Like the World Cup should have been

In the couple of days leading up to the Afcon final, street vendors began to appear selling Burkina Faso and Nigeria flags. This was far from the mass scale of flag-selling during the World Cup but it was still a sign that the Afcon party was belatedly infecting Johannesburg.

Want a flag?

Even the metro cops were joining in

Having made the decision to turn up extremely early to avoid the traffic chaos that I had experienced earlier in the tournament, my friend Chris and I arrived with a little less than four hours until kickoff. Even at this point, crowds were slowly streaming into the stadium precinct. Flags, vuvuzelas, body paint, makarapas, whistles and singing created a buzz. The vast majority of people were supporting Nigeria. This is perhaps unsurprising considering the large Nigerian community in the city, especially in the central areas of Hillbrow and Berea. What was surprising was the number of South Africans also supporting the Super Eagles. Crime and criminality have become associated with Nigerians living in the city and it is all too easy for people to blame 'Nigerians' for the city's problems. This football match appeared to turn this association upside down; being Nigerian or associating with Nigeria had become a positive thing, if only temporarily.

Nigerian fans already in party mode

African media agencies pounce on the partygoers

Walking towards the spectacular stadium, it was quickly apparent that this was unlike the World Cup almost three years previously. As football fans, we had been promised an African World Cup (whatever that entailed). After all, we had been repeatedly told that "It's Africa's Turn" and that South Africa would show the world what Africa had to offer. Instead, we were met with the bland, commercialised environment in which we could only consume official sponsors' products. Despite the introduction of cheaper category four tickets for South Africans, high ticket prices barred many of the domestic football supportership from participating. The local flavour of the tournament had been reduced to vuvuzelas. As one of my research informants summarised, "this could be anywhere!"

Sorry mate but Tunisia didn't qualify

I bet they did

This time was different. Cheaper tickets must have been a factor, allowing those who could be a part of the World Cup to engage, to experience and to celebrate. The final was a dream for the proponents of the Rainbow Nation. People of different races, ethnicity, class and gender were socialising with one another, dancing, cheering and blowing vuvuzelas together. Yet it was more than that. Whether their team had reached the final or not, the vast array of different African football shirts and flag signalled an wider belonging to Africa. Zambia, Ethiopia, Tunisia, DR Congo, Somalia and Tanzania were just a small number of those I saw.

Firestarters after Nigeria score

Police and stewards 'leap' into action

The bland hot dogs of the World Cup had been replaced with the pap and steak and boerwors rolls, staple foods at domestic matches (although prices had skyrocketed - Afcon final premium I guess. I paid R50 for my pap and steak). The small group of Burkinabé near me drummed from start to final whistle, giving the tournament the beat that had been lacking. Despite their team never recovering from going 1-0 down, they carried on drumming and dancing throughout; an impressive effort. I had been given a giant inflatable orange hand, which I used to hi-five anyone who would let me. Three-quarters of the stadium erupted just before half time when Nigeria went ahead. Some idiots set off a flare, which forced the South African Police Service (who attempted to look casual and sporty in their tracksuits) to 'leap' into action. Despite going through five roadblocks to get to the stadium, the security checks on fans walking in were inconsistent at best. A feeble, half-hearted pat down from a steward would do little to detect things such as flares. This constantly happens at local games; my favourite is still seeing someone pull out a full bottle of whisky from his sock! Although better than the desert that made up the Mbombela pitch, the pitch at the National Stadium still resembled a beach with clouds of sand constantly kicked up by the players. A far cry from the World Cup. 

The Burkinabé supplied the beat

Pitch or beach?

And this creates a problem. I've fallen into the trap of comparing a westernised, modern, slick, commercialised World Cup with the chaotic yet dynamic African tournament. I'm not sure how to extricate myself from this other than to continue digging my hole with my romanticism of the final. It was vibrant, a celebration of African football, and a welcoming atmosphere. Most of all, it was fun.

The game wasn't bad either.

Nigeria fans in celebration

Nigeria prays in celebration as a tiny spaceship descends...

The inevitable traffic chaos ensued after the game as thousands of people tried to get home as quickly as possible, but this didn't seem to matter so much this time.

Nigeria celebrating on the big screen

The final party

Yet, as I drove to work this morning, the newspaper headlines attached to most Jo'burg streetlights were not about the final but Manchester United extending their lead at the top of the English Premier League. Is the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations already being forgotten?

A subdued beat

One of the key sights of this year’s Africa Cup of Nations has been emptiness. Aside from the opener between South Africa and Cape Verde, the TV cameras have picked up images of large swathes of empty seats. Whether it was Burkina Faso’s last gasp equaliser against Nigeria in Nelspruit or Tunisia’s equally late winner versus Algeria in Rustenburg, the empty seats appeared to outnumber the fans that had made the trip. Coverage from previous editions of the tournament in Ghana, Angola and Equatorial Guinea picked up similar images. This is clearly not a South African-only problem.

Empty seats at the AFCON 2013 opener. Other games have had far fewer spectators.

I had earlier hoped that the more reasonable pricing structure for this tournament as opposed to the 2010 World Cup would have made the games more accessible to majority of poorer, working class football fans; those who make up the vast majority of the support base of SA’s domestic clubs. The empty seats suggest that it’s reaching few people in general.

So what are the issues behind this?

Firstly, there aren’t many players in this tournament that can be described as superstars. In the World Cup, there was Messi, Ronaldo and the entire Spanish squad. This time around, there’s Drogba, whose career is winding down in China but few others. Yes, there are players such as Yaya Toure and Asamoah Gyan but they simply do not have the same star status. Why spend hard-earned money to watch two teams that you have little or no interest in?

Secondly, the 5 pm kick off times are hardly conducive to getting bums on seats. As I write this, I have one eye on the Bafana v Angola match. While attendance seems to be significantly greater than in most of the other matches, there are still many empty seats. Traffic at this time in the major cities can be nightmarish and some fans will be unwilling to put themselves through the gridlock and confusion. To make sure that you get to the stadium in plenty of time means taking the afternoon off work.

A big contributory factor has to be that there are few, if any African countries that have a large fan base with a large enough disposable income to fly out to the southern tip of the continent for the tournament. Unlike the vast hoards of travelling football tourists at the Euros or at the World Cup, the support of visiting teams is usually restricted to a small rump of die-hard regular fans who are sometimes subsided by the state or political parties. While the commitment on the part of these fans is impressive, this is not going to fill these former World Cup venue. This is a problem that is not going to go away anytime soon.

But the thing that strikes me most as I write from Johannesburg is the absence of evidence that the stadium is taking place. In 2010, there were numerous posters around the city, large fan parks with big screens and people blowing vuvuzelas on street corners. Thousands crammed onto the streets in the north of the city when Bafana went on an open-top bus tour while a giant photo of Cristiano Ronaldo was emblazoned on Nelson Mandela Bridge. This time, it is severely underwhelming. There is no party atmosphere, no fan parks, little hype on the TV or radio. Bafana shirts are far less apparent on the street in contrast to 2010. It’s not totally absent though. Staff at my local Spar were wearing their Bafana shirts today, while bar staff on Soweto’s tourist strip on Vilikazi Street were doing the same.

Still, it’s as if the tournament has passed Jo’burg by and I wouldn’t be surprised if it passes most of South Africa by with little more than a passing awareness that Africa’s biggest football tournament is in their country. The slogan of the tournament is “The beat at Africa’s feet” but this beat is strangely subdued.

Maybe people realise that they have more important things to do than watch football?

N.B. Moses Mabhida stadium seems to be fuller in the second half. The commentator on Supersport has suggested that there is an excessive number of security cordons, which has delayed many fans from getting into the ground until the latter part of the first half.

I wouldn't support Italy just because they're European. Actually I wouldn't support Italy.

This is Africa's World Cup or so we're told. Ever since South Africa won the bid to host the World Cup, various sporting and political elites have said that this tournament is for all Africa. This idea of a continental identity elsewhere would seem bizarre at best. Imagine the absurdity if England won the rights to host the 2018 edition and declare that it was a tournament for all Europe! Brazil haven't claimed that 2014 is South America's turn, Asia is too vast for any coherent idea of what it is to be "Asian" and if Australia hosted 2022, I doubt there would be much trans-Tasman bonhomie.

If this really is Africa's World Cup, the African teams seem to have missed this. Cameroon are out, South Africa need to score a bucket-full of goals, Cote d'Ivoire would have to score even more, Nigeria and Algeria are rooted to the bottom of their respective groups and Ghana failed to punish 10-man Australia. Yet, more significantly, many South Africans supporting the other African teams because they are African. As the only non-African in the room watching the Cameroon - Denmark game, I deliberately cheered for the Danes to annoy everyone else. They were jubilant when Eto'o put Cameroon ahead but clearly irritated with my chants of "Denmark! Denmark! Denmark!" and the two Danish goals. TV and radio commentators argue that fans are being let down by the African teams. As an Englishman, it's a strange concept. I wouldn't feel let down if Italy or France got eliminated. I'd positively revel in it! Maybe people on other continents have different views on this? It was the same during my MSc research in Ghana and Togo in 2006. Supporters that I spoke to in the respective capitals wanted Angola, Cote d'Ivoire and Tunisia to win if their teams couldn't.

At the Egypt - Italy Confederations Cup at Ellis Park last year, I was cheering for the Egyptians and they duly won. The vast majority of the crowd at that game were South Africans. While this is admittedly a massive generalisation, almost all the white South Africans were supporting Italy while non-white South Africans generally chose Egypt. Catching up with some of the hardcore Bafana fans after the game, they assumed that I was supporting Italy. They were shocked when they found out that we were supporting the same team. "But you're from Europe!" This brings up questions of what it means to be African and who identifies themselves as such. However, this is a blog not an essay...