The World Cup is now over.
We had the thrills and spills of a magical Octopus, a dreadful England exit, and the constant hum of the vuvuzelas. There’s been a lot of talk about the impact this world cup will have on South Africa, but I think the vuvuzela will threaten to affect the whole world of football. There’s no way hiding them or pretending they never existed, they were watched by millions across the world.
Many people would say that they now love those crazy horns, whilst others are glad it’s finally over. But is it? Manchester United have already placed a number of them in their store, and surely a lot more clubs are going to follow the trend as they all try to raise a bit of extra cash in these troubling times.
Personally I would hate to see these in the premiership this upcoming season, our singing and chanting from the crowds is part of our countries charm. And if we have a load of them buzzing around, how will we all make ourselves heard? Yet you can be sure to hear some during the opening games, and depending on the number that appear, we may see an argument erupt over whether or not they should be banned. There’s already been talk of banning them in the 2012 Olympics which I think is a bit extreme as I wouldn’t expect this fad to last up to that point.
There was a temptation to dedicate this blog to the failure of the English national team in this campaign and list the huge number of faults and mistakes by both players and manager. But I think the issue has been stretched enough by the media so I won’t go on about it. All I want to say on this point is that England needs to refresh its image as this so-called ‘golden generation’ clearly isn’t working. We need to invest more in our yon talent instead of giving away our youth academy spots to foreign talent. Also Premiership teams need to stop loaning out their top British talent to lower divisions, and instead give them a chance to shine. Of course they’ll make mistakes, but that’s what makes you a better player. We are a nation obsessed with football, that must surely mean that we have opportunity to produce so much good quality talent, but we’re not taking those chances because the only focus in our minds is winning, instead of being about the perfect bass and being comfortable on the ball.
So much for not going on about it.
It was a spectacular event despite its flaws. This year’s world cup was very unique, it was almost magical for those in south Africa, and sitting watching events unfold from here in England it was still clear to me just how much this meant to those people. Their dreams had come to life and they were able to be so close to the world’s greatest players, and while some failed to shine, we were treated with some stunning goals, and an amazing atmosphere. Next stop Euro 2012 (and Chelsea winning the champions league at Wembley of course!)
Daniel Mackrell
