South Africa tries to bridge racial divide with Confed Cup

When Nelson Mandela hailed South Africa’s rugby World Cup trophy in 1995, he raised the nation’s hopes for a non-racial future. Now football officials are hoping for a similar spark in the Confederations Cup.

“We want to create racial harmony as in 1995, when South Africa hosted the rugby World Cup and every South African got behind the national rugby team,” said Rich Mkhondo, spokesman for the games’ local organising committee. The Confederations Cup is the biggest milestone in the runup to the 2010 football World Cup, and will test the reactions of fans in a country where sport remains divided along the colour line.

Under apartheid many black South Africans saw rugby as the white man’s game, while football was mainly played by blacks, who were denied access to funding and facilities to develop the game. As South Africa began dismantling its rigid system of segregation, the government integrated the racially divided sports bodies into a single organisation to try to blur the colour lines.

But a glance at the stadiums during local matches shows that few white fans support the football teams, something organisers and marketeers hope to change.

“I don’t know why the majority of white South Africans don’t go to the stadium to support local soccer,” said South African Football Association (SAFA) spokesman Mario Senyane.

“It is clear that they support the sport, because when Manchester United play against Kaiser Chief and Orlando Pirates, you see the stadium filled by whites.”

Senyane said SAFA was trying its best to encourage people from all races to support local football and hope the Confederations Cup will unite fans ahead of the World Cup.

The organisation is touring schools around the country to promote the tournament in hopes of building enthusiasm for the games, but professional marketers have also been called in to help fill up the stands.

The International Marketing Council, established by the government in 2002 to improve South Africa’s image, is distributing about 47 million national flags in the run-up to the World Cup.

They’re also running two TV campaigns, including one to promote the “diski,” a dance inspired by the movements of football players, which they hope will become a symbol of the games and a macarena-type global phenomenon. The adverts are being broadcast locally and internationally with the aim of reaching more than 600 million viewers before the World Cup. “We believe sports is one of those activities that we can use to drive cohesion in our society,” said Margaret Dingalo from Brand South Africa, one of the IMC’s programmes tasked with promoting the games.

“We had that moment during the African cup of nations in 1995, when Bafana Bafana were crowned champions of the tournament followed by the rugby world cup. When South Africa was awarded the bid to host this prestigious event in 2004, we saw how the whole nation erupted, young and old, black and white,” she said. Dingalo described the 2010 event as the single biggest opportunity for South Africa to bring the nation together since the end of apartheid.

“It is almost like our 1995 moment once again,” she said.

JOHANNESBURG, Monday, AFP