20100615
afrol

After more than ten football matches plaid in South Africa, spectator attendance to Africa's first FIFA World Cup is slightly higher than that of Germany in 2006, figures released by FIFA today showed.

Since the start of the tournament, South Africa has recorded an average attendance of 53,019 while Germany stood at 52,019 for the same period.

This is as nearly as high as the figures recorded after the 1994 World Cup in the United States. FIFA spokesperson Nicols Maingot said what the statistics say is that for every match so far, more than 53,000 people attended a game.

"These are good attendance figures because the last time we recorded nearly similar figures was back in 1994," Mr Maingot said. The only difference is that stadiums in the US have a bigger capacity as compared to South Africa's.

However, the number of goals scored in this year's showpiece is lower than any other scored in previous World Cup events. Only 18 goals have been scored after 11 games. This has fuelled criticism that the first African World Cup could be regarded as "boring".

But Mr Maingot said the real goal average would only be reflected after the tournament. "It would be very wrong for people to make conclusive decisions now. Let's wait until the end of all 64 games," he said. At least 37 yellow cards and four red cards had been issued since the start of the tournament on 11 June.

Meanwhile, the trademark of South Africa's World Cup, the vuvuzela, is dividing the global football audience in a hate-it or love-it attitude. While the World Cup at large, with its positive reporting from South Africa and a great organisation, is a superb marketing for the country and Africa at large, the vuvuzelas in some countries threaten to ruin this positive image.

In most non-African countries, the vuvuzelas have been among the major issues of the press covering the World Cup. Especially in the northern part of Europe and North America, a large majority of football fans in polls say the "hate" the vuvuzela noise, some even saying the World Cup should "never again" be organised in South Africa.

In other parts of the world, including southern Europe and Latin America, football fans are more split, with large groups being positive to the vuvuzelas. But also here, TV producers are tuning down the vuvuzela noise as best as they can during live transmissions.

But, apart from the vuvuzelas, TV productions from the South African World Cup all over the word are getting a positive response. Reporters in the country also produce travel and politics related news stories and reports, mostly giving a very positive image of South Africa before and after the matches.