Its really frustrating to see the whitewash done by the media on how successful this world cup has been, how its helping to improve SA and what a legacy it will leave. Take it from someone who spent 2 weeks there for a few games, the media view and what actually happened is very different:

1) Media: The crime aspect was over blown, it was a festival and everyone got involved in the carnival.

Reality: Most fans were petrified of going out of “safe areas” and just crowded around the posh gated neighbourhoods (like Sandton) where there are not many poor black people from townships. The fan parks were deserted most of the time, even for big games they weren’t even half full. Even locals will tell you DownTown Joburg and areas of Soweto are very dangerous despite the media hype, if it wasn’t flooded with “Police” on every corner (most of who are bent and looking for a bribe of some sort) then you would have got a lot more incidents. I felt more of a World Cup fever here in Zurich then in SA.

2) Media: The infrastructure was superb and everything worked well:

Reality: The Stadiums are new and the road surfaces newly paved, but that’s where it ends, the city is in gridlock for most of the day, there is no other viable option then to use a car, even if you are in the city and within 30KM from the stadium you have to start your journey 4 hours before the game to get there for Kick off, this is ridiculous to ask fans to do this. The parking is a nightmare, even if you get the official park and ride tickets, they are poorly marked out, a long way from the stadium (2KM) and parking officials not clearly distinguishable, so you don’t know who is genuine and who is a local Soweto tout who will tell you to park in a dark deserted ally. I notice how the VIP and media were scooted passed normal traffic by the police and their parking areas were at the door step of the stadium.

3) Media: Local went to the games and it was fantastic African atmosphere.

Reality: Most people in the stadiums seemed to be tourist, didn’t really see the vibrancy of the local support. The vuvuzelas were all being blown by the tourist. I have been to Euros before but this was the first at a World Cup and the atmosphere during game wasn’t greatest and most supporters seems to know very little about the game, just there to be there and screaming at all the wrong bits

4) Media: Its united the country and will leave a lasting legacy.

Reality: Yeah right, in every shop/restaurant we went to, all the workers were black and all the managers white, 4 weeks of football wont change this. As many have noted, the hype over the 1995 Ruby win masked the reality of a country that is still in economic apartheid. The lasting legacy will be gleaming new stadiums, (which will rarely be filled) next to decrepit townships and the retailers who quadrupled prices to take advantage of stupid Europeans and made a killing for 4 weeks.

…thought I would put this up somewhere to try to keep the things on context.

It all boils down to 1 word, DeBeers.

wow, sorry you had such a crappy experience! did you report the cop that tried to bribe you?
what surprised me is that even in the townships and the suburbs there were few reports of violent crime - i was wondering the other day if there was a media blackout because everything was so quiet?
transport was going to be a challenge from the start - my friends that attended were ok with the park and ride facilities, but maybe they're just used to waiting longer...and they enjoyed the pre-game festivities...
the locals i had contact with enjoyed themselves - they couldn't afford to attend many games and tickets were diffucult to come by, mostly due to FIFAs restrictions...but they had their own parties!
i'm glad it went well - i don't think any south african expected the world to change - but they do have more confidence in what can be accomplished if they work at it! it is unrealistic to expect economic inequalities to be eradicated within 20 years and even more so to expect that the swc could change anything...

[QUOTE=sandaleen;873878]wow, sorry you had such a crappy experience! did you report the cop that tried to bribe you?
QUOTE]

It wasnt bad, I enjoyed it, but dont like this media whitewash.
The brirbe, report to who? the Cheif of Police for the whole country just got done for taking bribes from drug traffickers.

selebi is the ex chief of police - he has been out of the position for about 2 years i think...the current chief see things a bit differently...

the media always goes overboard with these things - i don't think anybody takes them seriously, especially the sabc - national anc network...