Abstract
The 2010 FIFA World Cup tournament was expected to bring economic development and financial opportunities to South Africa and the African continent. Infrastructural development, especially the building and improvement of stadiums, roads and hotels, was generally anticipated, but it was in the ability by African companies and entrepreneurs to win lucrative deals that the success of the soccer showcase would be measured locally. There were expectations on the African continent that the World Cup would help reduce dehumanizing discourses and stigma, dating back to colonial days, which emphasized the notion of Africa being a dark continent, a nest of diseases and poverty-stricken (Alegi, 2010; Pannenborg, 2010). This chapter traces media and scholarly reportage of business or economic success, or lack thereof, associated with the 2010 World Cup. The research largely draws from archival press reports of selected online newspapers from South Africa and the rest of the world that tried to represent the take-up of opportunities by African business people. We conveniently sampled press reports from the time South Africa won the bid to host the World Cup to 2013, when some stories continue to be produced on the success or failure of African entrepreneurship.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Alegi, P. (2010). African Soccerscapes: How a Continent Changed the World’s Game. Ohio: University Press.
Allen, G. and Brennan, F. (2004). Tourism in the New South Africa: Social Responsibility and the Tourist Experience. London: I.B. Tauris.
Antón, A.J.M., Alonso, J.J.M. and Rodríguez, G.S. (2011). Mega-events impact on economic growth: Analysis of the South African World Cup. African Journal of Business Management, 5(16): 6940–8.
Bond, P. and Cottle, E. (2011). Economic promises and pitfalls of South Africa’s World Cup. In E. Cottle (Ed.), South Africa’s World Cup: A Legacy for Whom? Pietermaritzburg: UKZN Press, pp. 39–72.
Carton, B., Laband, J. and Sithole, J. (Eds.) (2008). Zulu Identities: Being Zulu, Past and Present. Scottsville: University of KwaZulu-Natal Press.
CBS Sports (2010). “World Cup attendance 3rd-highest ever: FIFA,” 12 July, from http://www.cbc.ca/sports/soccer/fifaworldcup/news/story/2010/07/12/sp-worldcup-attendance.html (accessed 29 August 2013).
Chomsky, Noam (2013). Power Systems: Conversations with David Barsamian on Global Democratic Uprisings and the New Challenges to US Empire. London: Hamish Hamilton.
Chuma, W. (2013). Framing the Cape Town World Cup stadium in the media: The politics and sports in South Africa. Journal of African Media Studies, 4(3): 31529.
Conn, D. (2013). Will the Africa Cup of Nations reinforce good impressions or harden opposition to using scarce money on football? http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2013/jan/18/south-africa-africa-cup-of-nation (accessed 23 February 2013).
Cottle, E. (Ed.). (2011). South Africa’s World Cup: A Legacy for Whom? Pietermaritzburg: UKZN Press.
Counting the World Cup benefits, SouthAfrica.info: Brand South Africa Country Portal, 6 July 2010, http://www.southafrica.info/2010/benefits-020710.htm (accessed 13 May 2013).
Cronje, F., van Wyk, D. and Botha, D. (2010). The 2010 FIFA World Cup — service delivery, ‘Afrophobia’ and brand imperialism: Through the eyes of Frantz Fanon. Alternation, 17(2): 297–332.
Dawson, K. (2010). Aids and HIV warning to South Africa World Cup fans, BBC News 4 June, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10148945 (accessed 13 March 2013).
Evans, M. (2010). World Cup Bavaria beer stunt organisers arrested, The Telegraph, 16 June, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/competitions/world-cup-2010/7832413/World-Cup-2010-Bavaria-beer-stunt-organisers-arrested.html (accessed 15 May 2013).
Fabian, J. (1983). Time and the Other: How Anthropology Makes its Object. New York: Columbia University Press.
Fabian, J. (2006). Forgetting Africa. In M. Ntarangwi, D. Mills and M. Babiker (Eds.), African Anthropologies: History, Critique and Practice. Dakar: CODESRIA: 139–153.
Fauna (2010). 2010 South Africa World Cup: ‘Made in China’, ChinaSMACK, 3 July, http://www.chinasmack.com/2010/pictures/2010-south-africa-world-cup-made-in-china.html (accessed 22 February 2013).
FIFA (2011). FIFA financial report 2010, Zurich. Football authorities offer cut-price tickets to fill stadiums as forecasts for the number of international visitors fall by half a million, The Guardian, 23 May, http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/may/23/world-cup-visitor-blow-to-south-africa (accessed 22 February 2013).
Foer, F. (2004). How Soccer Explains the World: An Unlikely Theory of Globalisation. New York: HaperCollins Publishers.
Garland, E. and Gordon, R.J. (1999). The authentic (in)authentic: Bushman anthrotourism. Visual Anthropology, 12(2–3): 131–64.
Gibson, O. and Bowcott, O. (2010). World Cup 2010: Vuvuzelas set to soundtrack tournament, Love them or loathe them, the plastic horns stay, rules Fifa, The Guardian 11 June, http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/jun/11/world-cup-2010-vuvuzelas (accessed 13 May 2013).
Grossberg, L. (1996). Identity and cultural studies — Is that all there is? In S. Hall and P. du Gay (Eds.) , Questions of Cultural Identity. London: Sage: 87–107.
Hebenstreit, S. (2010). Keep your hands off the vuvuzela! Eurocentric stereotypes in German 2010 World Cup Media Discourses, Postamble, 6(2), http://postamble.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Heibenstreit.pdf
Lubin, G. (2010). Here’s why the real world cup winner is China. Business Insider, 4 July, http://www.businessinsider.com/heres-why-the-real-world-cup-winner-is-china-2010–7?op=1 (accessed 20 February 2013).
Maldonado-Torres, N. (2007). On the coloniality of being: Contributions to the development of a concept, in Cultural Studies 21(2/3), (March/May): 240–270.
Maralack, D. (2010). Transforming Sport and Identity in South Africa. PhD thesis, USA: University of Minnesota.
Moody, A. and Yanrong, Z. (2013). Critics of China-Africa relations ‘not objective’, ChinaDaily.com.cn, http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/cndy/2013–03/27/content_16347715.htm (accessed 22 February 2013).
Mudimbe, V. Y. (1988). The Invention of Africa: Gnosis, Philosophy, and the Order of Knowledge, London: James Currey.
Ndlovu-Gatsheni, S.J. (2013). Coloniality of Power in Postcolonial Africa: Myths of Decolonisation. Dakar: CODESRIA.
Perkins, J. (2005). Confessions of an Economic Hitman: The Shocking Inside Story of how America Really Took Over the World. London: Ebury Press.
Pannenborg, A. (2010). Football in Africa, Observations about Political, Financial, Cultural and Religious Influences. Amsterdam: NCDO Publications series Sport and Development.
Ramma, L. (2011). Vuvuzela media coverage during the 2010 FIFA soccer world cup tournament: Impact on raising awareness of noise-induced hearing loss. Noise Health, 13: 415–22.
Robbin, G. (2012). Major International Events and the Working Poor: Selected Lessons for Social Actors Stemming from the 2010 Soccer World Cup in South Africa, WIEGO Technical Brief No. 5, Manchester: Published by Women in Informal Employment: Globalizing and Organizing (WIEGO).
Roche, M. (1998). Sport, Popular Culture and Identity. Oxford: Myer and Meyer Sport.
Rogerson, C. and Visser, G. (2004). Tourism and Development Issues in Contemporary South Africa. Pretoria: Africa Institute of South Africa.
Smith, A. (2010a). Cup blow for South Africa as foreign fans stay at home, The Guardian, 23 May, http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/may/23/world-cup-visitor-blow-to-south-africa (accessed 23 March 2013).
Smith, D. (2010b). World Cup 2010: Sceptics drowned out by another rainbow nation miracle, The Guardian, http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/jul/11/world-cup-2010-south-africa-success (accessed 25 April 2013).
Smith, D. (2010c). World Cup 2010: Fifa blocking condom distribution at venues, say Aids groups, The Guardian, 4 June, http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jun/04/condoms-banned-world-cup (accessed 15 May 2013).
SouthAfrica.info (2010) “Counting the world cup benefits,” Brand South Africa country portal, 6 July, 2010, from http://www.southafrica.info/2010/benefits-020710.htm (accessed 13 May 2013).
South Africa Tourism, (2011), Impact of 2010 FIFA World Cup https://tkp.tourism.gov.za/documents/impact%20of%202010%20fifa%20world%20cup. pdf. Urbandictionary, (2002), http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=vuvuzela (accessed 15 November 2014).
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 2014 Joyce T. Mhiripiri and Nhamo A. Mhiripiri
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Mhiripiri, J.T., Mhiripiri, N.A. (2014). Imploding or Perpetuating African Myths through Reporting South Africa 2010 World Cup Stories on Business Opportunities. In: Chari, T., Mhiripiri, N.A. (eds) African Football, Identity Politics and Global Media Narratives. Global Culture and Sport Series. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137392237_11
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137392237_11
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-48323-5
Online ISBN: 978-1-137-39223-7
eBook Packages: Palgrave Social Sciences CollectionSocial Sciences (R0)