There's a World Cup stadium growing outside my window

Pic: Cape town Stadium is left of centre.

I've always wanted to live by the sea..... and by a major sports stadium. The sea part is understandable to most people, the stadium part less so. I don't know what it is about big stadia but they've always done it for me. My first visit to any major stadium is indelibly imprinted on my mind. Dalymount Park, Old Trafford, Croke Park, Lansdowne Road, Yankee Stadium, Wembley, Highbury, Elland Road and Newlands cricket ground...........I can recall the game,

the weather, the sounds and the smell. In the 1970's the smell was always likely to be of wee and cigarettes but, believe me, the wee at Dalymount smelled different to that at Lansdowne. Each place had a feel that was impossible to replicate.

Even today I get a thrill when I pass any major stadium. The best part about circling Heathrow is to see how many major stadia you can pick out from the sky. Craven Cottage, Stamford Bridge and Griffin Park (major ?) are a given, but I've done those plus Wembley, Twickenham and The Oval in one holding pattern. In my student life I've lived within walking distance of Upton Park and Loftus Road. The challenge there was to see how close to Saturday 3pm you could walk nonchalantly out your front door, buy a programme and a burger and still be in time for kick-off.

All very cool, but that was only the beginning. I soon realised that my life's progress would be measured purely in terms of how close I got to live to a major stadium. Joburg was impressive. I could vaguely hear the rolling Stones playing at Ellis park through my living room window. But that was nothing compared to Cape Town where I could sit on my patio and listen to Rod Stewart, Elton John or the Indian Premier League on any given Friday night. My living room was lit bright by floodlights and the roar of the crowd rendered the 2-second tv broadcast delay irrelevant.

Clearly I've found my home. In the last 12 months I've gone out my front door and walked 10 minutes to see a SA vs Australia 5-day test, the all-conquering Springboks, not to mention Wayne Rooney, Rio Ferdinand and Alex Ferguson.

The only problem is that I can't see the sea from my house. Which is why I think I've now discovered the ultimate place to live.The only problem is that it's where I work. When I look out of my office window I see Signal Hill, Table Mountain is off to my left and the Cape

Town Waterfront is on my right. But right smack bang in front of me is a vision the likes of which only a stadium junkie would truly appreciate.

For now it's called Green Point Stadium but it's soon to be renamed Cape Town Stadium. Let me tell you now that this will be the abiding icon of World Cup 2010. And far beyond 2010 this is a place where any sportsperson or musician worth their salt will want to play.

Through my office window I've seen this giant rise from the earth. And last week I got to see inside it. It is a thing of beauty. From whatever point you sit in this stadium you will feel that you are actually playing with Kaka, Messi and (please God) Keane. You will bask in the African sun as it filters through a spectacular glass roof.

It may have cost twice it's original price tag to complete which, believe me, has been a bone of contention to many Capetonians, but this place is going to repay the investment over and

over again.

I visited Sydney last year and felt right at home when my tour guide told me that the Opera House exceeded budget by something like 1000%, took 12 years longer to build than planned, and was roundly ridiculed by most Sydneysiders. Today the Opera House probably brings in as much revenue to Sydney in 1 day as it cost to build.

When the final whistle goes in the World cup Semi Final on 7th July 2010 Cape Town stadium will already be an icon recognised around the world. If you make it to South Africa for the FIFA World Cup 2010 make a point of visiting this special place, even if your team isn't playing there. It's an experience you won't forget.

Best of all, when you leave this perfect arena, you will walk, not into a tangled concrete jungle, but into the welcoming streets of the most beautiful city on earth.

Check it out. These pics taken on Fri 9th October 2009. Completion date 14th Dec 2009.

Collecting Sporting Goods for Cape Town's Underprivileged Kids

Dear Family and Friends

Next year is the soccer world cup in South Africa. My Dad and I have put together a road trip which will see us take in 14 matches around the country. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and one which we’ve been planning for over 2 years now. We have been lucky enough to get tickets to see games at all 10 stadia around the country.

Now, my Dad is obviously paying for all of this but he’s asked me to come up with R10 000 as my contribution to the 2010 Road Trip. So I’m going to be washing a lot of cars, doing DIY work etc over the next 9 months so that I can raise this money.

But I’ve come up with an idea that will not only help me to raise my funds but will also help the not-so-lucky South African kids, most of whom will never get to have an experience like I’m going to have.

My plan is to collect sporting equipment for underprivileged kids in Cape Town’s townships, and to ask friends and family to sponsor my efforts.

My aim is to collect as many old sports shoes (soccer boots, trainers etc) and tennis balls as I can possibly can over the next 8 months. These will then be distributed to the underprivileged kids by an organisation called Sporting Chance (www.sportingchance.co.za), which has been running for eighteen years. They provide sporting clinics to children around the country, and they coach school teams in all areas of sport. They also take children off the street and teach them to enjoy sport, as well as about basic health and nutrition.

I intend collecting the sports shoes and tennis balls through my school and Shea’s school, through my friends and neighbours and through Mom & Dad’s work places, as well as from local sports clubs.

My goal is to collect 100 pairs of sports shoes and 250 tennis balls. That’s 100 kids who will now be able to play sport at a Sporting Chance clinic.

Now this is where my extended family comes in……………..

I’m asking you to sponsor me an amount of your choosing for (a) every 2 pairs of shoes and (b) for every 5 tennis balls that I collect. This will be up to a maximum of 100 pairs of shoes and 250 tennis balls.

Should I raise more than my goal of R10 000 I will donate the surplus to the Sporting Chance organisation.

I will send regular updates on my progress to the family by e-mail. I will also post regular updates on our 2010 Road Trip blog which my Dad and I recently created. www.2010wallsroadtrip.blogspot.com Feel free to visit. We will be updating this blog throughout our road trip as well.

If you’re interested please reply to this mail and tell me how much you will sponsor me for (a) every 2 pairs of shoes and (b) every 5 tennis balls.

Thanks very much, I hope to see many of you over here for the World Cup next year.

Love Dylan

If anyone wishes to sponsor me in this project, please email me at jwalls@primedia.co.za

How It All Began...

It all started on Saturday 15 May 2004. I was 9 years old at the time. My dad and I watched Sepp Blatter pull the name of South Africa out of the envelope......and that's when the planning of our 2010 roadtrip began.

It's always been my dad's dream to watch a World Cup finals tournament live, but the chance has never presented itself. Over the years he got me excited by talking about the drama of previous tournaments. I myself had been an avid follower of the 2002 World Cup in Japan & South Korea, so my appetite was there and I was more than ready for 6 years of planning for this once in a lifetime opportunity.

It's been fascinating to watch the progress in South Africa since 2004. Slow at first, and full of controversy, this project has slowly taken shape. Before our very eyes, the magnificent Green Point stadium in Cape Town has slowly risen from the site of the Metropolitan Golf Course and the old athletics stadium. Around the country 5 already impressive stadia have been upgraded while 5 have been built from scratch. And as the stadia slowly took shape, so also did our plans for the ultimate World Cup roadtrip.

Pic, right, shows me, Dad, Mom (Ingrid), my 12

year old sister Shea and my 6 year old sister

Megan touring the site of the new Green Point

stadium in 2008.

After that day in 2004 when we found out that we would be hosting the biggest event in the world, we always used to talk about this distant dream we had of touring the country,visting cities and watching matches as we went. We would talk about what it would be like during the world cup, what the atmosphere would be like, and where would be the hotspots around South Africa.

For the first four years or so, we talked a lot about this dream, but never actually knew how it would turn out or how we would accomplish this. Then, with about a year and a half to go, it was nearly time for us to apply for tickets. This was the moment where our planning really took off.

With about 3 days until the tickets went online, we sat down one night and worked out our perfect roadtrip. Using the schedule of matches for the tournament, we planned where we wanted to go to watch matches. This was our 2010 World Cup Wishlist. We spent hours planning this down to the last day, giving ourselves a month of non stop soccer action. Although we were already talking about how everything was going to happen, we first had to get the tickets.

On Friday 20 February 2009, the tickets for the World Cup went on sale. That night, we sat down by the computer, and started a long process.

The Fifa ticket application process is very complicated. Every applicant has to register first. After you have done this, you may begin applying for tickets. This isn't simple either. For each match you apply for, you have to register each guest you intend to bring to the match. You are only allowed seven matches per applicant, and after you have chosen your seven matches, you can send in your request. After completing this at last, you aren't even guarenteed these tickets, as they go into a lotto draw.

This didn't put us off though, and we sent in our applications after hours of setting them up. The only problem was, this being the biggest event in the world, a lot of people were applying, causing internet traffic. So our applications sat there for hours, waiting to go through. Eventually we had to try again two days later. We finally sent in our applications for our roadtrip.

One of the most exciting things was getting our applications back, not knowing if you have been succesful or not. We were extremely anxious about this. With a lot of tension in the air, we read our results...

On the 4 May, the second round of ticket sales began. We had planned our approach very carefully, wanting to get as many of the outstanding tickets we had planned for as possible. We sent in our second round of applications. The wait to find out about these tickets was much shorter, and within a week we had our resluts. As this was now working on a first come first served basis, we were a little more confident that we had what we wanted.

After reapplying many times, spending up to 30 hours on the internet and changing our plans to fit in with our match schedule, we finally came out with tickets to a very nice group of games, including the final.

We now knew which matches we were going to, so we could plan a definite roadtrip. This was another very complicated step of the planning process. We had tickets all over the country, so we had to plan carefully in order to get everywhere in time. We sat down one night and worked out where we would have to go at what time, and how we would get there. We had now completed the first section of our dream...