Pulse of a Nation: The final episode

Halycon days for South African football, when the right to stage the 2010 World Cup was won, highlighted the fourth and final episode of SuperSport’s ‘Pulse of the Nation’.

The intrigue around losing the bid for the 2006 tournament but then bouncing back to win 2010 is vividly told by the powerful insiders who were at the helm of the diplomatic, political and sporting efforts to persuade the world to take a chance on Africa.

There is also a detailed, and riveting, insider account of the fight by the Premier Soccer League to open their television rights to tender and find an equitable deal that would take the professional game in the country to new heights.

The PSL were earning a paltry fee for a valuable commodity in their relationship with the state-owned South African Broadcasting Corporation, and had to first untangle themselves from a one-sided deal, that offered them little benefit, in order to put it out to tender.

SuperSport offered R1-billion over five years in an unprecedented deal while the SABC tried to bluff their way through negotiations, leading to a new relationship which has gone on to become the bedrock of the game in South Africa.

But it was a very difficult deal to get over the line, opposed by politicians amid a flurry of negative publicity whipped by the SABC. The machinations of the day are brought back to life again as the key actors in the drama explain how it all played out in spine-tingling detail.

The battle for television rights in South Africa was one similar to many others played out in other countries across the world. The partnership with television has gone on to strengthen soccer’s position as the world’s most popular sport.

The crushing disappointment of South Africa losing to Germany in a contrived vote for the 2006 World Cup exposed how murky the world of football politics can be.

In those days the decision on which country would get to host the event was made by the members of the Fifa executive committee, the most powerful body in the game. But with self-serving interests top of their agendas, South Africa were narrowly beaten in the vote for the 2006 finals before later winning a tough fight to host the 2010 tournament.

The corrupt scheming around the 2006 vote led to the introduction of rotation between the continents for future World Cups and 2010 was designated to Africa. But it proved a hard tussle to win for the South African bid, who were up against Morocco, and in the end it went down to the wire.

The delight of former president Nelson Mandela, who had helped the diplomatic charm offensive, remains an iconic image of the era … and a reminder of some of the most exciting days in the country’s history.

‘Pulse of a Nation’ brings succeeds in capturing a time of change which has proven to have been for the betterment of the great game of football.