Sometimes you can sense when a huge project is being forced upon the nation and there is no tangible reason it should be backed. One of those was Safa’s bid to host the 2027 Fifa Women’s World Cup.
I remember a briefing with Safa president Danny Jordaan and a couple of journalists some time last year where the issue of this bid was among the top issues that were discussed.
We had the pleasure of quizzing Jordaan about how we are to make sense of wanting to host this event when we all knew that our government was almost bankrupt and struggling to deliver essential services, such as the constant provision of electricity and water, to its citizens.
Jordaan tried to argue that SA was not in any better position when we hosted the 2010 Fifa World Cup than it is today, and the costs of hosting the 2027 World Cup will be far less expensive because we already have the key infrastructure — the stadiums.
Even after that comment, the media still felt we were on a cruise to some vanity project and there were better things to do with our limited resources. I couldn’t agree more with my colleagues on that score, but we let Jordaan dream on.
Besides, we also felt Safa needed to first fix women’s football in the country, make it more marketable and professional and have as many strong clubs as possible to compete with Mamelodi Sundowns, the club that has ruled women’s football since a national league (not yet professional) was launched.
Safa’s confirmation, at the weekend, that they’ve pulled out from this bid after government could not guarantee its support was therefore welcomed. Sometimes you must swallow your pride and do the right thing.
Pulling out from the 2027 bid doesn’t mean SA can’t bid for future events. Hopefully, that will happen when we have capable people running our country. The priority should always be the provision of the essential needs first and luxuries such as hosting a World Cup must be last on the list of our priorities.
More importantly, I hope by that time we host this tournament our women’s football will be enjoying the same professional status as men.
We’ve heard that Safa is now planning to bid for the 3031 (Women’s) World Cup and I think that’s not a bad idea, as long as by that time we a have a stable economy and the country is capable of being good hosts. We can’t embarrass ourselves like we did in 2010 when Bafana Bafana became the first host nation to not progress past the first round in the history of the men’s World Cup.
But more importantly, I hope by that time we host this tournament our women’s football will be enjoying the same professional status as men.
The boxing match said to have happened between Jordaan and sports minister Zizi Kodwa over this issue is just a side event. If Kodwa had shown the same enthusiasm as Jordaan on hosting this event, I doubt it would have helped sway our government to back Safa’s call to host the tournament in 2027.
“It starts with the president [Cyril Ramaphosa] [asking], ‘Why? Where does the money come from?’ So if I don’t have answers, I will not go to cabinet just to embarrass myself,” Kodwa explained the government’s position on Tuesday.
“The government was clear in November 2022 when supporting Safa’s expression of interest in hosting the World Cup. But the letter cannot be considered a guarantee of financial commitment by the department of sport, arts and culture or any other department.
“The department has fully supported Safa in providing the federation with the platform to address various levels of government and stakeholders. The government was also willing to participate in the Fifa observer programme for potential host cities during the [2023 Women’s] World Cup in New Zealand and Australia.
“We respect the decision by Safa to work towards a well-prepared bid in 2031.
“The South African government has hosted many premier events. So we can’t have an association that comes to us and wants money for big bidding.
“So there are issues of leadership, we’ll leave those issues there. But all we can do is say at this stage, we support the decision [to pull out].”
Guarantees governments provide to host World Cups include access to a country, a supportive financial environment, facilities, safety and security, health care, transport, accommodation and telecommunications.
We all know that Safa’s financial position is not a sound one, and government had to look at that aspect because in the end it was going to be taxpayers’ money, no matter how small or big, that was going to be used to host this event.
World Cups cost a host country tens of millions or even billions of rand on building or improving infrastructure and organisation, and this is one of the key reasons this project was aborted.
For me it’s better that we’ve resisted the temptation to bid for something we’re not capable of doing justice. This should give Safa plenty of time, and hopefully money, to put its house in order and build a strong Banyana side capable of making further strides by the time we’re hosts.
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