Jordaan recalls World Cup trophy’s ‘death of doubt’

MEMORIES of the 2010 World Cup will be rekindled when the tournament trophy arrives in South Africa today, and Safa president Danny Jordaan expects to take a trip down memory lane when he catches a glimpse of the silverware.

The trophy arrives at Lanseria Airport in Johannesburg today, courtesy of Coca-Cola.

Thousands of fans will be given an opportunity to be close to football’s biggest prize, ahead of the Fifa World Cup in Qatar later this year.

Jordaan said the sight of the trophy should trigger a bout of nostalgia back to a time when statesman Nelson Mandela was still alive.

“The arrival of the World Cup trophy in Johannesburg will rekindle the memories and the emotions that went [through] all of us when the World Cup arrived in our country for Africa’s first World Cup in 2010,” he said.

“We had agreed that the first stop for the World Cup trophy in South Africa must be with Nelson Mandela. On arrival in South

Africa, we took the trophy to Nelson Mandela and, of course, he shared his own emotion that when he was in prison they could only listen [to football] on the radio and it was a life of an uncertain future because apartheid had sentenced him to 27 years in prison.

“And when the trophy was placed in front of him, he reminded us of the decision in Zurich [on 15 May 2004], where the [rights to host the] World Cup was awarded to South Africa.

There he said: ‘I feel like a 15-year-old boy.’ And those emotions were again displayed when he placed his hands on the trophy.”

Jordaan recalled that even after South Africa won the rights to host the World Cup, some cynical foreign journalists suggested that there was a ‘Plan B’ in place that would kick in in case the country’s hosting plans crashed.

“The trophy’s arrival was the death of doubt and then the discussions were finally about the World Cup starting,” he continued.

“Since then [the trophy tour] has become a symbol of the beginning of the biggest football showpiece when the World Cup trophy comes to a country.”