The End of The World Cup As We Know It

The End of the World Cup As We Know It

The hype leading up to the World Cup has been incredible and I pity anyone who has no interest in football; we’ve been drenched in ads for products and programmes all year. That said,I've been looking forward to a festival of the beautiful game for some time.

It follows then that after all this expectation the event itself has proved to be most disappointing so far. The so-called “big” teams have been lacklustre and according to the statisticians this has been the lowest scoring world cup ever.

So, what’s the deal? Part of the problem is the noise. The vuvuzela has drowned out any atmosphere. To most football fans and players, singing, drum banging and chanting are an integral part of the game and without these, the games feel sterile. Now I know it’s not done to criticise other cultures, but the vuvuzela is a fairly new phenomenon and has been latched onto by big business. I am really glad the World Cup has finally come to Africa, but the cacophony produced by these plastic horns has been distracting (according to some players) and irritating (from a TV spectator’s point of view). You could also say it’s drowning out any support a team would expect from its supporters.

The quality of the TV presentation is poor, a lot of the pundits are not fluent English speakers (Adebayor is unintelligible) and the puerile ITV post-match show featuring James Corden is appalling. ITV have obviously tried to catch the atmosphere generated by Sky’s Soccer AM with no success whatsoever. In the middle of a recession, I find it somewhat offensive to watch overpaid and in the main under-educated presenters and pundits enjoying a 5-week holiday paid (in the BBC’s case at least) by the license fee payer.
Since it’s pretty much obligatory to criticise FIFA, can I just say that half empty stadia has confirmed the worst theories about that organisation. For a non-profit organisation (who made £1.5 billion last year), FIFA has shown themselves to be greedy in the extreme. It just confirms that FIFA are all about the money and the poorer South Africans have been totally ignored. If I were organising an event like this, I would rather sell more cheap tickets than fewer expensive ones. The fact that FIFA are currently busying themselves suing half the small businesses in Cape Town and Johannesburg for selling flags and other World Cup paraphernalia says it all.

Why do I think the above means the end of football as we know and love it? The sheer greed of those involved (the fact that a ticket costs the equivalent of a week's wage in South Africa means that grass roots fans who support football year round cannot attend), the complete ignorance of the TV presenters about Africa and their lack of concern about the people for whom football is the only sport they can afford to play, is distasteful to say the least. I wonder how much, if any, of the money generated by the World Cup will actually find its way into the pockets of the ordinary South African? Very little, I would imagine.

Which leads to the obvious conclusion, football (or soccer as many are calling it, with an eye to the USA television franchise) is dying on its feet. This World Cup may be it’s death knell and although a life-long fan, I for one wouldn’t weep. The game has turned into one played by millionaires for the entertainment of the working poor.
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So is it really the end for football? For me, maybe. I’m getting a little tired of the stark contrast between the haves and have nots, not to mention the snide, patronising remarks made by the chattering classes on the obvious flaws in the game. When I was a child, the World Cup was a chance to see loads of football in foreign places and all your heroes playing at their very peak for the honour of winning. Now, you wonder if they’d do it without the huge financial incentives and advertising revenue it brings. Cynical? Perhaps, but maybe having the World Cup in Africa has shown us just what the game has come to.
Labels: Sport