Day 14: South African Pride

The South Africans are intensely proud of what had been achieved at the WC. There seemed to be a fatalistic expectation that they would have major problems, but with a few hiccups, it has gone smoothly so far. More than half the games have been played without trouble, security is tight, there seem to be a lot of visitors (although far fewer than some early estimates) and bafana bafana is doing better than expected. Government ministers interviewed on TV are thrilled, and talk of how the country's image around the world has been rebuilt.

The downside will come later. The country has ten world-class stadiums costing $5 billion, but insufficient domestic professional sport to use them. Many of the stadiums in small towns will become windswept monuments to a month of fun, with local councils facing multi million dollar maintenance costs. Even the incredible Green Point Stadium, which seats 65,000, has no team wanting to use it in future. When I ask Capetonians what it will be used for, they shake their heads and say, "Rock concerts".

Does any of this matter if we're all having a good time, if it unites the country? Until the middle of July, let's just party. But the 1995 Rugby World Cup victory was supposed to 'unite a nation' - who can forget the image of Mendala wearing a Springbok jersey at the final, a symbol of white supremacy a year earlier. But that is now 15 years ago, and history shows it was soon forgotten, as the poor went back to their ramshackle townships, and wondered how life had changed for them.

Today, nobody was worried about this. It was South Africa's day to try to make the next round, needing a big win over France. I went down to the V&A Waterfront and squeezed into the massive crowd to watch the big screen. And they went absolutely nuts as their boys were up 2-0 inside 30 minutes, with a French player sent off. They needed to win by four goals, and had several chances to add more. In the end, it was a 2-1 win and an exit from the cup.

But the crowd was happy with the win, and sang anthems, led by a Zulu warrior. The little girls and boys jumped up and down with delight, probably their first experience at such an event. The vuvuzelas blared away relentlessly. There were smiles and hugs all round. And maybe because all the bafana bafana players are black (whereas only one of the rugby team was), it will give them an enduring pride which will last beyond the journey back to their normal lives.