There is a lot of drama unfolding on the football front, starting with the shocking but understandable resignation of the national football coach Carlos Alberto Parreira recently.
There is a lot of drama unfolding on the football front, starting with the shocking but understandable resignation of the national football coach Carlos Alberto Parreira recently.
And now with a few weeks to go before the completion of the professional league season, one of the esteemed clubs in the country, Jomo Cosmos, seem likely to be relegated from the Premiership.
Unimaginable, given the stature of "Mjomana" in South African football. Over in Tshwane, Gavin Hunt seems on course to realise his promise to turn SuperSport United into this season's league champions.
On the other hand, the Cape Town teams, particularly Ajax Cape Town, are great competitors for the league title. What is great about the Cape-based clubs is their trust and investment in the youth and the unearthing of talent that continues to benefit the country at national level. Keep it up guys.
At the LOC we are currently entering a period of intensive activity highlighted by the recent workshops held by our security division as well as the volunteer programme that hosted the various skills, education and training agencies to leverage the skills training of young South Africans in football and event-related fields.
Discussions are ongoing, but I look forward to the various initiatives that are being discussed.
May is going to be a particularly busy month, starting with the board meeting held over the past couple of days, followed by an important announcement of a campaign that will involve more than 12 million children over two years. We are very excited about this campaign that will make our children become part of this history-making event. This weekend we will be joining our friends and partners at South African Tourism when they host a 2010-focused "Tourism Indaba" in Durban.
The significance of the indaba is that more than 3000 tour and related operators will be exposed to the role and value of the World Cup in South Africa in two years' time.
Remember that there will be more than 400000 people visiting the country for the tournament and this number translates into a minimum of four million room nights for that month of the football fiesta.
The event takes place over three days in Durban starting this Saturday. A couple of days later, the LOC, in partnership with the North West government and the host city of Rustenburg, will host and recognise the mayors of all the cities that will play a role in the World Cup.
This will be on May 15, the fourth anniversary of the announcement of the country's winning bid.
Other activities on the day will include football clinics for school teachers and a mini-tournament for children. Towards the end of May, we shift focus to Australia, where the Fifa annual congress is to be held.
There we will be represented by the CEO of the LOC, Danny Jordaan, the chairman, Irvin Khoza, and other board members.
This is an important gathering as it gives us the opportunity to inform and update the 208 football associations that make up the membership of Fifa.
It is also an important meeting for us in that it will give us the opportunity to once and for all put to bed the generally repeated lie that the World Cup will be taken to Australia. It will also offer us the opportunity to brief the media about the far advanced plans for the Confederations Cup that will take place next year.
Come June, we will be sending some of our colleagues within the LOC and the host cities to the Euro 2008 tournament to gain first-hand experience of hosting a major tournament. All these are happening to make sure we live up to our promise and slogan: "Ke nako to celebrate Africa's Humanity."
May is month of great activity for the LOC
There is a lot of drama unfolding on the football front, starting with the shocking but understandable resignation of the national football coach Carlos Alberto Parreira recently.
There is a lot of drama unfolding on the football front, starting with the shocking but understandable resignation of the national football coach Carlos Alberto Parreira recently.
And now with a few weeks to go before the completion of the professional league season, one of the esteemed clubs in the country, Jomo Cosmos, seem likely to be relegated from the Premiership.
Unimaginable, given the stature of "Mjomana" in South African football. Over in Tshwane, Gavin Hunt seems on course to realise his promise to turn SuperSport United into this season's league champions.
On the other hand, the Cape Town teams, particularly Ajax Cape Town, are great competitors for the league title. What is great about the Cape-based clubs is their trust and investment in the youth and the unearthing of talent that continues to benefit the country at national level. Keep it up guys.
At the LOC we are currently entering a period of intensive activity highlighted by the recent workshops held by our security division as well as the volunteer programme that hosted the various skills, education and training agencies to leverage the skills training of young South Africans in football and event-related fields.
Discussions are ongoing, but I look forward to the various initiatives that are being discussed.
May is going to be a particularly busy month, starting with the board meeting held over the past couple of days, followed by an important announcement of a campaign that will involve more than 12 million children over two years. We are very excited about this campaign that will make our children become part of this history-making event. This weekend we will be joining our friends and partners at South African Tourism when they host a 2010-focused "Tourism Indaba" in Durban.
The significance of the indaba is that more than 3000 tour and related operators will be exposed to the role and value of the World Cup in South Africa in two years' time.
Remember that there will be more than 400000 people visiting the country for the tournament and this number translates into a minimum of four million room nights for that month of the football fiesta.
The event takes place over three days in Durban starting this Saturday. A couple of days later, the LOC, in partnership with the North West government and the host city of Rustenburg, will host and recognise the mayors of all the cities that will play a role in the World Cup.
This will be on May 15, the fourth anniversary of the announcement of the country's winning bid.
Other activities on the day will include football clinics for school teachers and a mini-tournament for children. Towards the end of May, we shift focus to Australia, where the Fifa annual congress is to be held.
There we will be represented by the CEO of the LOC, Danny Jordaan, the chairman, Irvin Khoza, and other board members.
This is an important gathering as it gives us the opportunity to inform and update the 208 football associations that make up the membership of Fifa.
It is also an important meeting for us in that it will give us the opportunity to once and for all put to bed the generally repeated lie that the World Cup will be taken to Australia. It will also offer us the opportunity to brief the media about the far advanced plans for the Confederations Cup that will take place next year.
Come June, we will be sending some of our colleagues within the LOC and the host cities to the Euro 2008 tournament to gain first-hand experience of hosting a major tournament. All these are happening to make sure we live up to our promise and slogan: "Ke nako to celebrate Africa's Humanity."
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