The Stadiums

Fellow football fans!

Only 12 days remain until we get underway.

And with Australia, Brazil, Argentina and Denmark having already landed in South Africa, it seemed a good time to check out this year's venues where all the action will be taking place.

Following on from the previous post about Invictus, I thought it most appropriate to begin with Ellis Park Stadium in Jo'burg. The stadium was featured heavily in the film as it was the venue for the 1995 Rugby Union World Cup final. Indeed it was the very stadium in which Nelson Mandela donned the Springbok jersey and the stadium in which the 1995 South African team won the tournament. The stadium was used as the venue for the 2009 Confederations Cup final and seats 62, 567 spectators. It was updated before the Confederations Cup tournament and the number of seats was increased by 5,000. It is currently home to Orlando Pirates FC and will be used as one of the quarter-final venues. Ellis Park stadium holds a lot of national symbolism for many South Africans and I'm sure there will be many mentions made of the historic events that took place there in 1995, during this year's tournament.

With a capacity of just 43, 589, the Mbombela Stadium in Nelspruit is the smallest stadium, out of the 10 that have been chosen to host this year's World Cup games. Despite being the smallest of the lot there have been no shortage of controversies surrounding its construction. The Mbombela stadium is one of 5 new stadiums to have been built for the tournament and will later be used for both football and rugby. However, there have been angry protests at the stadium planners who bulldozed over two schools in order to pave the way for the construction of the stadium. There have also been allegations of corruption and dodgy financial transactions, including the murder of a local councillor. In addition, there have been not one, not two, but three new pitches laid out in order to meet FIFA standards. The stadium's design has taken inspiration from Kruger National Park, which is located nearby and has built on the theme of nature in its use of a bright and vivid colour scheme.

England's opening Group C match against the USA will be in Rustenburg, more specifically in the Royal Bafokeng Stadium which is actually located 7 miles away from Rustenburg itself. The stadium is named after a semi-autonomous 300,000 strong tribe who part-funded the stadium. It was completed in 1999 and like many of South Africa's stadiums is used for rugby as well as for football. It has a capacity of 44,530; this figure includes the 5,000 extra seats added as part of South Africa's renovation strategy for the world cup.

The Peter Mokaba Stadium, which was named after the anti-apartheid activist, was officially unveiled this year as one of the 5 newly built stadiums. It seats 46,000 fans and looks pretty impressive in its design. The idea behind its unique shape is taken from the local Baobab tree and the main pillars have been designed to represent the trunk of this tree.

The 48,000 seater Free State Stadium located in Bloemfontein was renovated in 2008 and hosted the Confederations Cup semi-final between Spain and USA. The stadium, located in the football mad city of Bloemfontein, will be hoping to see plenty of goals to live up to the record-breaking rugby score of 145-17 between New Zealand and Japan in 1995. (And no, that is not a typo, it really was 145.)

The Nelson Mandela Bay stadium in Port Elizabeth has got to be one of the most impressive looking stadiums in South Africa. It has these white "petals" around the outside and when viewed from above it is supposed to resemble a sunflower. I quite like this concept; a big, bright, beaming sunflower sort of represents hope in a way, and that suits the man, who the stadium is named after, down to a tee. It does look pretty cool when viewed from Google Earth. This unique design did however result in the stadium going nearly 50% over budget though. The stadium will be used, amongst other matches, as the venue for the third-place play off and can seat 48,000 people.

One of the oldest stadiums to be used in the tournament is the 51,760 seater Loftus Versfeld Stadium located in Pretoria. Sport began to be played here in 1906 and indeed the stadium itself is named after Pretoria's founder of organised sports. Again it has also gone under great renovation and is now a lot more modernised and adequate to host some of the world cup matches.

The Cape Town Stadium is another stadium that is aesthetically very impressive. It has 69, 070 seats and can be lit up at night to resemble a rose-coloured bowl. Historically and geographically speaking, the stadium's location is significant - midway between Robben Island and the Table Mountains; the stadium planners were meticulous in their planning so that the Stadium would not ruin the views of the Table Mountains. The stadium attracted criticism for being located in a middle-class district and for its spiralling costs - the final figure being £400 million. The stadium has however ensured that spectators will be covered by a large glass roof should it rain and the exterior of the stadium has been constructed with noise-reduction in mind. I think it has to be one of my favourite stadiums, if not the favourite, out of the 10 selected. One of the semi-finals will be played at this venue.

The second largest stadium is the 70,000 seater Moses Mabhida Stadium which is based in Durban. It is also one of the 5 new stadiums and like many of the ones I've previously mentioned, its design and the symbolism behind it has been thought out very carefully. The roof has this kind of Y-shaped arch like the sideways Y on the South African flag representing unity. Not only that, but the designers have also thought about its long-term future, and tourism in particular. The stadium offers tourists the chance to have a cable ride from where they are able to view the shoreline and beyond. Also, tourists can experience a bungee jump above the stadium! That's pretty damn cool in my opinion and it's nice that they've considered the future beyond the world cup. This venue will host the other semi-final.

And finally, South Africa's pièce de résistance, Soccer City in Jo'burg, will be where the 2010 World Cup final will be played. It is the biggest stadium of the lot, with a 91,141 seater capacity. Again its design is representative of something important to South African culture and history. This time, the stadium has been made to represent the calabash - a cooking pot/water carrier; a small but significant element of daily life in Africa. The ground is also historically significant - it is where 100,000 people gathered following Mandela's release from prison; it is also where South Africa won the 1996 African Cup of Nations.

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There have been some major issues along the way including 70,000 construction workers going on strike regarding payment problems. However, aside from these setbacks, South Africa can be proud of producing 10 stadiums worthy of hosting the world cup games in the summer to come. It is so pleasing to see the amount of thought and effort that has gone into the consideration of the designs and what they represent. So, after massive investment and years of planning and preparation, the stage is finally set and it is now down to the players to perform and leave their mark on it.