2010

Happy Birthday!

A significant part of the Spirit of Football project is our focus on the origins of the game. We decided from the outset to identify Battersea Park in London as our “Mount Olympus”, but of course historical issues are never quite that simple to resolve. There are many competing candidates for the “inciting moment” of the beautiful game and we simply picked the one that made the most sense to us.

One of those candidates just celebrated their 150th anniversary… On the 24th October 1857, a bunch of cricketers who enjoyed a winter kickabout decided to form Sheffield FC — predating the FA’s rules and the match in Battersea Park by a number of years. The “Sheffield Rules” are indeed the first recorded rules for the game we now call football and were a vital step in its development.

Our decision to use the January 1864 game as the starting point is to do with universality. The Sheffield Rules did indeed lead fairly directly to the FA rules, but there were many competing factions in football until the FA rules were formulated. We attribute the successful spread of football throughout the world to the universal adoption of a single set of rules — so that wherever teams might come from, they share a common language.

Kudos to Sheffield FC for their part in this process.

Links:

• Sheffield FC
• FIFA marks Sheffield FC’s anniversary
• Sheffield FC: 150 years of history
• Happy 150th Birthday, Sheffield FC

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So then, there’s only 1000 days to go to the opening ceremony and we celebrate with a new homepage.

Organisers of the 2010 Soccer World Cup confirmed on Tuesday that Johannesburg will host the event’s final match.

Johannesburg City manager Mavela Dlamini welcomed the decision and said it would bring a renewed sense of urgency to the city’s preparations.

Source: IOL

So does that mean Cape Town gets the Opening Ceremony, then?

According to an AFP article, the 2010 FIFA World Cup has the capacity to change the stereotypical perception of mismanagement in the African continent. Sports Minister Makhenkesi Stofile said:

This is an opportunity to show the world that we are as good as anyone else, we the African team must try and enforce this in the mind of the world.

Good managerial skills, sound finance management skills and overall good governance are sine qua non for the end to Afro-pessimism … Failure is not an option

Stofile was speaking at a seminar on the legacy of the 2010 tournament.

Full story here

So then, the baton (or dare I say torch) has been passed to South Africa, who will be hosting the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Only three-and-a-bit years to go, but the following extract from a news item on FIFAworldcup.com:

If the 2006 FIFA World Cup saw Germany in the best light, then 2010 will be opening a window on Africa. The next FIFA World Cup, said FIFA President Joseph S. Blatter, will be “an African and South African World Cup”. Underlining the vibrant, animated continent that football followers will discover, Mr Blatter offered the metaphor: “There will be a lot of drums.”

Many recognise that hosting a FIFA World Cup in South Africa will bring hope and capture the imagination of the continent. The 2010 finals have received support from humanitarians such as George Weah, Kofi Annan and Bill Clinton who are involved in projects such as ‘Win in Africa, with Africa’ and the African Legacy Programme.

South Africa has enjoyed backing not only from these international figureheads but also from its own government, clearly illustrated by President Thabo Mbeki’s presence at the unveiling of the tournament’s official emblem in Berlin on 7 July. He invited the world to witness and participate in 2010, saying: “Africa is ready, Africa’s time has come, Africa is calling. Come to Africa in 2010!”

Unlike Germany, South Africa has 11 official languages but the lesson that the FIFA World Cup’s African hosts will have learnt from events in Germany is that only one language matters. That one true tongue, to quote Kofi Annan, is “the universal language of football”.

FIFAworldcup.com

That’s the spirit folks. I, for one, can’t wait!