World class insult to African pride

It was seeing Shakes Mashaba that did it. The news that Germany and not South Africa had won had just broken and this rock of a man, coach to the South African under-23 side, was on TV with tears pouring down his face. This is the man who has taken a group of kids to Olympic qualification and has decided not to take the three permitted over aged players to Sydney. He said: "How can I drop players because of a rule that is there to make money?"

The presence of top stars mean more interest in the Games themselves, you see. He is a man of principle and along with millions he was crying. In a way he symbolised this country and this continent.

Next minute, a radio man from Ireland is talking to me and I'm afraid I lost it. What made me so upset was that he didn't understand why the decision is such a kick in the teeth to Africa, why it is a disgrace. He seemed to think it is a disappointment. It's not: it's an insult.

They call it the World Cup but it's not. The score is Europe 10 Africa 0. Fair enough, it takes bids and excellence to host the event and many times in the past Africa couldn't contend. South Africa lost the 2004 Olympics to Athens because we went with the wrong approach.

We said look there are problems in South Africa that the Olympics will help to solve, award it to us. No chance. You show us what you can do for the Olympics was the message. Better luck next time.

South Africa's bid for the 2006 World Cup showed we had learnt from the Olympic failure. A bid was presented that was technically superb. It showed the stadiums, infrastructure, support and plans to deal with crime and grime. It was a revelation.

The FIFA visit confirmed this and the experts went away singing the praises of the country. At no stage did South Africa descend to the level of England who used every headline to try and discredit South Africa. Hell, even after Euro 2000 our men refused to jump on the hooligan issue to win votes.

We fought a clean campaign. So in the end we had England, Germany and South Africa as realistic contenders who could host the tournament. The English fans scuppered Bobby Charlton and so that left two. Who should soccer have awarded it to if it was genuinely interested in the health of the game?

No prizes for the obvious answer. South Africa deserved to get the tournament on its bid and its place as a genuine African contender.

However, the real iniquity is what greed has robbed this continent of. Much of Africa is a basket case. Much is a legacy of the colonial past and even more is self-inflicted by the succession of tyrants who have haunted so many states.

This has led to perceptions that Africa is really one big homogenous country. This is a false perception. If you look you can see signs of great hope from Nigeria through Egypt through Uganda, Senegal, Botswana and to South Africa.

These are the seeds of the African Renaissance that President Mbeki has talked of. World Cup 2006 in South Africa would have shown the word what Africa can do given the chance. Along the way it would have provided between 130,000 and 150,000 permanent jobs and up to a million temporary jobs.

Roads, hotels, shops, and businesses would have resulted. Pride would have increased and remaining racial tensions would have fallen away as the country united to deliver what had been entrusted. This has gone, probably forever.

The year 2006 was so prefect because it was far enough away to allow the country to gear up and yet close enough to feel urgency and immediacy. So Oceania voted for England to improve their chances of FIFA's presidency in 2002 and a 78-year-old New Zealander defied his national executive and president and hadn't even the guts to vote in the last round.

He says he had death threats. If so why did he not call foul and halt the proceedings? Europe simply voted for Europe: us against them. It cost us the dream.

The world will scold, New Zealand will fire Charlie Dempsey and Germany will prepare for a World Cup that it doesn't really need.

In South Africa though and in much of this continent the scars will not heal. In a few years the process of rotation will be adopted and FIFA will congratulate itself on a job well done.

However, 150,000 South Africans will remain in poverty though. Many of their kids will get into crime, drugs and perhaps will die of Aids through ignorance.

If they have a television they will watch Germany host World Cup 2006 and they will turn away continuing to feel second rate. Somebody will comment that South Africa nearly won the bid. He'll be told not to be so stupid. We never really had a chance.

When fools like me played rugby with the old South Africa there was a moral outcry. This injustice is nearly as great. Soccer you are a disgrace.