermaine Defoe’s first half decider. Yes, we showed glimpses that we could up our game, but we we’re playing Slovenia for crying out loud.

Annoyingly, Landon Donavon’s late winner against Algeria meant USA topped the group. If that hadn’t have happened, England essentially had a bye into the semi finals and I would have had tickets for their quarter final against Ghana, most likely. As it turned out, we faced Germany, of all teams, in the Last 16 and basically we were an embarrassment from start to finish. All of the above mentioned flaws were again abundant, and the positioning of one John Terry was schoolboy at best. He was wildly out of position for both the opening goals, and although it looked as though we might claw it back at one stage, we wouldn’t have deserved it. So, unsurprisingly, we got well and truly smashed by a team full of youthful energy and a team spirit that has long left the Three Lions’ dressing room.

For now let’s just say well done to the Germans, they deserved it. England needs a big shake up – and I don’t just mean in the national team. All the calls for a cap on foreign players in the Premier League, a winter break and so forth are completely justified in my view, but I won’t open that can of worms for now. Let’s not forget the ensuing goalline technology row – personally I like football the way it is. Again, I think that one probably deserves a blog entry of its own so maybe we could discuss that next time.

Aside from those two hot topcs, I’ve still got plenty more things to share from Jo’burg, including an inspiring trip to Soweto and a brilliant but unnerving night out with a bunch of South Africans. Now I am not commentating every day, I will try to provide updates more regularly.

Talk to you soon…!

Andy

PS. It’s great to see your responses – do keep them coming! I promise to answer them all!

Email: andy.james@themunichtimes.com

 
No Comments

Posted in World Cup 2010

 

15 Jun

Andy in Africa

Hi, how are you? My name is Andy James and I’m a sports journalist from Munich. I’ll be in Johannesburg for the next six weeks commentating on the 2010 FIFA World Cup. As a contributor to The Munich Times, I’ll be sending regular updates on my progress in South Africa to give those back in Bavaria a flavour of what it’s really like in the Rainbow Nation…

14th June 2010: Feel it, it is here!

So almost a week has past since my last update, and already so much has happened in between! The main event was of course last Friday’s big kick off… I woke up and felt like a six-year-old on Christmas Day! The atmosphere in Jo’burg changed completely overnight and with the Vuvuzelas blaring outside my window from six in the morning, I hopped out of bed and was pacing my room until it was finally time to head up to Soccer City (right next to the IBC) at about one in the afternoon.

What should have been a 20 minute journey took about two and a half hours. The traffic en route to the stadium was absolutely unbelievable. We were moving at about five metres per minute and eventually one of our gang (a German commentator named Phil) took an executive decision to jump ship. I was a bit nervous given the warnings we’ve had about doing anything without bodyguards over here, but it turned out to be the right choice and we strolled up to the IBC alongside fans from all nations in the blazing sun and managed to watch the fighter jets zooming overhead for the opening ceremony.

Walking up to Soccer City with all manner of fans...

One big advantage of being at the IBC is that all games are shown in a high-definition, 3D cinema. And it happens to be right next to our office. For anyone who has not yet tried the 3D football experience – do it! It is incredible. I watched the opening match, in which Siphiwe (pronounced Sipee-way, I was told after mispronouncing his name in a news piece) Tshabalala scored a cracking first goal of the tournament, in there and I was blown away. It was like having a director’s box in one of the biggest and best stadiums in the world – literally like looking through a window. I am certainly going to invest as soon as it becomes available back home. Mark my words… this is the future of television!

So South Africa got off to a reasonable start and while they could well have taken all three points against Mexico, their fans were pretty happy with the result overall. Less can be said about England. What a farce. As usual, after all the pre-tournament hype surrounding the Three Lions and how they have “the best squad on paper”, our boys put in a dreary, through-the-motions performance and fully deserved the measly point they got against a battling USA. Rob Green had a stinker, but he redeemed himself in my book with that late save from Altidore. If we’d lost, I don’t think there could have been too many complaints.

To make matters worse, Germany smashed Australia to smithereens. Now don’t get me wrong, being a Munich citizen I want Die Deutschen to do well (I think), but after the ridicule I was subjected to on Saturday night, I was fully behind the Aussies. Either way, Joachim Löw’s boys put in a mesmerizing display of attacking football that belied their reputation for rigidity and efficiency. Bayern’s contingent were in top form – Lahm was exemplary as newly-appointed captain, Schweinsteiger has matured into one of the world’s best holding midfielders, and it was great to see Thomas Müller and Miroslav Klose get on the scoresheet. Let’s not forget left back Holger Badstuber either, who looked as though he’d been in the side for years and is a testament to Bayern’s thriving youth setup.

Off the pitch for a moment… Like any young, wide-eyed journalist, I’ve had my eyes peeled for any celebrities milling around and so far I’ve not been disappointed. Though my colleagues have arguably enjoyed a better haul (Shakira, Clarence Seedorf and the legendary Adrian Chiles to name but a few), I kicked off my stay by spotting Neil Morrissey of ‘Men Behaving Badly’ fame having a quiet ciggy outside the hotel lobby. He’s filming a ‘road-trip’ style documentary in South Africa for ITV – I think it’s on at the moment so keep an eye out. More impressive, arguably, is that the Danish national team are currently staying in our hotel, so I snapped the likes of Jesper Groenkjaer, Niklas Bendtner and Daniel Agger as they arrived (see below). Rumour has it that Uruguay and… wait for it… ENGLAND (!) are going to be stopping off chez moi in the coming days.

The Denmark team arrive at the hotel: Jesper Groenkjaer (c.), Daniel Agger (r.)

Onto the topic of Johannesburg safety once again… Apparently the Greek national team had their hotel rooms cleared out, safes and all, but far worse was what I heard about a Portuguese TV crew, who had their hotel completely ransacked by a gang of machine gun wielding loons. One week in and no problems here – keeping my fingers crossed!

You’ll be pleased to hear that I have dared to venture outside the hotel compound on foot… Admittedly in a group of six and with a bodyguard, but it was one of the most interesting 30 minute walks I’ve ever experienced. It was only to the shop down the road, but along the way we got to see what the Jo’burg streets are like for real. I was pleasantly surprised. The shop itself was just like a typical Tesco express you’d find back home – except almost all the people in there asked us what we thought of their country and how we were. How nice!

The main purpose of our trip to the shop was so that we could pick up a few beers and snacks for our rooms (eating in the hotel bar gets a tad boring after six days, let alone six weeks), but unfortunately the ‘Pick n Pay’ didn’t have a license for beer. I made my concerns known to our minder, who proceeded to take us to what has to be the dingiest bar I’ve ever seen. Needless to say, we were all reluctant to enter… but of course we all scurried in behind him like little ducklings. Inside was as we’d predicted – a few dodgy-looking fellows supping their morning pint – but in fairness the guy behind the bar sold us a couple of six-packs for a reasonable price and we re-emerged unscathed.

The ‘scariest’ part of the trip was on the way home. Walking up to the hotel in broad daylight, our group became a bit dispersed and suddenly I heard a whistling in my ear. It was the tune of ‘The Good, The Bad & The Ugly’. Startled, I looked round to find a hulking man in a hoodie staring right into my eyes. Long story short, I shouted the rest of the guys and tried to avert my gaze as this ‘gangsta’ did his best to stare me out. I was a bit unnerved, but the others claimed it was some kind of death call and warned me not to leave the hotel again… Hmm!

So one minor blip, but everyone else has been absolutely fantastic so far. The South Africans are a people enormously proud of their country. They are constantly seeking your approval, and invariably they get it. It’s a wonderfully diverse place. The people are the most polite I’ve ever met.

Back to the footy… We chanced using our accreditation to get into Soccer City Stadium the other day. It worked! We spent a sunny lunch break walking around the magnificent arena and even had a walk on the pitch – check out the pictures below. Even better… some of the lads decided to try their luck today, match day, and somehow blagged their way into the Netherlands – Denmark game despite only being accredited for the IBC. Something I’m definitely going to have to try. That said, I already have a few tickets and if things go to plan, I should be in there for England – France in the quarter finals.

Andy on the pitch the World Cup final will be played on come July 11.

A quick word on the Munich involvement in today’s game. Obviously Robben missed out with his hamstring problem but he was to be seen on the bench. Mark van Bommel, meanwhile, put in a typically dynamic display for the Oranje, and although they won 2-0, I thought they were pretty sub-standard in what was billed as one of the top games of the group stages.

Right, getting late and I have the early news piece in the morning so I’d better get to bed.

Talk to you soon…!

Andy

PS. I’d love to hear any questions you have about the World Cup, so do get in touch on the email below!

Email: andy.james@themunichtimes.com

 
4 Comments

Posted in World Cup 2010

 

Early Doors

09 Jun

My name is Andy James and I’m a sports journalist from The Munich Times. I’ll be in Johannesburg for the next six weeks commentating on the 2010 FIFA World Cup. I’ll be sending regular updates on my progress in South Africa to give those back in Bavaria a flavour of what it’s really like in the Rainbow Nation…

6th June 2010: Early doors

Following a sleepless overnight flight to Jo’burg via Frankfurt, I arrived in South Africa for the first time in my life obscenely early on Thursday morning. After making our way through the usual passport controls (and going through the FIFA VIP lane which made us feel like players… I was tempted to give the fans a wave…), my first taste of World Cup fever came when a planeload of Brazil fans touched down a few minutes after us. With ninety nine percent of people collecting their luggage in sleepy trance, the Samba boys bounced into Jo’burg airport as if the party had never stopped. Decked out in their classic gold and green, they were in full World Cup swing, chanting their heroes’ names and bantering with the Argentineans – and this a full two weeks before their team’s opening match!

Arriving at Johannesburg International Airport.

Arriving at Johannesburg International Airport.

The first thing that struck me about South Africa is how developed it is. The roads are great and there are plenty of modern buildings – in short, it was nothing like I’d expected. After reaching our hotel, which incidentally is slap-bang in the middle of two ‘high risk’ areas, I was delighted to discover that South Africans are equally fond of, and adept at making, both bacon sandwiches and cups of ‘proper’ tea. It was the ideal start to the day, which aside from picking up our rather fetching ‘smurf’ uniforms at the IBC, consisted of a quite brilliant ‘Boma’ barbecue (as much as you can eat for around €6.50), a few beers and a very early night.

The IBC (International Broadcasting Centre) is a humongous complex which serves as the nerve centre for hundreds of media outlets around the world. I’ve heard the BBC insisted on building their own facility down in Cape Town overlooking Table Mountain, but frankly they’re going regret that decision as they’ll be missing out on the aforementioned barbecue. There are hundreds of purpose-built offices and restaurants, shops and banks for the thousands of journalists descending upon South Africa for the World Cup. My home for the next six weeks is a smallish commentary cubicle alongside around thirty other commentators from eleven other nations, so I can’t wait for the tournament to get underway – the atmosphere in there is going to be something else.

The IBC: cracking barbeque...

There’s a lot been said about the amount of crime in Johannesburg and to be honest, most of it is probably true judging by the fact that we are not allowed to leave the hotel on foot or without supervision. We even had to have two hotel staff accompany us on the fifty yard trip to a café across the road. There’s a rumour going around the camp at the moment that a policeman was shot outside the IBC on Saturday night. That gave everyone a bit of a shiver but I haven’t heard anything official as yet.

That aside, I have to say that so far I have not yet once felt threatened. Famous last words I know, particularly as I am heading into Soweto with a colleague early tomorrow to pick up his match tickets from one of the local shopping centres, but really the only time we’ve felt uneasy was dropping the other lads off at their hotel down the road, which is in an even more dangerous area than ours by the looks of it. Still, we managed to venture out into Melville last night and met some truly lovely South African people in the bars there. They’re all very proud of their nation which is fantastic, and so far they have all been incredibly friendly, polite and helpful.

I hope that gives you an early taster of what it’s like out here. The teams are starting to arrive one by one and I’m sure that next time I write I’ll have plenty more football-related things to talk about. Big story of the day here of course, particularly for us Münchner, is that Arjen Robben looks set to miss out on the tournament after injuring his thigh in Holland’s 6-1 friendly rout against Hungary on Saturday. Let’s hope he manages to recover in time – it seems all the stars are dropping like flies at the moment.

Talk to you soon…!

Andy

Email: andy.james@themunichtimes.com

 
No Comments

Posted in World Cup 2010