A Developing Nation After the World Cup
I. Introduction
The FIFA World Cup is the largest and most popular sporting event in the world, accumulating over one billion television viewers worldwide. This event takes place every four years in a host country selected by the FIFA Executive Board Committee. The year is 2014, nearly four years after the 2010 World Cup was held in the developing nation of South Africa. This paper aims to support the claim that hosting the 2010 World Cup significantly changed the national image of South Africa and provided both direct and indirect economic benefits. While it was not a “cure-all” for the struggling economy it was deemed a large success. Perks of hosting this event include: being the center of global attention during the month-long extravaganza, potential for billions of dollars in revenue, and the construction of new infrastructure. Hosting the World Cup was still a daunting task for South Africa. With the exception of Mexico, every World Cup in the past fifty years has been held in a developed country. There is always great economic risk involved with the host country and this was especially pertinent for South Africa. Despite these issues, hosting the World Cup still had an immense cultural impact on South Africa and reimaged the nation on the global stage.
II. The Shadow of an Old Public Image
The image of a nation is of substantial importance with regard to its tourism policy. South Africa used the 2010 FIFA World Cup to reimage itself from the negative image from which it was previously associated. Africa is a continent rich in culture and resources, yet it hosts only one-tenth of the tourists in comparison to that of Europe. In the past two centuries, the continent of Africa has ta...
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Brazil is bound to host in a two-year span the largest sport events in the World, The 2014 Soccer World Cup and The Olympic games in 2016. The country will attract a lot of investors looking for some brand exposure since the whole world will have their eyes turned to this tropical country. These events present opportunities for Brazil to benefit from tourism and prove to the world that it is ready to take its place as an important piece of global governance. Although Brazil has a flourishing economy, it still has many characteristics of a third world country. Social issues remain present in the country’s politics. There are several concerns regarding the capability of an emerging country to host events with that stature.
Sporting is one of the universal activities that brings people from different backgrounds together and is viewed as an income generating activity that creates revenue for the participants as well as the location where the activities are held. The NCAA Final Four Basketball Tournament is one of the most anticipated sporting events in the US that attracts a high number of fans in the cities where it is held. Before the Final Four is held in given location, it is imperative for the organizers to have a detailed understanding of the venue so that they can introduce marketing strategies that are in line with the demands of the fans (Snipes & Ingram, 2007). The host committee is charged with the responsibility to come introduce an exhilarating experience for the locals and visitors. Owing to the interest generated
Foer vowed to show us how the game of soccer can impact different regions and cultures. He indicated us how these relationships (between different nations and beliefs), while there, are hard to apprehend on the global scale. But trough soccer, these relationships reveal themselves in a hesitant fashion.
Soccer is not seen like merely a game around the globe. People from all around the world seem to virtually integrate with the passion towards soccer. There is no denying that this sport is linked to the emotional, social and political aspects of life of a person. In his book, “How Soccer Explains the World”, Franklin Foer sheds light on all these facets by linking it with the concept of globalization. Soccer and globalization are both linked together by an American in this book for the Americans who are passionate about this game. Throughout his book, Foer has focused upon two theories: firstly, that world could be explained through soccer and secondly,
Spencer, B. (2011). International Sporting Events in South Africa, Identity Re-Alignment, and Schneider's EVENT X. African Identities, 9(3), 267-278. doi:10.1080/14725843.2011.591225
In Europe, Football has been compared to a ritual- a must do or have an aspect of social life (King, par 1). Soccer in this part of the world is idolized and makes up a big part of income generating fields. According to King (par 5), sports, specifically soccer in Europe forms a landmark that shapes the politics and sociology of a people, which then translates into the development of
Kaplan, Daniel. "The Soccer Theory of Globalization." Aidwatchers.com. Aid Watchers, 15 July 2009. Web. 04 Dec. 2013.
Hosting the Olympics comes with many perks for such as, prestige, the creation of new facilities and countless amounts of benefits. With so many things the Olympics has to offer, there can be numerous reasons why countries compete to be elected as the hosting country for the Olympics. The most common reason countries want to host the Olympic is because of its potential ability to improve the country’s economy significantly. With the entire world participating in the Olympics, the hosting country can market...
Sport and identity together have a unique relationship in which any regional or national place can use sport as a means to create a sense of identity. The relationship is complex and varied. Identity can be explained as understanding what or who a person or a thing is. Sport is capable of creating a feeling of nationhood and this is an important factor. It is important too for a nation to create a sense of identity but it is especially important for a regional area. For a small country to host a major sporting event is a significant achievement especially with having rivalry with bigger neighbouring countries. Nationalism can be expressed in a less aggressive manner through sport because there is a clear winner and loser; it is a clear cut way of asserting superiority of your notion over others. In this essay, one regional and one national example will be looked upon to see how they use sport to assert their sense of identity. Cricket in Yorkshire County Cricket Club will be used as a source of a regional example and rugby in South Africa will be used as a national example. We will look at the factors they used to inflict sport as a means to promote their identity and also if these identities are sustainable.
In every major sports event, like the FIFA World Cup or the Olympics, there’s always a huge celebration and a positive vibes surrounding such events. Hosting these events are usually a great honor to the selected countries and bring a lot of favorable consequences with it. However, no one realized that whenever these big sporting events occur and are hosted, brings as much negative consequences which counterbalances all the good things that comes with it. So, the question remains, is the Olympics a Cash Cow or a Money Pit to the hosting countries? In my opinion, the Olympics could actually bring more benefit that loss to the selected countries to host it, which are to bring positive economic and cultural benefits, either a Legacy or a Money pit for the hosting countries, hosting this event could promote development for the educational legacy and finally eradicating poverty throughout the citizens.
During the world cup mass protests took place to expose how the country invested so much in preparing for the World Cup while so many residents were living in poverty (Human Rights Watch, 2014). This issue has the potential to become volatile as the country is currently experience an economic slowdown and the unemployment numbers begin to rise. Another result of extreme poverty is the lack of skilled workforce which makes it difficult for companies staff their business with local residents which keeps them from investing in the community (Deloitte,
Janeczko, B, Mules, T & Ritchie, B 2002, ‘Estimating the Economic Impacts of Festivals and Events’, Sustainable Tourism.
The FIFA World Cup is a global spectacle that captures the attention of millions of people every four years. More than 200 nations are members of FIFA and they compete for the honor of being worthy to play for the Cup. There is no second place, and there are no consolation prizes. It is the ultimate dream of all football players to hold the golden cup as a champion of the world. As the largest sporting event in the world, the World Cup embodies the best attributes that lead people to love the sports they watch and play. Sports stimulate national economies, lead people to experience other cultures through international competitions, and promote world peace by bringing nations together in friendly competition. Even though some people disagree with these points by assuming sports are a waste of money, put athletes at risk due to injuries and while playing in other nations, and causing disagreement between countries. Evidence will be provided to show that sports have a positive impact on society.
It can also be suggested that FIFA demonstrates a global political power because it has greatly influenced the spread of soccer. The overall goal of FIFA is "to improve the game of football constantly and promote it globally in the light of its unifying, educational, cultural and humanitarian values, particularly through youth and development programmes” (What We Stand For). FIFA has said to colonize the world because it was adopted by foreign countries, and it continues to grow. This organization has promoted the spread of soccer globally by developing and rationalizing game rules and practices, developing leagues and tournaments, and making game schedules. As a result of FIFA collaboratively setting standards and institutionally networking,
The commercialization of sports is illustrated by the amount of money that is involved in sport. Stakeholders in the sector are using lots of money to improve their performances with an objective of making profit. Sport has changed its form and dimension and longer only a source of entertainment, but a...