SA 2010: Yellow Fever!

It’s kind of ironic that the first thing you get asked to show on arrival at Johannesburg’s Oliver Tambo International Airport – if you are arriving from any of a number of tropical countres, that is – is your Yellow Fever vaccination card. For once you have walked past immigration and baggage claim, and out of the airport it quickly hits you that South Africa is very much in the throes of a raging “yellow fever” outbreak of sorts.

Thankfully, it’s not the viral sort, but everywhere you look on the streets – and offices and stores – of this beautiful, football crazy country, you can see the unmistakable yellow and green kit of the national team, Bafana Bafana, proudly adorned by the excited, overjoyed and enthusiastic throngs that have embraced kick off to Africa’s first World Cup finals.

This may be the rainbow nation, but yellow will certainly remain its color of choice for the course of this month-long mundial. Then again, in the light of South Africa’s 3-0 debacle against Uruguay on Wednesday night, some would argue that all that enthusiasm could well vanish in a cloud of disappointment as early as next Monday when Bafana Bafana wraps up its Group A schedule against France. Of course, if the home team bows out there’s bound to be a level of disinterest in any finals, but what I have seen of South Africa 2010 so far suggests that might not be as significant as one would expect.

All the games have been pretty well attended so far, and not just the ones involving the home side, which have been absolutely packed, or the ones involving the big countries. It’s perhaps understandable that Spain would draw 62,000 for Wednesday’s clash against Switzerland, but considering that Honduras v Chile drew 32,000; Slovenia v Algeria 30,000; and even New Zealand v Slovakia 24,000, it’s clear the turnout has been pretty decent.

I have attended three games myself: the Argentina-Nigeria clash at Johannesburg’s Ellis Park where 43,000 odd fans showed up to see Gabriel Heinze’s header earn the Albiceleste the points; two days later, on a Monday afternoon no less, 85,000 of us showed up at the impressive Soccercity “calabash” to see Holland put two goals past Denmark; and then, I made the long trek to Bloemfoentein on Thursday to join 30,000 fans watch Nigeria lose again.

The atmosphere at the games has been truly incredible, with opposing fans enjoying the occasion together in a great spirit of fun and camaraderie. Of course, the most iconic symbol of South Africa 2010 has been the vuvuzela and the never ending, highly irritating constant drone it produces at every game. I know on the TV it sounds like a pack of bees on the hunt – or the sound of a bunch of houseflies busily attacking a half-eaten over-ripe mango – yet in the stadium itself it’s a little different. Kind of like a thousand cars honking persistently, with no rhyme or reason, sometimes high pitched at other times just loud. Attempting to decipher the method to this madness is totally futile too; sometimes it’s loud when there’s a goal chance, at other times it’s when the fans are bored. Considering that it often starts well before the game even kicks off – and continues well after the game, on your way home – it’s probably safe to conclude that the game itself as nothing to do with this. Perhaps it’s just some sort of human craving to be heard – or just another symptom of “yellow fever”.