Cape Town Stadium's Kicks Off Builds 2010 Excitement

Posted Mon, 25 Jan 2010 (2 years ago)

This past weekend saw the inaugural sporting event at the brand spanking new Cape Town Stadium as 20 000 fans (myself included) got to try the venue on for size at the CT Stadium Soccer Festival.

The game between local rivals Ajax Cape Town and Santos was not the most exciting of matches but their lacklustre performance (perhaps they too were checking out the stadium rather than focussing on the ball?) did not detract from the impressive statuesque beauty of the R4.5-billion stadium in Greenpoint.

Anticipation: The crowds wait for kick-off

The crowd, while filling only a 3rd of the 68 000 seats (this was due to numbers being limited for the first 'dry run') certainly filled the venue with colour, excitement and the sound of many blaring vuvuzelas - I found them a little trying on the nerves in the under-cover refreshments areas but not at all in the open-air stands.

And the action gets underway under a very hot African sun!

Unlike football matches I attended while living in the UK, I was pleasantly surprised at the friendly nature of the rivalry between supporters who intermingled happily in the stands, exchaning the occaisional insults without any genuinely bad vibes.

The crowds lustily cheering for their team. Santos supporters in yellow dominated...

Apart from being awe-struck by the sheer size of the Cape Town Stadium, I was also impressed with by the following:

Opposing team supporters side by side.

1. Parking was well sign posted (and I believe those who made use of the shuttle system had little to complain about).

2. Traffic congestion was pretty much non-existant due to the organisers encouraging fans to arrive throughout the afternoon thus avoiding bottlenecks.

3. Queues for refreshments and ablutions were well managed and not very long.

4. Security was very visibly present and no incidents of crime or nastiness have been reported, to my knowledge.

5. Seating was comfortable and spacious. We didn't feel crammed in. I can sometimes get a little claustrophobic in crowds but felt completely at ease from our excellent seating just 7 rows from the front.

These young French fans enjoyed the African flavour of the game

My only personal complaints are as follows:

1. Why sell beer and then insist people drink up before entering the seating areas? This only enourages people to down their drinks - not a great idea in my opinion.

2. The quality of the sound was shocking. I couldn't make out a word of the announcements and the live performance by Freshly Ground just sounded terrible. I did hear others complaining of this on Cape Talk this morning. Hopefully this gets sorted out soon!

3. On my second trip to the bathrooms, there was no water either in the toilet for flushing, or in the taps of the hand basin.